Write-Up: F-Body Brake Mod

Forget your lifetime warranty and upgrade to a better caliper and bigger pads. Just go for it and you will be happy.

All your getting for a lifetime warranty is the Pads and you can get that again with the f-Body or camaro or firebird pads.

EDIT: The calipers I got for my car actually came with a set of almost new pads in them. Just thought I'd mention that.

I just bought from Morad what will be the begining of my parts search to do this mod.
97 alu knuckles plus good hubs and caliper brackets,$ 120 including shipping. i call that a more than fair deal.

robotennis61 wrote:

I just bought from Morad what will be the begining of my parts search to do this mod.
97 alu knuckles plus good hubs and caliper brackets,$ 120 including shipping. i call that a more than fair deal.

I would call that an excellent deal at $60.00 per side. SCORE.!!!

It's so much easier to do mod's like this if you only have to spend around $100.00 at a time.

At least, that has been the case for me. So much easier to come up with a $100.00 bill than a $1,000.00 bill. Which is what I'm fixing on spending for now, to do my semi-annual paint and body shop visit. It's been 2 years and I'm due.

yap! between the cast iron knuckle and the alu one,are we talking about 7lbs worth of weight savings or more? i had the stock CI off the car but didnt weigh it....

I wouldn't think it was as much a weight savings as it was the ability to upgrade the front end to be able to use more later model parts for it.
I guess the ultimate is a weight savings. But for the everyday driver it is just more convenience.

Am I wrong.?
rick

Its more than weight savings for me,allthough that aint bad. i didnt even know until this morning that alu knuckles were made for the riv. ive gone over the f-body mod thread many times but never caught on to this? am i a tool or what? anything alu is super trick to me. and removing dead weight allways makes the car perform better. $108 a piece from Dormann will buy me the alu control arms with bushings.

Bendix powder coated (black, red or silver) '02 camaro SS calipers are $65.- but there is a $54 core from RockAuto. A way around that might be to get a core set from a pick n pull if you can cheap enough.

Basically you are looking for the front calipers for a 1998 - 2002 firebird or camaro.

On RockAuto.Com the cheapest including core are the Nastra or Raybestos, both around $60 as you say Hans.

cool. i found a pair in texas,$15 a piece.   who is hans?

hello!. i have all the components for the f-body brake mod. before i tear into her,why is it mentioned that a 95 would have to upgrade to a 97 strut/spring assembly? I've done a couple of measurements and they look identical. am i missing something?

I think it has to do with upgrading to 12" rotors. Will 12" rotors fit on a '95 along with F-Body calipers, without changing the knuckle?

the bracket that holds the caliper on the 1995 riviera is part of the knuckle, you need to change the knuckle to the new one to be able to bolt on the caliper.

Is ZZ Performance the only place to get these 20.5" ss lines?

J. Chris Davis wrote:

Is ZZ Performance the only place to get these 20.5" ss lines?

ZZP was the only place that I knew of when I did mine a couple of years ago.
But, the prices that ZZP sells these for are the same as getting a regular rubber Raybestos hose from your local auto parts store. So, it's a good deal.
Just be sure to get the ones for the Bonneville as they are long enough to work properly on the front and if your buying the rears also, they are the same size as our stock ones and fit good.
I bought the full set and am glad I did.

Ok, thanks. I figured ZZP was about it. I'm just going to get the longer fronts for now. They are the 20.5" SS lines. Looks like they run about $70. Probably gonna spend the next couple of months collecting the stuff for this project. Also going to replace my rotors and all my pads. Going with new everything I think.

Just a note for anyone installing the stainless break lines, you'll need to zip them to the strut. Over time, the line can slide/rub against the strut, wearing the clear coating that protects the braids. A good way to shield them from contact is to insert a length of split loom, working as a sleeve so the line can move freely inside. Also shields against tire rub and debris:

ok. i have the alu knuckle,but somewhere else along this thread it was mentioned by Rivman,i believe,that you had to swap the 95 strut and spring assmebly to a 97/98. was this mistaken? just want to clarify before i go back to the job....

yes you must swap out the strut assembly and springs. see page 15

Mr.Riviera wrote:

yes you must swap out the strut assembly and springs. see page 15

interesting but i still dont see why i have to use a different spring/strut set up. i read it throughly and dont see it??can someone smack me in the head or what?

with the 97+ spindle the 95/96 strut will not bolt up to it. The struts are not the same size and the height from the knuckle bolts to the ball joint are different. Even if you could fab up a way for the bolts to line up, you would have a "tall" knuckle mated to a long "strut" essentially giving the riv a 1-2 inch lift in the wheel wells.
with the 97+ strut, the 96 rubber insulators can not be used due to differences in the springs and spring placement.
you can not reuse the 96 top mounts because the top isolators on the springs do not function the same as the 96's and you WILL scrape the top of the hood with the strut rods. i found this out the hard way.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

with the 97+ spindle the 95/96 strut will not bolt up to it. The struts are not the same size and the height from the knuckle bolts to the ball joint are different. Even if you could fab up a way for the bolts to line up, you would have a "tall" knuckle mated to a long "strut" essentially giving the riv a 1-2 inch lift in the wheel wells.
with the 97+ strut, the 96 rubber insulators can not be used due to differences in the springs and spring placement.
you can not reuse the 96 top mounts because the top isolators on the springs do not function the same as the 96's and you WILL scrape the top of the hood with the strut rods. i found this out the hard way.

So, What are you trying to say.? It can't be done. I think so.

Hey, Robo, is that a big enough smack on the friggin head. Get used to it, you bought the wrong year car. Sorry...........

It most definatly can be done. Take a look at my sig. I just want to make sure he knows what to expect.

I know it can be done by replacing the 95 parts with later year parts, but he seemed to be bucking the notion that, that much work and parts needed replacing.
Maybe I misunderstood as usual.

dang it! well i have another little idea to bake noodles. i have the perfect coil over conversion set up, for the front. its only a few hundred $ away,and will work with all riv years.95to99. it will allow me to use ,bilsteins,or tokikos,or any other hot suspension set up on the market. so there!

That will be my next move when these kybs die.

robotennis61 wrote:

dang it! well i have another little idea to bake noodles. i have the perfect coil over conversion set up, for the front. its only a few hundred $ away,and will work with all riv years.95to99. it will allow me to use ,bilsteins,or tokikos,or any other hot suspension set up on the market. so there!

How would changing to coil overs allow you to use Tokiko Brakes.
One generally has nothing to do with the other.

But, I know brackets can be made to fit Tokiko's and many other calipers to any knuckle you want them to and get good darn brakes.

We do it on the older Harleys all the time and there are a couple of guys making the custom brackets and providing the calipers, new or used, as well. Helps these older bigger bikes get slowed down in a hurray. The OEM calipers don't compare and the new disks available are more conducive to better pads best left to the newer multi-pot calipers.

One thing leads to another, which is mostly the case - isn't it. That's what you mean by upgrading the struts to coil overs, that then allows the brake upgrade, DUH. Sorry dude.

I'll just go off in the corner and talk to myself for a while...............................................

yah,you sed it. tokikos are struts. they have nothing to do with brakes. i have studied the problem ,and found a set up that will allow any late model riv to have a choice of hot struts and springs. you can use any spring that you want. eibach,ground control,anything thats not more than 2 1/2 ' in diam. ill take pics as soon as i come up with the dosh to do it. i have the formula and it will work.