hey everyone graemlins/waving.gif

i am in the process of swapping a set of rear discs off of a 98 - 2002 camaro or firebird and i believe 97+ vette. as many of you know these discs have a small shoe inside the rotor for the parking brake. and it seems for that reason they are not desired. i recently picked up a set of these and decided i was going to make them work using the original parking brake cables. suprisingly everything has worked out real nice so far.

here is what i had to do

1. i chose to enlarge center hole in rotor with a dremel and a small stone. took me 10 min. a rotor. other option is having center hub on axle turned slightly.

2. 2 3/8s washers on each bolt between bracket and housing end. needed to center caliper/basket on the rotor.

3. cut end of drum parking brake lever off and weld to bottom of ls1 disc lever.

4. fabricate small bracket to hold the original
parking brake cable.

5. must use adapters to covert standard 3/16 flared lines to the 10mm bubble fittings on the ls1 hoses.

after i get the other side done i am going to take my brackets up to where my dad works and use them as templates to make a nice set. after that ill concentrate on getting the LS1 fronts on.

parking brake bracket 1 (http://members.aol.com/ratonastick66/MyCars/parkingbrakebracket1.jpg)
parking brake bracket 2 (http://members.aol.com/ratonastick66/MyCars/parkingbrakebracket2.jpg)
ls1 brakes 1 (http://members.aol.com/ratonastick66/MyCars/ls1brakes1.jpg)
ls1 brakes 2 (http://members.aol.com/ratonastick66/MyCars/ls1brakes2.jpg)
ls1 brakes 3 (http://members.aol.com/ratonastick66/MyCars/ls1brakes3.jpg)
ls1 brakes top (http://members.aol.com/ratonastick66/MyCars/ls1brakestop.jpg)

Ok, keep the pics coming. Looks like you are on to something here. I thought about using the rear disk setup like my wife has on her 99 Blazer.

What kinda price did the rotors/calipers set you back?

I assume you scored them from a yard.

DG

i saw a set of rear disc brakes off a newer S10 on ebay not too long ago. they looked like they would work pretty well.


long story short my dad has a friend that owns a small salvage yard and sells on ebay. he had a wrecked 98 Z28 that he wanted to take to the scrap yard because it was taking up space. he told my dad we could have anything left on the car as long as we got rid of it. so in a sense i got em free.

Thanks on all the good ideas. my local yard only wants $50.00 for 98 s-10 disc , but the flange bolt pattern measures out different than my 12-bolt flange bolt pattern and the axle center is alot larger on my 12 axels, but now I know I can enlarge the rotor center axel hole. the S-10 does seem to have the inner e-brake pads , so pixs of your bracket alterations is very helpful. any ideas on the flange problem on 98 S-10 thanks mark graemlins/clonk.gif

wrenchhead

im not real sure on the blazer/S10 stuff. i have seen pictures but never seen any in person.

you say the bolt pattern on the housing end where you bolt the caliper bracket to is different than your 12 bolt? if so i would think that setup would take quite a bit more work but anything is possible.

or the wheel bolt pattern is different? if thats the case i would think you could either have the rotors redrilled or find a set of rotors with the right pattern. maybe LS1 camaro vette rotors?

Brandon

guys

one thing i am worried about on my setup is the park brake cable bracket flexing and maybe breaking after years of use. i am thinking about adding a brace from the housing end/caliper bracket to the park brake cable bracket to add strength.

think its neccessary?

It looks to me like you've got the calipers positioned at the rear of the axle? is that the factory orientation for the '98 f-body calipers?

the reason I ask is that I have a set of '02 f-body rear discs that I plan on using on my '80 Malibu but the '02's are positioned with the caliper on the front side of the axle.....which won't work on my car because of frame clearance.......to use them I will have to swap sides and run the e-brake cables over the axle and back forward to make the e-brake work which I will do if necessary but might prove to be a PITA.....

just curious if thats the stock positioning for the caliper on a '98....might have to change plans if so

Peace
Matt

I think we've discussed this setup in the past. Yes, the calipers on the 98-02 F-body are in front but all you have to do is swap them side for side so they are in the rear on the A-body and it all works out fine with a little fabrication for the E-brake cables. 93-97 are just the opposite, they are in back on the F-body and have to be swapped side for side to mount forward on an A-body.

I think the reason a lot of folks don't do this swap is most salvage yards don't want to break up a complete rear axle assembly and if they will, it can get expensive. Otherwise, it's a good swap.

Matt good eye, thats an important fact i left out.

you are right, the f body has the caliper positioned to the front. the stock cables run over the axle and come around to the caliper and actually pull the lever to the rear.

i actually swapped them side to side so that i could use the original parking brake cable to pull the lever towards the front. no big deal as long as both bleeder screws are pointing up.

so if your parking brake cable is anything like mine you are good to go.

Dave

i have searched for what seems forever on this subject. and i have not found one post on this website or any other that specifically describes this swap including how to get the parking brakes to work on a chevelle or a-body.the swap itself wasnt the main reason i posted this. it was really the fact i got the parking brakes to work using the original parking brake cables. i figured that many of you would appreciate this since there are plenty of these brakes to go around and the fact that it takes a minimal amount of time and effort to make this setup work.

someone did come up with a pinion mounted parking brake which was a great idea, but it isnt necessary for this swap.

and as far as being expensive, i got mine for taking a smashed camaro up to the scrap yard for my dads buddy. i dont expect everyone to get that kind of deal, but ive seen the rears sell for 300-400 dollars on Ebay. thats way cheaper than Baer brakes price for nearly the same setup.