| Modifications, Repairs, & Upgrades |
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F-body to W-body Caliper Change - [return to main mods page] If you want info on how to upgrade your W-body (I know this specifically works on all 00+ monte carlos, and GTPs with the 12" rotor upgrade) you have come to the right place. Note that this will only work if you have a 12" rotor. The F-body calipers are made of aluminum, rather than cast iron, and are a dual piston design, rather than single.I found a set of calipers off a 99 firebird at a local salvage yard. Price was $100 for both, which is pretty reasonable in my book. If you shop around you may be able to find these cheaper, but I chose this route because I could inspect them myself, and wouldn't have to pay shipping. You can get these calipers off any 98 and newer firebird or camaro. You'll need the caliper brackets too, but these were included in the price of my caliper. I'd keep the banjo bolts too, since the W- and F-body ones are different. Assuming you already have 12 inch rotors, the only modification you'll have to make is to the threads that attach the caliper to the steering knuckle. The F-body is threaded to accept 12mm bolts, at a 1.75 pitch. W-bodies are 14mm x 2.0 pitch. It may be easier to call a few machine shops and find out if they have a 14mm tap. This is a pretty large size and most will not have much of a metric selection. If they don't, you'll need to go to any reputalbe fastener supply store, and they should have one. The one I bought was 14mm x 2.0. This is the same pitch as the ones already in your caliper brackets, so no new bolts are required. Next you'll need to clean your calipers. My favorite method is to use a wire wheel attachment on a drill. Easiest way to get all the nooks and crannies is to separate the bracket from the caliper. Get all the caked up dust and grime off the calipers and caliper bracket. After you are confident that all the dirt is off, get some shop towels and some lacquer thinner and rub the caliper down, focusing your attention on the fronts that will be seen. You will be amazed at how much more dirt the thinner pulls off the calipers than the wire wheel did. For paint, I used some barbecue grill paint, which is good to temps up to 500 degrees or so. I wanted mine black anyway, but if you want yours a different color use some high temp engine enamel and it should come out good. Of course, when you get brake pads, you will need to say you have a 99 camaro, etc. Here is a comparison of the stock Monte brake pad and the F-body pad:
Here is a pic of the stock caliper next to the F-body caliper:
The install was fairly straightforward. It is very important that after you remove the stock calipers, take the banjo bolts and thread them back into the calipers - this will prevent you from being tempted to thread them into your aluminum calipers. They are different threads and it won't work, so you need to either 1. use the bolts that came in the calipers, or 2. if there weren't any, take one to a parts store to get one test fit. Get 4 new copper gaskets too. I got it all finished with no help in about 3 hours, which included cleaning and painting. Just make sure the air bleeder valve is pointing UP, or you will never get the brakes bled all the way. Total cost of this upgrade:
Calipers: $100 |
