I have seen someone who installed the Fbody kit on a Grand Prix, I don't see any reason it wouldn't fit the Riv.

FWIW My '98 stops on a freakin dime with stock brakes. It's scary how fast it stops the few times I've really had to mash the brakes. I mean scary fast stopping. I was very very impressed.

I use cheapo rotors and really good raybestos pads. When I replace the pads I use new cheapo rotors. Yeah, they might warp easily, but they are so cheap... who cares?

-Derek

My '98 is very strong at stopping, but the earlier years
had smaller discs. Wonder if there's a way to adapt later Riv brakes to the '96-97s?

Shouldn't be an issue to put the larger caliper brackets on. They do it for GP and GTP's all the time. I think you can use the GTP's GMPP Brake Upgrade kit to get the larger caliper brackets, pads and rotors.

Of course, I don't know for certain if the '95 and '96 had the same caliper bracket bolt pattern, but I don't see why they'd be any different.

As far as I can tell, there's no reason you need to get the stuff new from GMPP either. I beleive Ed Morad has a couple of late Riv's that should be good donors for the necessary parts. Any of the other large later Gbodys (Park Ave comes to mind) should make okay donors as well.

i believe they are different, you guys with the 97+ brekas have it nice and easy if you want to upgrade to f-body calipers, but i think our (95 and 96) brackets are part of the suspension knuckle and that whole thing has to be replaced $$.
you can find some 2 piston calipers on ebay for under $100 or you could go and spend 400 on a pre done package
rivman2 said his rotors were 10.5" but i think mine are 11" and the 97+ are 12"
besides having an extra piston and 1" larger surface area, are there any weight reduction benefits to the LS1 calipers and brackets?

Hey guys

I'm here!

There is no easy way to swap out the newer brakes on the 95-96 Rivs. They don't have a seprate caliper bracket, the bracket is cast in to the steering knuckle. You have to replace the knuckle with one from a 97 Riv. (Not sure if the 98-99's are the same as 97, so I can't say if those work.) Also, if you swap out the 97 Kunckle, you have to use the 97 Spring and Strut assembly.

There is a pretty good weight differance between the 95-96 and 97 assemblys. The 95/96's have a 10.5" Rotor, Cast iron caliper, and Cast iron Kunckle. The 97's have a 12" Rotor, Aluminum Kunckle, Cast Iron Bracket and Caliper. The whole assembly is a little lighter, even with the larger rotor. The LS1 Calipers are even lighter.

-Rob

I love it when a plan comes together .

welcome rivman

On topic.

do you have to change the Lower contorl arms also?

I don't think you need to swap them out. They appear to be the same shape / size. The 97's are aluminum though, so I swapped them out.

-Rob

I vote for the write-up.

Ok, now i'm gonna do the f-body caliper upgrade and get new rotors and pads from work. I have a 97 so i already have 12" rotors so I get my stock rotors right then the f-body calipers, brackets, pins, and pads.. then all i have to worry about is the tapping/sleeving the bracket bolts right? last question is is there any problem using my existing brake hose on the f-body caliper. in this...

http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.asp?m=2434239&p=1&tmode=1&smode=1

...excellent write up, he used new SS hoses that cost over $100. personally, i don't feel the need to spend that kind of money on the hoses.

current status with calipers...
just painted them with caliper paint. it took half an hour just to tape it off the way I wanted it. got 5 coats of paint so I'm supposed to let it dry for like a week before I mount them. the brackets are black. Those are easy to paint.

Great!!! Keep us updated on your progress . I will hopefully be picking up 97 front spindles and control arms to do the the upgrade as well. Your calipers look outstanding, I hope my calipers come out half as good as yours .

Very nice Codith, you're staying busy with the mods. The brake upgrade is one I want to do also! Keep us posted.