Dale1990

The previous owner of our '86 said that he had the front brakes "upgraded". The problem is he did not say what they are and when need to replace the rotors and pads.

The rotor is 13" dia. I think they might be ZR1 or GS brakes but I can't be sure. I don't know what C5 brakes brakes look like for comparison. I need to know what to get for replacement - any ideas?

Also, when we took off the rotors we noticed that they were on the wrong sides. The rotor on the left was stamped "RH" in the part no. and vice versa. This seems to make the cooling fins in rotor "pull" air inside for cooling. We know the owner used to race the car often (180+ mph) and maybe he thought this would be a good idea. I am not sure if we should put them back like this or not - any ideas?

Thanks all! :cheers:

vader86

Do the calipers have "corvette" written on them? are they black or gray or red?

Dale1990

They are gray w/o Corvette written on them.

Dale

Scoob

I believe that the standard rotor size in '86 was 12" so if yo uhave 13" rotors now then that is the upgrade. The 13" rotors are aka J55 (heavy duty brakes).

Dale1990

That sounds reasonable.

My question is: What do I tell the parts monkey at AutoZone? Should I say its a 90 with HD brakes?

Also, does anyone know about the rotors being on the wrong sides? Is this OK? Why would the PO do this?

Sorry or the dumb questions, I have not spent enough time researching all the C4 options available so I am a little behind on the jargon.

Thanks
Dale



[Modified by Professor, 5:54 PM 9/21/2002]

vader86

Sounds like you do have the J55 brakes, but to be sure, is there any way for you to post a picture of it?

FlyboyZR1

Don't all Z51 cars have the 13" brakes? I'm curious because my RPO list says Z51 but not J55.

vader86

:nonod: Not on the earlier Z51s anyway

Dale1990

Here are two pics - one of the rotor and one of the caliper. They are not real good but should be OK. The rotor is 13" as stated above.





It's amazing how rusty and "aged" averything looks under this car after only 40K miles. My 90 has 3x as many miles and looks far better. :confused:

We went to AutoZone to order the parts for J55 brakes. They had to order the rotors but they actually some pads. The pads seem to be identical to the ones we took off - a good sign.

The rotors are listed as directional so I assume this is referring to the cooling veins in the center. Should I put these so the veins are "pulling" air in or "pushing" air out? I am pretty confused with what the PO did with this

Dale

92TripleBlack

J55. I'd get the rotors from Jeff Kopp at Superior Chevrolet. He's 18carfan on the board, a great guy, and will sell forum members parts at just above book. Might as well paint them while you got them off.

65Z01

It was in 1988 that the RPO Z51 introduced the heavy duty front rotors and calipers.

Scoob

Exactly. That's when they introduced the 17" wheels.

vette92_1

I don't know if it makes much of a difference, maybe someone else on here can answer this question, because I would like to know myself. I always get confused on what side is considered RH or LH depending on which way you look at the vehicle. (From the front or rear) To be for sure I always look at other parts on the car on each side that are stamped with RH or LH, then I match up the rotors accordingly. Unless there is a trick to cooling them better by putting them on backwards, I would put them back on to there respective locations.

larryfs

sitting in the drivers seat, left is left, right is right.