Write-Up: F-Body Brake Mod

anyone know if the F-Body brake kit will work on a riviera? the 96's have 11" rotors and the 97+ have 12" IIRC. i just want to be able to stop better! i need new rear rotors b/c mine are getting thin and warped. do you think new Brembo rears will improve anything? (not drilled) or should i just get the cheap-o's at the local store?
i almost ran into a semi today b/c... well, i was racing some jetta that thought he was the $h!t. i was doing about 80 and WAY up in front of him, but i digress. so a semi pulls out blocking all 3 lanes and then realizes he can't make the turn so he stops there!!! slaming on brakes at 80mph is not very fun. i was able to stop in plenty of time and probably could have stood on them a little more, but i feel like the car could have stopped sooner and with less nose dive. the abs didnt really have to do much but maybe thats just good tires?

can i just go to the junk yard and pull some aluminum 2 piston calipers off a f-body? would i need 12" rotors too?

http://www.regalgs.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23860&highlight=
http://www.regalgs.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22786&highlight=

thank you i guess i should have looked there first :roll: but at the same time we have to grow here

Are the sleeves necessary for our knuckles?

and how about my rear rotor Q?

racinfan wrote:

Are the sleeves necessary for our knuckles?

I can't get ahold of rivman because his email is inactive and I don't think he's on regalgs anymore.

It would be nice to know what needs to be tapped to match what for the mounting hardware....or if it is indeed a direct bolt up.

and are the brackes on the 96's attached to the knuckels? i cant even remember what they look like right now. i have some pics of front and rear stock setup but i didnt take any of the brackets
we should make a clear write up of the parts needed to do the upgrade, i wish i had the $$ right now to buy some LS1 calipers, rotors,pads, etc, etc....it all adds up!

You can probably get a hold of Rivman with AIM, screen name: robstccg

AA wrote:

You can probably get a hold of Rivman with AIM, screen name: robstccg

Thanks, I left him a message.

The '97-'99 cars share the same knuckles/control arms so that's good. It looks like all the necessary hardware can be had for about $100 shipped but its worth it for the extra pot. (pun intended)

Mr.Riviera wrote:

and are the brackes on the 96's attached to the knuckels? i cant even remember what they look like right now. i have some pics of front and rear stock setup but i didnt take any of the brackets
we should make a clear write up of the parts needed to do the upgrade, i wish i had the $$ right now to buy some LS1 calipers, rotors,pads, etc, etc....it all adds up!

yes we have the brackets attached to the knuckle . I am doing this also but bot till the summer. Shame because I need brakes now and i was hoping they would last into the summer to do the whole swap. We need to get rivman2 over hear.

quote " we need to get rivman2 over here."
...
NEWS TEAM ASSEMBLE!!!


ok i need some sleep now

Did anyone contact rivman2 if not I will PM him to see if he will join the darkside.

Not sure, but I thought he got rid of his Riv?

dude is oldsman the "star wars dude" scaring anyone else??? whats up with all the star wars stuf ahhhahahha jk but seriously?

What do you fear the Force

actually I am more Star Trek then Star Wars

oh and I pmed rivman2

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

RivMan wrote:

(Not sure if the 98-99's are the same as 97, so I can't say if those work.)

They are the same. I'm glad you checked the site out!

AA wrote:

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?

What's the difference between 97-98 disks?

I vote for the write-up.