not another Brake Upgrade thread :-)

[JohnnyTSi]

Hi - diving into the brakes on my new LS swap project. I've spent the last several hours reading about syty brake upgrades.

Current state of the brakes on my truck is:

all of the hard lines in the truck are stripped out, I do have all of the old brake components still.​

Master cylinder/booster is off and the dash is out.​

The truck already has a sportmachines small CTSV front conversion​

The rear drums are still on the truck​

I have 18" Corvette wheels on the truck​

While money is always a consideration, in this case I think getting upgraded brakes working is a priority. Having a potentially 1k AWHP truck seems like a bad idea without being able to stop as quickly as it accelerates.

After reading lots about syty brake upgrade options my initial plan is this:

Convert to hydroboost I already have a rockauto reman unit and an S10 adapter plate. Only thing to sort out is shortening the brake pedal arm and pressure lines. This seems like a no-brainer on a boosted application.

As mentioned the fronts are already the small 4-pot CTSV calipers so having matching rear calipers 'seems' like a good idea. Not really sure if having the same size calipers front and rear will cause challenges?

Install a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve to the system.

Besides the rear sportmachines bracket kit, is there anything else I'll need besides calipers and rotors?

What year Cadillac should I source the calipers from?
Ditto for the rotors What rotors do I need?
Does anyone recognize the front rotors I have? they are kind of a unique slot pattern and I'd like to find a matching rear pair for my conversion.
Given the clearance on my wheels, will the larger CTSV brake caliper kit fit on this truck?

 

[JohnnyTSi]

sportmachines rear CTS-V bracket kit

I pulled the trigger on the bracket kit, it arrived yesterday, per sportmachines support, I'll need:

gen1 (2006 - 2007) CTS-V Rear Calipers
C6 Z06 (2006 - 2013) Rear Rotors.

 

[Teahead]

no parking brake tho

 

[JohnnyTSi]

no parking brake tho

No Doubt, this kit is a tradeoff - I decided having more stopping power on this potentially 1k AWHP truck was worth it.

John-

 

[Typhoon-W]

John what year Small CTS-V calipers on the Front? and also rotors , are they the same as the calipers that you are installing in the rear?

 

[Mephisto]

The only thing those calipers upgraded was the APPEARANCE of your brakes. If you want to see an upgrade in braking performance take those calipers off and put the stock brakes back on haha.

Do some recon on those REAR CTS-v calipers and you'll find they're in fact REAR calipers for a reason. I'd take them off and throw them out or put them on ice till you buy the SM rear disc kit, that is if you're ok with losing the parking brake. I for one am not cool with losing the parking brake, so it's all drums for me until I'm drunk enough to piss away $2800 or whatever it is on the Baer rear disc kit that still has a parking brake.

I ran the gammut on all this shit already and it wasn't till DaveP called out the piston area of the rear CTS caliper being smaller than stock that we realized this is actually a downgrade and shouldn't be used.

If you have 5 grand to burn, just get the insanely priced 14" front and rear kits from Baer. At least then you get to keep your parking brake. I'd trust Baer's kits over any of these other DIY piecemeal kits being sold.

 

[DaveP's Ghost]

I did a 2nd Gen front and rear brake transplant into my 1993. Complete rear axle from a 1998 4X4. Changed the master cyl to 2nd gen, and disabled both valves in the combination valve. With AWD, it is difficult to lock up only one wheel if front/rear proportioning is off a bit. Cost me less than $1000 all-in and the brakes were the best upgrade I did to that truck in 26 years of ownership.

The 2nd Gen front rotors are only 1/2" larger in diameter, but the pad area is substantially more; you get a "lot" of brake with the front 2nd Gen set-up. And it's cheap.