12" front brakes

[TurboTerry87gn]

I have been reading up on how to convert my car to 12" front brakes and I'm not sure how reliable the info is I have read.

Ok I go to link: Install 12 Inch Brakes on your GN

And it reads to complete the install you will need these parts:

Left and Right spindles and dust shields from a late '80s B-body (Caprice) with police package brakes (12 inch)
Left and Right calipers from the same B-body donor car mentioned above
12 Inch rotors from a mid to late '80s IROC Camaro (IROC rotors have the 12 mm metric studs, Caprice rotors are 1/2 inch studs)
A set of Hotchkiss or Global West upper control arms (your choice)

Then I goto Global West and read their page: Global Wests Tubular upper control arm and disc brake conversions

Tech Tip: If you are looking for 12-inch discs off of a donor car, do not use police car or taxicab spindles. The lower ball joint tapers are too big and will not work. The ball joints for those vehicles can not be machined down to fit your control arm either.

So do I use the spindels off the Police package B-Body or not? Who's right...

 

[GN ERGY]

Give the junk yard the vehicle you need spindles and calipers and rotors from and they will have a cross reference list to choose from. I used the global west uppers and bought the drilled rotors from Summit.
Tarey D.

 

[TurboTerry87gn]

Brakes from???

That's the problem I don't know the correct car the get the spindels and calpiers from.

One web page says get the B-body police package spindels and calipers and the other web page says dont.

 

[TurboTerry87gn]

Junk yard info.

I just need to know the correct car to get the stuff from so I don't have to deal with the junk yard guy at the counter who knows it all and sells me parts I can't return.

I plan on buying the rotors and pads new. I was also trying to find belltech drop spindles for these 12" rotors and calipers, but have not had sucess. I have new unused direct replacement belltech drop spindles for the GN but I'm not going to use them because I want the 12" brakes. I would like to drop the front about 1"-1.5" with big brakes.

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[GN ERGY]

I keep thinking mine were off a caprice station wagon. And I bought new rotors so the bolt pattern on the old ones doesen't matter. A caprice station wagon wouldn't be a police car, just my guess.
Tarey D.

 

[turbotman]

I got mine out of an 87' Cadillac but any B-body spindle with 12 inch rotors should work, I' ve seen them in all types of B-bodies but mainly station wagons, just measure the rotors.....if their 12inches your all set. Toss the rotors and buy the 1LE camaro ones for the right bolt pattern.
I have this set up on my car and the powermaster even works better with the larger calipers.....afterall thats what GM used on a lot of station wagons. I used the Global West arms and it handles great.
The B-body spindles stick out about 5/8 more on each side then the G-body ones.......so you can run rear GTA wheels on the front of the car and front GTA's on the rear.......without spacers......sweet deal.

 

[UNGN]

As everyone else, said, just look for a B-Body station wagon.

The Problem with the B-body rotors isn't the 1/2" studs, its the 5 X 5" bolt spacing, so be sure to leave the rotors at the junkyard.

Here is a parts list:

Prices are from a few years ago, from O'reilly auto parts.

The Arms robert adams was selling are from UB machine and are similar to those sold by G-body parts for Stock spindles.

If I was contemplating this swap today, I would probably go with the ZQ8 or LS1 brake swaps to get better calipers and less bump steer.

 

[novaderrik]

anyone have a side by side pic of the B body spindles next to a G body spindle?
what kinds of issues do you run up against by using them?
as for what car to get the B body spindles from- every 94-96 B body would have the 12" front brakes. plus, i think they made the spindles lighter and stronger than in the earlier pieces.
any B body from 77-93 that is either a wagon or a cop car will have the bigger spindles- just look for the 5X5 bolt pattern on the rotors.