Jon_Esslinger

My main question is if i am to do this conversion does the LS1 caliper bolt onto the same bracket that the LT1 caliper does or do i need to alter it. Anything else I should look out for or need to know?

ZDriver96

If you don't have the LS1 calipers/slotted rotors/ HPS hawk pads let me know I have them for sale. and matching slotted rear rotors too..

You will have to cut the ear off your knuckle. The ear is the piece of metal that comes of the knuckle and cups the side of the caliper. You'll see it when you take your wheel off and look at your caliper. The caliper bolt holes from the LS1 will line up with your existing.

Once you get that ear cut off its easy from there... If your LT1 brake hoses dont reach... bend the brackets that hold your hoses a little and it will reach.

G. McDonald

When I did the conversion to LS1 brakes on my 97 I bought the calipers, rotors and spindles from the LS1 car.

From there, I removed the original LT1 spindles from the control arms and swapped in the LS1 spindles then attached the LS1 calipers to that spindle along with my new slotted rotors. You will probably need to bend the original brake line mounting bracket to allow the hose to reach the caliper throughout the range of suspension travel. I think you also will need to use the LS1 banjo bolt.

I was unaware that there was a bolt-on bracket available to install LS1 calipers on the original LT1 spindles (I have however seen a few kits for C5 Corvette upgrades that are designed in this way with an adapter plate to mount the C5 calipers).

In any event, if you do a search on here there are a few people who have uploaded a "how-to" procedure that outlines the method I have described (involving the use of the LS1 spindles)

Do be careful when buying the parts from the wrecking yard. I found that the rough treatment they hand out to the scrap cars can frequently bend the spindles. Take a look at them together side by side (while laying them on a flat surface) to help determine if they are bent.

I thought the brake upgrade was fairly noticeable, though I don't race my car (yet).

Jon_Esslinger

Thanks. I did find some how to articles. It seems like a fairly easy swap. I was thinking about doing this down the road and I like to know exactly what I'll be doing before hand so I can do the job quickly when I get to it.

car_ramrod

So, if I'm understanding Zdriver correctly, all I need for the brake swap is calipers, pads, and rotors, and with a little grinding, everything will bolt up to the lt1 spindle?

ZDriver96

Sorry buddy i think i was wrong on my above statement. You do need the LS1 spindles. Because they hold the caliper at the correct distance allowing your 12 inch rotor to fit within the caliper. If you did not use the LS1 spindle the 12 inch rotor would be too big to fit. Probably brackets out there that would make it work but I dont know..

I did try the C5 brackets that allow stock LS1 spindles to work with C5 rotors/calipers. I did not like this design because when the wheels were turned all the way to the right or left the adapter brackets would hit the A arm. Also the caliper position looked funky because it sat so low on the rotor. So i returned them and did the regular conversion which involves cutting 1 of the spindles bolt holes off.

car_ramrod

I wonder if it would work with the LT1 rotor? Kind of a .5ass solution, with the smaller rotor, but at least I'd have the better caliper, maybe.

ZDriver96

well I would caution against that because the 12 inch LS1 rotor is not up to the task of handling the LS1 caliper. So the LT1 rotor definately is not. The LS1 caliper being gravity casted has a tendency to not uniformily apply pressure causing the rotors to warp. On a smaller rotor like the LT1 this would be even worse.

Adding 1 inch to the C5 rotor and making the pistons smaller and pressure casting the calipers does a good job on keeping C5 rotors from warping.

car_ramrod

Understood, thank you for the info, looks like it's all LT1 parts for me, lol.