True C5 Rear Disc w/ internal parking brake in the works

[N2TRUX]

The weekend is officially here, are you working on it now? I talked with Tobin at Kore 3 about his set up like this. They offer this kit for the 12 bolt car axles, but nothing for trucks. His solution is to convert to Ford 9" flanges, which requires custom axles....$$$

Your concept is looking better all the time.

[87chevy.com]

Yeah Tobin is the man when it comes to brakes Very helpfull too. Converting flanges and axles is some serious dough plus the kit... I drilled the rotors to fit, drove across town to get caliper bolts M14x2.0 is uncommon to Ace Hardware... heres where Im at now:



The caliper can be mounted to the front as shown, or to the rear

I need to cut some more acrylic brackets to space it out better, but it looks like the thicker bracket will be either 5/8 or 3/4.... 3/4 might be a hair too thick but I need to take a better measurement. This thick bracket will space the ebrake backing plate inside the rotor hat.
The caliper adapter bracket will be 3/8... plenty beefy

here are some renderings with the updated design of the ebrake spacer



and it assembled on the "axle"



clint

[SCOTI]

Nice work man.

[87chevy.com]

Finaly sent the layout to the cutter... hopefully they can cut em out next week and then about a week shipping time..
clint

[N2TRUX]

Looks great so far. I think the caliper looks better to the rear, but I am a freak for symmetry.

[87chevy.com]

Finaly secured a vendor locally that can laser cut them. I was holding out on one vendor for a real low price -something you would see with a 15 set part order... but I got restless and started looking around. After getting some good quotes, I should have 1 set in 7-10 business days ...
clint

[v502]

Originally Posted by 87chevy.com

Finaly secured a vendor locally that can laser cut them. I was holding out on one vendor for a real low price -something you would see with a 15 set part order... but I got restless and started looking around. After getting some good quotes, I should have 1 set in 7-10 business days ...
clint

Thats great

[bigo181979]

What about if we want to stay with 5x4.75 bolt pattern, I am thinking about running the c4 drop member by Porterbuilt in my 68....

[87chevy.com]

Originally Posted by bigo181979

What about if we want to stay with 5x4.75 bolt pattern, I am thinking about running the c4 drop member by Porterbuilt in my 68....

no problem there at all. Its being set up to use all factory corvette parts to start with. So if you wanted to use the factory 5x4.75, you would skip the step on drilling the 5x5 pattern... as long as the rear end has stock length axles there should be no problem.
If you have an 86, you would have to get the rear axles redrilled for that pattern or buy new axles. If you bought new axles, you can have the supplier make the center register the same as a corvette so they will bolt up no problem

clint

[87chevy.com]

wow, finaly got the call .. well finally checked my voice mail. stupid jailbroken iPhone.. dam phone no longer displayes the visual voice mail... didnt know my brackets were ready... picking them up at lunch time, just in time for the weekend
clint

[87chevy.com]

ha, turns out they have been done since 10.18 .. whoops



I will do some test fitting tomarrow afternoon.. gotta go into work and finish up a car. Need to finish adjusting valves and replace a manual transmission on a 08 z3 Mcoupe

[N2TRUX]

Good looking parts.

[VA72C10]

Following along...looks great!

[87chevy.com]

the measurements were spot on, here are some (iPhone) photo's:




Its centered, poor camera angle ..doh


Mostlikely you cant see it but the 1/2 bolts that go from the outside of the main bracket to the caliper adapter head had to be ground down to the thickness of the 3/8's head. When the 1/2 bolts were in place, you coldnt slide the axle in far enough to insert the c-clip. Thus requiring the grind down the head of the 1/2 bolt. Only other way w/o grinding down the head would be to use 5/16" thick steel as the main bracket, probally plenty good and strong but 3/8 sure is beefy lookin.




Showing a point on the factory C5 caliper adapter. This point makes slight contact with the ebrake backing plate. The caliper adapter still need to be centered just a bit more which would make even more contact with the plate. I need to measure how much of a spacer I need to center it on my axle, maybe have another member (that has a spare axle laying out) try it out on their axle and see if the spacing is the same. I will probally use that same thickness if its not more than .050. Looking at a dial caliper, it should be less, and use it to space the e-brake plate out just a touch more so only a touch of this bracket will have to be ground down so it doesnt make contact.


Showing the sharpie marks that were made on the inside parking brake drum to see where the contact point is. Entire shoe making contact to the drum with about 1/8" to the end.


All thats left is to find the needed measurement so the caliper is correctly center over the rotor (currently its not), same spacers for the e-brake plate and figure out how to remove the end of the dorman parking brake cable so it can then be shortened. Another member on another board probally had OE cables and the ends "screwed off".... these are crimped. I dont imagine that bing a stupid big deal but once its off, it will be a sinch to shorten the drivers side cable.
The idea on the ebrake cables mod would be so when you run the passenger side cable over the pumpkin and onto the frame rail (as factory) the drivers side shortend cable matches up so you can use factory hardware. Thats the concept.

clint

[87chevy.com]

Didnt make much progress, but some was made. I was able to remove the crimped end of the Dorman brand e-brake cable. It wasnt super difficult to remove. Only thing left to do to finish the ebrake cables is to trim it to the correct length, reinstall the cable end, and braze a new fitting on the end of the cable and make a ebrake cable holder that bolts to the axle bracket.
clint

[87chevy.com]

Didnt make much progress today.. had to go into work today Anyway, after searching I found what the vetts use as a E-brake bracket on the hub/knuckle. I pretty much duplicated the design. I need to get the right length before the bend and after the bend and then we are good to go. The bracket will be out of 1/8 flat bar. While searching for this piece, I found a thread that the factory brackets bend and lets the e-brake cables flex more, not holding the car. The guy basically welded 2 gusset like things to make it rigid.. I will probally do something like that aswell... I dont want to fool with it or have anyone else fool with theirs later on down the road.
This shows the piece w/o the gussets.



