ZBRA

What I have:

• 1994 Corvette
• C6 Z06 Rotors (all 4)
• C6 Z06 Calipers (all 4)
• C6 Z06 Pads (all 20)

What I need:

• Brake caliper adapters
• Brake hoses
• Wheels (of course)

I'm looking for the adapters! Who has done this swap and how did they do it? I know it's been done by a forum memeber, here are the pics:





Admiral Blue sure is beautiful!

I'm not worried about the wheels, I'll cross that bridge later. I also don't care about the emergency brake. This is a track only car, and I can live without it.

Adapters anyone?

USAsOnlyWay

JeffVette... talk to him.

I've seen that car in person...it only looks better! He loves his brakes too!

ZBRA

Already did. He doesn't have the C6 Z06 adapters finished yet.

zelement

I asked this question a while back. IT was concluded that it can be done but needs custom adapters that no one seems to have or made.

THat picture is the first time I have seen those brakes on a C4. I am pumped to see that someone has it done, I hope the owner would chime in.

USAsOnlyWay

I don't know how often he is on the forum, but JeffVette made the adapters so....if Jeff says they aren't done yet....they aren't gonna be done yet. Sorry!

Jeffvette

Fronts are done, but I really don't want to sell them until the rears are done.

Steve, give me a shout.

LT4POWR

That's

1991Z07

I think my first question to you would be "Why?"

All you have to do is go over to the C6Z06 forum and find all kinds of horror stories about the brakes when tracked. The pads are too thin, there isn't anywhere but OEM to get them from (read this as LOTS of $$$$) and they don't last very long at the track.

Rumor is GM are designing a new caliper with a single pad with 6 pots up front and 4 in the rear. Also, thicker pads to take the punishment.

What you have to ask yourself is this: "If the PRODUCTION C6Z06 brakes were so good, why don't they use them on the factory race cars in the shorter races?"

The answer is "If you push them too hard for too long they will not work." They are great for a street car driven aggressively sometimes, but not for tracking the car a lot.

Did you buy the ones you have from a Z06 owner? Gotta make you wonder why he gave them up, doesn't it?

Casethecorvetteman

Yes..... It does indeed

ZBRA

No, I bought them new from Fred Beans. Fred Beans is one of my suppliers for my company, so I bought them through my company. In other words, they didn't cost me a dime.

And even though they aren't the perferct brake, I'm sure they are a little bit better than the standard C4 brakes I currently have.

LT4POWR

I think you may have answered your own question.

ZBRA

The purpose of this thread is not to discuss how good, bad, or indifferent the C6 Z06 brakes are. The purpose is to get them mounted on a late C4.

I'll let you know how well they perform on a race car.

1991Z07

The question was asked because he said......which wouldn't have answered my question...it would be directly contradictory to the reasons I originally stated.
While that is true, if it costs you 3-5x the money to replace pads, then is it really worth it? Or do you plan on skimming the pads off the company books as well? And while they didn't personally cost you a dime, they were paid for I'm sure by the company...

I'm not faulting you...if you can use it as a legitimate business expense and get away with it...more power to you (as long as the company is yours). If you are just an employee and got them that way, then that is called Embezzlement...

All I'm saying, is IF it is a track duty car, then you will be better served putting some good track brakes on it.

Everyone has their opinions, and there are people here on this forum who have had practical experiences that others can learn from. I've tracked my C4 a lot, and if you step over to the Autocross Forum http://forums.corvetteforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23 and ask the question, you'll get more advise from those who have been there and spent untold thousands, some of it completely wasted, to get their cars to be fast and reliable on the track.

I know the Z06 brakes look cool compared to the stock C4 (hell, I was gonna do the same thing with my C4 before I started to hear about the problems they are causing), but there are a lot more manufacturers out there that make brakes for our cars that actually work for the track for the long haul.

It's your car, so you can do whatever you want with it. I'm going to get either the AP Racing Brakes http://www.stillen.com/emailFiles/Sp...eBrPro706.html or a set of StopTechs http://www.stoptech.com. The price is about the same...about $4700 for a full system front/rear and either will work since a C5 caliper bracket is easily available now for the C4's. If I wait and bide my time, I might find someone selling theirs used and get an even better deal.

