12" brake upgrde on a 1st gen....

[kuntzie]

ok i know topics have been made on this before, but my question is a litte different,

 

ive gatherd some parts i got for free (seized calipers/ cracked rotors) from a f-body with the 12" brakes (what they uses on 2nd gen w's for the 12" brake upgrade, i know they will not work on the 1st gens with put some fabbing up, but i know what they do need to work.

 

ok it loks like to be safe a 3/8-1/2" spcer Welded on the back of the rotor, then longer wheel studs (1/2" longer) looks like it will work nicely, the offset for the rims will be a little different and stuff but my real concern is the safety, i think if i go though with the welging it should be really safethen drill holes through the rotor holes into the "spacer"...

 

so what do you guys think?? should i give it a go?

[RJansen658]

I always like to see modifications and upgrades.

 

On the other hand... there is already a proven safe upgrade, that requires no fabrication. And IMO since rear brakes only do 30% of the stopping anyways, I think the money would be better spent on stainless steel hoses, or fabricating to increase front brake stopping power.

 

But the most important thing for ANYONE, is to do what makes you happy. If you want bigger rear brakes, then be the first one to do it, by all means.

[slick]

Wait, your welding a spacer onto the rotor?

 

Anyways, I'd just make up a bracket that bolts to the original one, then offsets the appropriate distance and has other holes to mount the caliper up.

[kuntzie]

I always like to see modifications and upgrades.

 

On the other hand... there is already a proven safe upgrade, that requires no fabrication. And IMO since rear brakes only do 30% of the stopping anyways, I think the money would be better spent on stainless steel hoses, or fabricating to increase front brake stopping power.

 

But the most important thing for ANYONE, is to do what makes you happy. If you want bigger rear brakes, then be the first one to do it, by all means.

 

i want to to this on BOTH the front and the rear, mainly because it will look stupid with the big brakes up front, little on the rear.

 

im thinking of atempting it on the rotors i got now since they could still be driven on for a week if i wanted, then if successful do the baer 13" brake upgrade.

 

like dont get me wrong the brakes on my car work great, the PMIII works flawlessly,

 

Wait, your welding a spacer onto the rotor?

 

Anyways, I'd just make up a bracket that bolts to the original one, then offsets the appropriate distance and has other holes to mount the caliper up.

 

ya weld a spacer in the INSIDE on the spacer, so it goes between the back of the rotor and the hub, the problem with trying to put them on is that it rubs/ wont sit on the hub on the strut housing. i wouldnt really need to weld them but it would just be easier in a way

[Crazy K]

i would do the 94+ total upgrade.... sounds like what you want to do would be alot of work, and any spacer adapter etc etc would have to be high enough grade steel to not fail due to fatigue.

 

also, the 94+ upgrades use calipers that use the same volume of flow as the earlier one, a custom upgrade might not...

[GutlessSupreme]

I can't follow exactly what you're saying, but welding/drilling the rotor sounds like a bad idea.

[Robby1870]

Yes, I agree welding on to the rotors is a bad idea. Just use the 96? Gen 1 front brakes. You'll have to swap out the entire strut/knuckle assembly, but those rotors are like 11 3/4" diameter, I think.

[GutlessSupreme]

11.25"

 

i'm all for finding better brakes, but having to modify the rotorsis not the way to go about it. it's not practical, not to mention unsafe.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

The brakes on my 95 are 100x better than the ones that were on my 88 GP. Go with the 94+? upgrade, get drilled/slotted rotors if you want better performance. Mine are just cheap whitebox stuff but still work as good as I could ever need.