Supercharged06SS Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Ok, with the PATIENT assistance from 3rd_Chevy (Chris from GMFS.com), we were able to install the Z06 front brake setup in two days time. Why so long you ask? Well, the brackets (Supersub's (Ray) Generation II) don't bolt-on 100% for McGaughy's drop spindles. I'll post the correct way to install these brackets with the 17" McGaughy's spindles and post why things are needed to be done the way they are as we go along... this is tedious work, but a great outcome and well worth the money spent! To start off, the upper and lower knuckles on the McGaughy's spindles need to grinded down to allow for the bracket to situate itself against the spindle. The back of the knuckles also needs to be grinded smooth. As seen pictured below: Now, when we bolted up the brackets originally, the bracket sats a tad too far away from the sindle, which when the caliper was bolted on it created about 1/4" of the pad to hang off the back of the rotor. The bracket needed to be closer to the spindle to allow the caliper to be snug up to the rotor and allow the pads to make full contact. I came to the conclusion that the only way to get the brackets to work was to bore out the top and bottom mounting holes where the bracket meets the spindle. So I went ahead and used a rotozip (thanks Chris!) and bored out the TOP hole on the mounting bracket about 1/4" so it created a "slot" and allowed for adjustability to get the bracket right. I also bored out the bottom mounting hole about 1/8" to get the bottom of the bracket closer to the spindle as well. The first picture below is how the bracket initially bolted up to the spindle with just the knuckles grinded. You can see that when the caliper is mounted, is sat way far back making the pads hang off the back: Bracket (1st time): Which caused this: See in this picture, the caliper sits a good ways off the rotor hat, not good: This next photo show what we had to do. Where the yellow is, we needed to eliminate that gap, basically remove the yellow by making the bracket closer. The red slash areas are what else we needed to grind down off the spindle's knuckles. The top arrow shows which direction we needed to bore out the top hole. The bottom arrow shows was drawn in error, lol. Soooo... off the the workbench we go to bore out the bracket holes: Top hole: Top hole on the left, bottom hole on the right: So, we now have fixed the gap where the bracket meets the spindle. This was the BIGGEST hurdle. Just took some time and some thinking of how to get this bracket to work, and it does. Next issue. The caliper does not center itself directly over the rotor. So we added a washer between the bracket and the spindle to "push" the bracket back about 1/16". This is how the bracket should look all bolted up to the spindle, notice the location of the washers: Now I SHOULD have taken a few more pictures with the caliper mounted and whatnot, but it got really late and Chris's wife was naggin him to get his ass home. So we bolted everything together, spun the rotor freely, installed the stainless brake lines, bled the brakes, and ended up with this: Now, in all honesty, who the hell wants to look at this when you could have what's pictured above???? ***I'd like to add a special thanks to Chris (3rd_Chevy) for his assistance in making this happen. Chris did all the grinding and alot of removal and reinstallation of the rotor, bracket, and caliper. I think he can do this blindfolded if he wanted to. Also a special thanks to Ray (Supersub) for giving me the oppertunity to experiment with his brackets to get them to work on dropped applications. Also a special thanks to my wife for putting up with me this weekend and my constant trips to the auto parts store! Ya'll are the best!!!*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF-03-SS Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Very nice Robbie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTMD8R_SS Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 (edited) I had a feeling whit even theses brakets it would not be 100% bolt on whit the Mcgaughy spindel, It actually seams like alittle more work than whit the old design (took my homeboy 4 hours max. from start to finish and taking his time). Atleast you have them on now and they look good. Edited January 4, 2009 by NTMD8R_SS (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeHansen Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 I had a feeling whit even theses brakets it would not be 100% bolt on whit the Mcgaughy spindel, It actually seams like alittle more work than whit the old design (took my homeboy 4 hours max. from start to finish and taking his time). Atleast you have them on now and they look good. Robbie they look great. I'm going to have to do that mod soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercharged06SS Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Very nice Robbie! Thanks Jeff I had a feeling whit even theses brakets it would not be 100% bolt on whit the Mcgaughy spindel, It actually seams like alittle more work than whit the old design (took my homeboy 4 hours max. from start to finish and taking his time). Atleast you have them on now and they look good. Bracket's weren't a huge issue and we ended up doing some extra grinding on the knuckles just to make everything perfectly smooth (backside). But all in all, I didn't want to grind the Z06 calipers at all, much rather grind the spindle. Thanks for the compliment! Robbie they look great. I'm going to have to do that mod soon Thank you sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detjoe Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 the pic with the wheel and brakes...conversation starter for sure! looks good, are you leaving the corvette lettering? how's she stop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercharged06SS Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 the pic with the wheel and brakes...conversation starter for sure!looks good, are you leaving the corvette lettering? how's she stop? I gotta clean the wheels up and get some better pictures. It started raining a lil bit when I took the photos and it was pitch dark outside. I am leaving the Vette lettering. I personally think it would look like generic caliper covers if I removed the lettering. I dig it! Stopping is quite an improvement. I only went down the block about a mile or so with them. I'll do more driving today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detjoe Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 hey corvette guy...bet you want these I agree the corvette is cool, I have SS decals but I think they will be too small. And SilveradoSS will be too big. I HAVE to remember to do a few stops from 60mph with tthe stockers and measure the stopping distance. I am a nerd what can I say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Lamanna Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 (edited) they look great!!!! your going to hate the break dust if your staying with the stock pads..... Edited January 5, 2009 by Justin Lamanna (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersub Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 they look great!!!! your going to hate the break dust if your staying with the stock pads..... I have heard the ceramic pads are best for low dusting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercharged06SS Posted January 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 they look great!!!! your going to hate the break dust if your staying with the stock pads..... the brake pads that are on the truck came with the calipers when I bought them. For $425 shipped (both calipers and brake pads), I think I'll stick with those for now! lol. But once these are toast, I'll get the Hawk pads. I really don't drive the truck too much to be concerned with the brake dust, but we'll see how it goes. Thanks for the compliment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILLS04SS Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Sweet deal Robbie. Welcome to the 15" front rotor club I'll be there soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supercharged06SS Posted January 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Sweet deal Robbie. Welcome to the 15" front rotor club I'll be there soon yeah man, thanks! Can't wait to see your SS blown and Z06'd! Try to make it down to Justin's Wednesday if you can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krambo Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Very nice and detailed write-up. Many times your have to think outside of the box when mixing performance parts. The only concern I would have is the oblong hole now present in the bracket. I would think that over time it could slip with the huge amount of rotating force and cause issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detjoe Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 (edited) the bolts holding the bracket are grade 10. and I bet he tightened the piss out of them...My brackets have some play b/c they are the first set and I am running a different rotor, when ray had them cut he took out alot of the play...he was using a stock spindle. But I am glad there is so little modding for them to fit the dropped spindle. Edited January 5, 2009 by detjoe (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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