All I know, is it will cost me a lot more than that to fix my C4 if I plow it into a wall (or another car) if my brakes fail me...and I use my brakes pretty sparingly at that....but I do go fast around the track. One famous racer once said "...you never lose a race from having brakes that are too good"...and all the horsepower you can throw at a track car won't do you any good if your brakes don't make it through a 20 minute enduro.

ZBRA

I own the company.

94ZR1

That Blue Z looks just like mine
Is that your track car?
Except for the wheel and tire combo and calipers
I forget how absolutely stunning the Adm blue cars are
There arent many Admiral Blue ZR1's out there
I think the total is 56

LT4POWR

gotcha

1991Z07

Nice feeling, isn't it?

We bought a 43' Eagle to take to trade shows AND we just happen to use it for racing weekends as well...depreciated and a "company" asset...

Good luck with it...I was looking into some of the C5/C6 Forums when I posted last, and it looks like the C6Z06 caliper should bolt to a C5 without mods...at least that is what I read.

In that case, a C5 caliper bracket should get you there...Rippie, Lingenfelter and a few others make the brackets to fit the C5 brakes to a C4...

ZBRA

I looked into these for my 2004 Z51 Coupe, and yes they are a direct bolt on for the C5. If they don't hold up well on my C4 track car, I'll just take them off and put them on my C5. Unfortunatly I would have to lose the BBS wheels to do this.

I already have the C5 caliper brackets from JeffVette. I haven't tried them myself, but he has and said they won't fit due to the location of the brake hose bolt. The C5 adapter brackets put that bolt right into the spindle.

I'll probably just put C5 Z06 calipers on my C4 for now, until Jeff has the C6 Z06 caliper brackets ready. I already have a set of C5 Z06 wheels with track tires that need to be worn out.

Jeffvette

Try that route and see where it gets you. It's not even close to working.


BTW, have you driven any car with the C6 Z06 brakes on them?

1991Z07

Yes...and ridden in one at the track as well....hard...VERY hard...

Oh...and have SEEN a zillion photos on the C6 Z06 portion of the site that ALL show how GM really screwed this part of the C6 Z06 up....and read a lot of threads on tracking them as well....

Everything I've seen points out that they are great STREET brakes with very OCCASIONAL track excursions. Once you go beyond that, then they are NOT a good brake for racing (which is what the intended use is for his car).

With the Z06 calipers, instead of 8 points of failure (4 rotors, 2 pads each), you now have 20 points of failure (20 pads for 4 calipers, 12 front and 8 rear)...nearly 3x more points of failure than a standard brake setup. AND, they are not thick enough to take the added heat loads of racing...so you'll be dishing out a lot of jack every few race weekends to replace them.

IF they were so great for racing, would Lou Gigliotti and the others running SpeedGT be using something else? Why wouldn't the GM factory C6R's be using them? Because they suck when it comes to racing...again, back to the point he made in the start..."I also don't care about the emergency brake. This is a track only car, and I can live without it."

I'm all for progress through technology, but in racing I apply to the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Many times you pick your battles when it comes to setting up a car (keep/toss the ABS, disable the ASR, carb or FI, etc.), and it all comes down to staying ahead of the gremlins.

I was just using some deductive reasoning on the brackets...

IF you can do a direct bolt-on of the C6 Z06 brakes to a C5 (true), and you CAN bolt a C5 caliper onto a C4 (again, true with the right bracket), then you can bolt a C6 Z06 caliper onto a C4 (again, SHOULD be true, NO?).

Modifications to the knuckle might be necessary...not "really" a bolt-on, but if I'm going to modify my brakes to that extent, I'm not interested in going back to stock configurations...once you go to great brakes, you never want to go back to mediocre ones.

BTW: There are currently 6 threads on "Brake Upgrades" in the Z06 Forum http://forums.corvetteforum.com/sear...archid=3253302