[Murf'sDad]

When replacing brake rotors and wheel bearings do you drift out the bearing races that come in the rotors and install the races that came with the bearings or so you leave them in?

I've never taken out the bearing races and never had a problem but thought I would ask.

Thanx, Stewart

[74Grandville]

I've always left the new race in the rotor and disgared the one that came with the bearing.

[Scarebird]

Think lifters/cam: the cone wears in the race, so the races in the rotor are fine.

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by 74Grandville

I've always left the new race in the rotor and disgared the one that came with the bearing.

What I've always done as wel. Guess I'm getting a little anal in my old age and being too careful.

Thanx, Stewart

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

Think lifters/cam: the cone wears in the race, so the races in the rotor are fine.

Never thought about from that perspective but it makes sense. Whenever I put in new rotors I reused the same bearings and never had a problem. I guess since there is .001" - .005" clearance when they are adjusted properly, as long as the race is not dinged or pitted or rough or whatever you're good to go.

Stewart

[77 TRASHCAN]

My old age bothers me too.......
I've always removed the new race, partly to make sure it is tight enough in it's bore (machining accuracy) and to see what brand. If I did not recognize the brand (probably won't regognoze ANY of them anymore), they went in trash, and installed race that came w/ bearing.

Sounds a little paranoid, but, I used to sell auto parts, can't be too careful concerning a part IMO. You'd be suprised all the crap I've seen that was not what it should have been.

Your rotors were probably made in china, like everything else. You need to double check any part, doesn't matter where it's made.

Stewart,
Is your car on the road yet???
Jeff

[Tom Vaught]

At one time I could get good CANADIAN brake rotors and USA made Bearings.

If the brand name matched, I would would leave the one in the rotor as installed.

Hard to find good bearings anywhere these days to install into the rotors. But I still try.

Tom Vaught

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

My old age bothers me too.......
I've always removed the new race, partly to make sure it is tight enough in it's bore (machining accuracy) and to see what brand. If I did not recognize the brand (probably won't regognoze ANY of them anymore), they went in trash, and installed race that came w/ bearing.

Sounds a little paranoid, but, I used to sell auto parts, can't be too careful concerning a part IMO. You'd be suprised all the crap I've seen that was not what it should have been.

Your rotors were probably made in china, like everything else. You need to double check any part, doesn't matter where it's made.

Stewart,
Is your car on the road yet???
Jeff

Hi Jeff:

Actually my rotors are Raybestos, "Made in Canada". Funny part is if I bought them in Canada they were CDN$105 each, plus tax. I got them from RockAuto for about $75 each, shipped. Go figure.

And yes, I always double check everything. I remember a set of CompCams roller tip rocker set I put on a 355 street truck engine back in the early '80's. All looked well until I checked the oil holes in the pushrod cup. Two had major pieces of metal well lodged in the hole which took some time with a pick to get clear.

I hope to have it together and running by August and on the road next summer. Right now I'm re-doing the front suspension as part of putting on 12" 1LE rotors with B-body spindles and finishing off the S10 rear disc conversion. Then there is the new carpets and headliner, reinstall the motor and the front clip, sub-frame connectors, new body mount bolts, etc, etc, etc. Running this summer - on the road next summer. Since this is a retirement project it will be almost finished when I "officially" retire.

Stewart

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

At one time I could get good CANADIAN brake rotors and USA made Bearings.

If the brand name matched, I would would leave the one in the rotor as installed.

Hard to find good bearings anywhere these days to install into the rotors. But I still try.

Tom Vaught

Hi Tom:

As I said, the rotors are Raybestos. The bearings are Moog. I haven't checked the box to see where the Moog bearings are made but, we can hope they are at least US made, if not from Canada. I got them through CarQuest.

Stewart

[77 TRASHCAN]

Stewart,
Ive heard about using "B" spindles on Camaros and Firebirds. Is it a Bolt and Nut swap (my favorite kind) or a little more involved?

The "B" body cars had two different brake systems you could get. The heavy duty setup used 1/2" studs and 11" rear drums, the lighter ones 7/16" studs and 9-1/2" drums. Of course the bolt patterns were different also.

Which spindle are you supposed to use? What is a 1LE rotor? AND can you use your stock tie rod ends???

