12" Rear Disc Brake Mod

The one at the top of the pumpkin is the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) changed one on a GMC pickup once. And i assume the ones to the backing plate are for ABS/TC.

Rickw wrote:

The one at the top of the pumpkin is the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) changed one on a GMC pickup once. And i assume the ones to the backing plate are for ABS/TC.

yup, but I know there are ABS reluctor rings inside the pumpkin mounted on the axles....

OK, I'm just going to go the the local boneyard and try to get a little more educated on what passes through the backing plate.
That realy my only question remaining.
Thanks for your input and knowledge on these RWD.
Rick

Rickw wrote:

OK, I'm just going to go the the local boneyard and try to get a little more educated on what passes through the backing plate.
That realy my only question remaining.
Thanks for your input and knowledge on these RWD.
Rick

on my rear end, there is nothing passing thru the backing plates.....

everything bolts around the brakes

Does your car have Traction Control ?
The way the whole question came up was when the guy who's selling the rear end parts I'm interested in mentioned the backing plates don't have the holes for the TC.
I'm trying to figure out if I even care or not for what I'm going to do with the brakes. Probably not an issue.
And the pic's you posted are a great help in showing me where he's talking about the connector on the backing plate.
The visuals help me alot.

Our backing plates are made to fit our 10.5" rears do it may be a good idea to snag the larger backing plates from the yard. They are thin enough to cut or drill a hole if needed then just put a rubber/nylon gromment in place so nothing will chaffe... although I do not remember seeing anything going through our plates like vendetta mentioned.

Yes, I agree. I can modify as i need to.

My car is non traction control....

and so have all three rear ends ive been thru... lol...

neither was my old v6 firebird either....

all the fbody guys hate traction control too....

If I'm not mistaken, the TC system doesn't brake the rear wheels, but the sensor provides wheel speed info that could affect the fronts. For the most part, I think the TC & ABS is a front-only system.

On the Riv, yes it is front only. But on the rear end for the F Body's they need TC on the drive wheels. Hence the the TC wiring to rear brakes.
The non-TC F-Body will be fine for this experiment if modifications allow. We will find out. I'm going to order/buy that guys stuff because its cheap and look locally for a complete rear end assy that I can cannibalize.
I can always sell the stuff it wont work out.

Ls1 brakes sell real good on the fbody boards....

that's good to know, because i think i have another set coming. i guess I put low bids on three different ones and might end up with 3 sets. Thats Ok though, I've got a bead blaster and everything I need to rebuild and paint here in my heated garage. Good cold weather projects.

Anyone seen this?

Link

What do you think? Will it work on 97 up Rivs?

I think you'd really better know exactly what you're doing when you upgrade the rear brakes. I used to be interested in the idea, but after reading StopTech's tech papers, not sure I want to change anything:

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_rearbrake_upgrades.shtml

I've come to believe that if you upgrade the front rotor to a larger size, it might make sense to upgrade the rears. Otherwise, I think adding leverage to the rears is not the best idea unless you know how to lower the pressure proportion. I don't think doing only the F-Body caliper upgrade is any justification for a rear rotor upgrade.

good info Aaron, thanks for sharing.
with the fbody kit i can make abs kick in at any speed, and my car stops very level with my suspension upgrade.
however, i would still like to shorten the overall stoping distance of the car. seing how my limiting factor on the front is tires, i need to either get R compounds up there, or get better stopping power from the rears.
i dont want to be able to lock up all 4 tires though. what are the options? i dont see the rears getting very hot, so i doubt i'd see any benefit from drilled or slotted rotors. maybe a 1/2" larger rotor? or finding a way to adjust the porportioning valve?

If you go with a larger rear rotor, braking torque force is increased, so you would want to increase the front rotor diameter as well, imo. Otherwise, the rear end could fly out during a hard brake in a turn.

I think a kit that simply swapped the solid rotor for a vented one would be nice for high speed stopping. I do think there is a slight problem with heat. I've managed to warp my Brembos in about a year's time.

well with the fbody upgrade, i did increase my rotor dia by an inch.

does anyone made a drilled/slotted solid rear for our cars? i've only seen the solids.

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/brakes-suspension-f6/deal-alert-cross-drilled-slotted-rotors-and-ceramic-95-96-t5635.htm#77418
Look at these

Quote :

well with the fbody upgrade, i did increase my rotor dia by an inch.

Aren't the rear discs the same for all 95-99 Rivieras? It seems Buick upgraded the fronts as an improvement, but didn't feel a need to upgrade the rears. Maybe you're right where you need to be now.

I would only do that rear disc mod if I had some way to manually adjust the rear pressure. Is there an adjustable proportioning valve out there?

I would only do these if also upgrading the front to CTS-V calipers and a 14" rotor. If you're going that far in front, it seems unbalanced to leave the rears stock. That's my unscientifically grounded opinion.

It would seem that way, but if you read the entire StopTech paper, they mention that it's actually better to decrease rear braking effectiveness when using bigger front brakes with stickier tires, because the increased weight transfer means the rear brakes do even less work.

So although you might get better stopping power, you do so at the risk of compromising safety. I think that's what people are doing when they bolt this 12" kit up to their vehicle. W-Body store doesn't even give any warning statement. Maybe I'll send Mike an email to get his opinion.

I respect StopTech's info not only because they make a whole lot of sense, but also because they have a reputation for making some of the best braking systems out there. And it's not just mainstream marketed product, it's used on race cars. They are to brakes kind of what Kenne Bell is to superchargers.

Hmmm. Why don't we see super cars with tiny brakes in the back?

compared to the front brakes they are tiny

4 pistons on 13" rear calipers vs 6 pistons clamping on 15" carbon ceramic rotors.
not to mention it's probably hard to make a 335 tire brake loose

Jack the R wrote:

Hmmm. Why don't we see super cars with tiny brakes in the back?

less back to front weight transfer when braking. These cars tip down front when braking hard, and require little rear braking as a result... a very low 'supercar' is generally well balanced and TIGHT, so the weight doesn't shift forward as much.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

compared to the front brakes they are tiny

But are the ZR1's rear brakes smaller than the rear brakes on a base Vette?

Deekster - Makes sense - but anyone putting $600 into rear brakes should have upgraded the suspension. I can see ewolfe going to custom, stiffer springs and custom bilsteins one day. At least, those are mods I would do before spending $600 on rear brakes. IMO you'd need to be pushing a serious level of performance for 12" rear brakes to be worthwhile. More performance than any of us are close to achieving, or then makes sense to try to get out of a Riv. But I'm glad the option is there.