Caprice, caddy brake swap??

[thrashin]

Found a BIG old caddy and a Caprice 79' or 81', I forget. But they have 12" brakes up front. Can I use the : spindles, calipers, and rotors? Is there any thing else I need to grab like the master cyl. and lines? Upper A arms, or only after market A's?

 

[StreetBu]

aftermarket uppers only with this swap.

 

[thrashin]

I thought so. What about the rest of the swap?

 

[StreetBu]

Check out this link from the FAQ section, should answer all your questions.

http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33085

 

[thrashin]

Are the calipers and rotors from the caddy not as good as the 1LE's? What's the difference?

 

[StreetBu]

The caddy's and impala's with 12" front rotors have a 5 on 5 bolt pattern. So your current wheels won't fit and your choice is limited. The 1LE rotors fit the b-body spindle but have the correct 5 on 4 3/4" pattern for your current wheels. Most people use the caprice calipers because they are larger than the malibu calipers and simply bolt on. If you want to use a different caliper your going to have to make a bracket and modify the b body spindle to make the caliper fit it. The Camaro's use a PBR caliper and are very hard to find and wont directly bolt to the b-body spindle anyways.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

The B-body 12" caliper is more than adequate. It's the same one the GM pickups use.

Tommy

 

[thrashin]

So if I plan on dropping the car a couple of inches, do I still need to change the upper control arms? If so what are a good pair that won't break the bank?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

So if I plan on dropping the car a couple of inches, do I still need to change the upper control arms? If so what are a good pair that won't break the bank?

if you plan on using th B-body spindles you have to use aftermarket upper A-arms designed for the B-body spindle swap. The camber will be WAYYY out if you don't & there's not enough adjustment with the stock uppers to get it back to normal. Global West & Hotchkiss both carru the ones you need. I'm not sure who else does.

Tommy

 

[malibu795]

So if I plan on dropping the car a couple of inches, do I still need to change the upper control arms? If so what are a good pair that won't break the bank?

if you plan on using th B-body spindles you have to use aftermarket upper A-arms designed for the B-body spindle swap. The camber will be WAYYY out if you don't & there's not enough adjustment with the stock uppers to get it back to normal. Global West & Hotchkiss both carru the ones you need. I'm not sure who else does.

Tommy

spc performance does ~220 each and invinate adjustable

http://www.spcperformance.com/PROD_DIR/SPCPerf_PROD_SEARCH_DYN.cfm?cmd=Cam&cmd2=94330&cmd3=