This is what the brackets alone would look like on the axle flange:



Hopefully the weather is good to me tomarrow and I can make this bracket, and mock up the cables on the rear end and practice brazing the new ferrel onto the modified cable. I also found they sell "swageless" fittings for wire (such as the wire in the ebrake cable). normally the ends are swaged (crimped) on... just another option out there. I am also lacking the intermidate cable. The one that goes from these new rear ebrake cables to the factory one piece. I think this will be an easy fix as the Camaros has a neat equalizer (15.00 new) that looks like it will be a great candidate! Havent bought it yet, but its next on the list.

Clint

[AceX]

Soooo pretty... @_@

[I'm that guy]

these look awesome

[87chevy.com]

Finalized the e-brake cable bracket. OE Camaro rear brakes use a cast iron backing plate and the ebrake cable passes through the hole and the fingers on the cable secures it, just like our backing e-brake cables on the trucks. since the metal im using is 1/8, its too thin for the fingers to grab on to and actually old the cable so it doesnt wiggle around. I simply made a holder, just like a distributor hold down bracket. Simple and effective.
On my spare 12 bolt, I found out the wierdest thing. The offsets are not the same... different enough that you have to shim the caliper inwards .10" on one side and outwards .10".. I just happen to have some .10 hardware store washers laying around and happend to be the ideal thickness to center the caliper basket right over the rotor. So I wont be having the brackets milled down to make it a perfect fit, I will just use some hardware store washers to align the baskets.
I was looking at Lokar ebrake cables... dang 119 from summit.... dang any rate, thats an option to make it uber easy but its costly.
clint

[AceX]

Yeah, costly, but do you really want to skimp on brake parts...?

[87chevy.com]

no skimping going to be going on here. The lokar cables is just the easy solution. Other than that, the kit would be ready to go. Once I get my final quote with the new brackets from the cutter, I will upgrade the membership and make a new thread. Hopefully they will be open tomarrow... little birdy says corvette brakes for an x-mas present... lol.

[87chevy.com]

dialed in the correct length for the ebrake cable bracket and designed the ebrake cable holder (to the bracket)..
clint

[Wasted Income]

Subscribing!

[87chevy.com]

For those who have subscribed to the thread and those who have peeked in, whats the feedback on this?

Is this something that you WOULD buy? Im not a paying member, so nothings for sale at this time. I have my final quote from the laser cutter and it would costly investment if no one was seriously interested in such a kit.
So basically I am want to know what you guys think about it. The costs involved would be what you can pick up parts for... options like online, local or bone yard.
To give an idea on NEW parts Ive purchased online (best place I've found):
C5 Calipers: 225.00
C5 Rotors - plain (a/c delco): 41.50
Braided hose with correct ends + mounting hardware: 75.00 (but did find one place that had them for around 55)
-or-
Facotry C5 hoses and an adapter
Machining axles to fit stock C5 rotor ~ 80 bucks a pair if your axles are good
-or-
New axles with Corvette measurements 245.00
-or-
Custom machined C-5 rotors :71.50 each -should fit a stock axle w/no machine work (unconfirmed, but confident)

That would set you up with basic C5 rear disc brakes. Options go from there such as vented, x drilled, vented and x drilled... goes on to the c6 z06 rotors... and can go for the c6 calipers (power coated red ones).
And then the e-brake and prop valve if the bias is not what you like
The backing plate assemblies (L & R): 165.00
E-brake cables: 120.00 (lokar universal ebake cables)
Universal proportioning valve: 50.00

Price wise, Its close to the cost of McGaugys big brake kit w/o the use of Front Corvette rotors and 1980 style calipers.

Opinions/Thoughts

and again, nothings for sale, just looking for feedback

Thanks,
clint

[way2lo2]

IMO, I would get a some road time on the parts before having hundred of pieces cut. You may end up with some unexpected revisions and having thousands of dollars of brackets on the shelf that you don't want to use would suck. Corvette disc brake conversion brackets are pretty popular so a lot of people have got on the bandwagon(including me), there's probably 10 different companies offering them for popular cars like Camaros, Chevelles, etc. Thats why I stuck to making them for models no one else does like 61-65 full size buicks, 62-67 Novas, C10 drop spindles, MustangII's etc. Your on the right track, with the rear brackets for the trucks since I don't know anyone out there selling them(though I hear Kore3 is working on it). I think $225 is a fair price however some people would think otherwise, all the C5 conversion brackets I sell are between 100-125 and others I see advertised are $150 and down. (I see Speedtech raised their brackets to $179 recently). I'm not saying you won't sell some but I doubt you will go through hundreds. I did a run of Front 62-67 Nova Brackets 2 years ago because I had several customers' asking about them, I've installed about 10 sets and sold maybe another 10 mail order to the end user. Luckily I only had a hundred pieces laser cut so the investment wasn't huge but it was definitely not a get rich quick scheme for me. Again its just MHO but I wouldn't do a large run until you know those things turn into hotcakes, look around for some ma and pop type metal fab shops, I'm sure you can find someone to do a smaller production run, 10 maybe 20 sets, it might be more per unit for now but might be cheaper then having a bunch of money shaped like vette brake brackets sitting on the shelf.(ask me how I know). Good luck with your kit and if my C10 didn't already have Vette IRS under the back, I would spend the 225 with you.
Boris