Front & rear break upgrade help needed.

[87 WE2]

Hey Guy's looking into upgrading my breaks over the winter on my 87 GN.

I do not want to do anything radical, just make them a little better. I am going to keep my powermaster, but would like to upgrade the following:

For the front I would like to upgrade the calaiper's (maybe to a dual piston type) I would also like to upgrade the rotors too, I am looking for something better anyone have any luck with the drilled and or the slotted type? If so what brand, part #'s...
Anyone know what type of dual piston caliper is out there thats better then stock and will work on the stock spindel without modifing it? Need part#'s, etc...

For the rear I want to install alluminum drums, with the bigger wheel cylinder's for more holding power not sure what pads to go with? Will stock size pads work with bigger wheel cylinders or do I need different pads for the different cylinders.
Can anyone tell me if they have current part #'s for the cylinders and what pads that work with the bigger cylinders? Also do I have to change my break hardware to do this or will new stock equipment work?

Also would like to replace all the flexible lines on the front and the hard lines on the rear axle, any one reccomend anything in this department?

And last but not least I would like to replace the porportioning valve, anything out there better then stock to improve stopping power to the rear breaks?

Thanks for the help

 

[Turbo6inKY]

A search would dig up a lot of information for you, but here's a synopsis:

You will not find any calipers that will bolt to the stock spindle without modification. They just don't exist. All of them require cutting the stock caliper mounting ears off, enlarging the backing plate holes, and affixing a new caliper mount.

That said, once you do cut off those ears, your caliper choices go from one (stock) to hundreds.

The mainstream, easy to do front upgrades that are most common are the B-body spindle swap with the 12" GM brakes, Wilwood's front end kit, and the Baer 12" Kit (most expensive).

All of them dramatically improve the braking performance and fade resistance. The B-body swap is easy to do, but the cost of spindles and upper control arms can make the swap expensive if you buy new parts. The Wilwood and Baer kits use the stock spindle, so the cost of the kit is all you pay (~$630 for the wilwood, $1,200 for the Baer). The biggest advantage to the Wilwood kit is it is light. Probably takes 20 or 30lbs off each front wheel. The Baer is probably similar, but with the advantage of a massive 12" vented rotor (the Wilwoods are stock-sized 10.75")

In the rear, aluminium drums are lighter, but they have less heat capacity. You may pick up a few hundreths in the quarter, but you may also overheat and fade out the rear brakes if you get a monster front set up and work it hard.

Somebody else will have to chime in on the S10 cylinders and pads.

Wilwood is the first place that comes to mind for a replacement prop valve.

Goodridge makes a braided stainless brake line kit that replaces the two front flexible hoses and the flexible hose that runs from the chassis to the axel in the rear. Summit has them.

 

[Slow91z]

Originally posted by Turbo6inKY
You will not find any calipers that will bolt to the stock spindle without modification.

SSBC has a duel piston caliper kit that uses the stock spindle without modification and fit's in 15" wheels.

It's even pretty affordable compaired to the other kits out there.

Comes with pads to.

Click Here

In the top right hand of the page you can input your make/model (yes they list GN), and there ya go.

 

[Spdrcer34]

I know of a few guys that are running those calipers on their Cutlass, and one guy has them on his GP (he's the only one that ALSO has crossdrilled/Slotted rotors), and they REALLY improved the braking performance. While my car brakes HARDER, and FASTER, I have 1LE's, Crossdrilled/Slotter rotors, and SSBC calipers Dual Piston Calipers.

If you wanna spend a FRACTION of what I did, and STILL improve your braking, I'd suggest the SSBC calipers, and LS1 Rear-Discs. You'll have about $600 total invested to do all 4 corners.



Ryan

 

[87 WE2]

Thanks Guys!

 

[Turbo6inKY]

Originally posted by Slow91z
SSBC has a duel piston caliper kit that uses the stock spindle without modification and fit's in 15" wheels.

It's even pretty affordable compaired to the other kits out there.

Comes with pads to.

Click Here

In the top right hand of the page you can input your make/model (yes they list GN), and there ya go.

That's pretty cool. It's been a couple of years since I glanced over their website.

 

[QWK]

"SEARCH" button again.

Thanks guys!!!