Your car is going to be a beast. I never really liked the factory brakes on my car, they worked O.K. I thought they should be better though.

Thanks
Jeff

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Stewart,
Ive heard about using "B" spindles on Camaros and Firebirds. Is it a Bolt and Nut swap (my favorite kind) or a little more involved?

The "B" body cars had two different brake systems you could get. The heavy duty setup used 1/2" studs and 11" rear drums, the lighter ones 7/16" studs and 9-1/2" drums. Of course the bolt patterns were different also.

Which spindle are you supposed to use? What is a 1LE rotor? AND can you use your stock tie rod ends???

Your car is going to be a beast. I never really liked the factory brakes on my car, they worked O.K. I thought they should be better though.

Thanks
Jeff

Hi Jeff:

Pretty much nuts and bolts. If you are only doing the spindle swap you can assemble the spindle and rotor on the bench, remove the caliper and hold it out of the way and do a simple R&R of the whole spindle assembly on the control arms and then re-install the caliper.

Here's a URL with part numbers etc. http://transamcountry.com/community/...?topic=23740.0

I did he same thing on my '86 Monte SS. It allows the use of the 12" 1LE rotor from the '89 - '92 Firebird 1LE "race" package instead of the 11" stock rotor. There are some things that are different but not much; lugnuts or new studs is pretty much it.

I hope it will be a beast when I get it done. It sat fallow for about 20 or so years. That's a lot of catch-up maintenance to account for to say nothing of the "improvements".

Stewart

[77 TRASHCAN]

Stewart,
Thanks for the info.

So an 11.86 rotor will bolt up the the spindle replacing the original 11" rotor, and the caliper attaches to the spindle O.K. and everything is good...

I noticed mention of drilling the rotors for the standard 7/16 studs. There should be no problem with that, if properly done. The article said you could use metric lug nuts...You can IF the taper in the wheels match the taper of the nuts. I've seen folks (not me ) run metric nuts on old wheels, you can lose your nuts and wheels..

Are you going to use your old single piston caliper??? I like those calipers, w/ the stainless pistons, and a little maintainence, not much to go wrong, and they DO work quite well for their age of design...The bearings looked to be the same as the 79-81 "F" body bearing sets, 70-78 use the smaller outer bearing set.

If the Willwood calipers use the "regular old" D52 pads, there is a pad w/ more surface area that can be used in place of the D52's, it is the D153 pad, it was used as the light duty disc pad on 3/4 ton G.M. pickups from about 72 through 87. I have had these on my car for a long time, I think they help stop better, and last longer. Not sure the D153's will work on the aftermarket calipers, I know they will on the O.E. ones...
Jeff

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Stewart,
Thanks for the info.

So an 11.86 rotor will bolt up the the spindle replacing the original 11" rotor, and the caliper attaches to the spindle O.K. and everything is good...

I noticed mention of drilling the rotors for the standard 7/16 studs. There should be no problem with that, if properly done. The article said you could use metric lug nuts...You can IF the taper in the wheels match the taper of the nuts. I've seen folks (not me ) run metric nuts on old wheels, you can lose your nuts and wheels..

Are you going to use your old single piston caliper??? I like those calipers, w/ the stainless pistons, and a little maintainence, not much to go wrong, and they DO work quite well for their age of design...The bearings looked to be the same as the 79-81 "F" body bearing sets, 70-78 use the smaller outer bearing set.

If the Willwood calipers use the "regular old" D52 pads, there is a pad w/ more surface area that can be used in place of the D52's, it is the D153 pad, it was used as the light duty disc pad on 3/4 ton G.M. pickups from about 72 through 87. I have had these on my car for a long time, I think they help stop better, and last longer. Not sure the D153's will work on the aftermarket calipers, I know they will on the O.E. ones...
Jeff

Hi Jeff:

The basic need for this conversion is the B-body spindles and the 1LE rotors. The spindles give more radial room for the larger diameter rotors. The calipers are the same and you use the bearings for the 1LE rotors, an A3 and an A6 IIRC.

I'm sticking with the stock calipers for now. They work well and with the Hawke pads I've got they should be way better than stock. But thanx for the heads up on the D153 pads. I hadn't head that one.

As for the lug nuts I'm going with 12mm lugs on the front and the stock 7/16 on the rear.

Stewart