Brake Calipers - What would you do?

[Keith M.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

I would not replace your rotors unless you measure them and they are already worn below spec. I don't anticipate that will be the case.

You do NOT want to separate the rotors from the hubs unless you absolutely have to.
Local repair shops can likely machine your front rotors while still attached to the hubs.
Your rears will be redone when you send out the trailing arms.

As noted above, the Lonestar website is having issues.
Ken just emailed me and told me that he's having a whole new site built, so to call with questions.

Sooo...I get the notion of not replacing rotors til necessary....BUT...they are eventually a maint item. Turn/machine them whenever replacing pads until they get below tolerance spec and at that point out they go. And for $60 a pop...not a huge expense...admittedly labor on top...but...

As for the rears...and the trailing arms ..I have come to learn that shipping them out for a makeover seems to be THE thing to do. That being said....I am also learning the importance of having an overall game plan for a restoration. For now front and rear brakes are functional and will pass inspection so will have to wait.

Mine is a rolling restoration as I don't have the funds nor desire to do it all straight through...because I want to enjoy it during the summers including the coming one. It has been garaged and not started since 2001. So my goal for this year is get it running, functional, and safe to enjoy this summer. Next off season will tackle suspension and brakes and a few other items...then the following year tear the engine apart and get that back to correct to the extent possible. And finally the year after body off to deal with paint and any remaining trim items...paint the frame etc. I am working full time so have a mechanic I trust doing most of the heavy lifting. If all goes well we will try to fire it up this week...for the first time in 20 years. The first few owners really had their way with her in the first 30 years.

[Larry M.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

Sooo...I get the notion of not replacing rotors til necessary....BUT...they are eventually a maint item. Turn/machine them whenever replacing pads until they get below tolerance spec and at that point out they go. And for $60 a pop...not a huge expense...admittedly labor on top...but...

As for the rears...and the trailing arms ..I have come to learn that shipping them out for a makeover seems to be THE thing to do. That being said....I am also learning the importance of having an overall game plan for a restoration. For now front and rear brakes are functional and will pass inspection so will have to wait.

Mine is a rolling restoration as I don't have the funds nor desire to do it all straight through...because I want to enjoy it during the summers including the coming one. It has been garaged and not started since 2001. So my goal for this year is get it running, functional, and safe to enjoy this summer. Next off season will tackle suspension and brakes and a few other items...then the following year tear the engine apart and get that back to correct to the extent possible. And finally the year after body off to deal with paint and any remaining trim items...paint the frame etc. I am working full time so have a mechanic I trust doing most of the heavy lifting. If all goes well we will try to fire it up this week...for the first time in 20 years. The first few owners really had their way with her in the first 30 years.

Many of us do not turn the rotors on these cars with each brake pad change. Not really necessary in most cases. Just more ways for the shops to make $$$$$.

Mic the rotors and inspect for major damage. If okay, leave them alone.

Larry

[Patrick H.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

Rotors from 50 years ago have a LOT more metal on them than the throwaway ones of today.

In addition, the 65-82 disc brake system is completely different in design than any other car you know.
Spend some time looking through old threads on this board for more detail.

[Reba W.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

Mine were done by Lonestar several years ago.

[Gary B.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

You can also buy direct from Lonestar thru their eBay store. Search for seller edgewoodmike2012


[ATTACH=CONFIG]104785[/ATTACH]

For the sake of accuracy, a friend in my chapter recently informed me that Lonestar Caliper does not have, and I believe never has had, an eBay store. The eBay seller, edgewoodmike2012, is a re-seller for Lonestar. If you buy calipers via eBay from edgewoodmike2012, you are not dealing direct with Lonestar.


As some of you will know, Lonestar Caliper technically bills itself as a wholesaler. As such, they have many resellers (including some well-known retailers) that simply purchase from Lonestar and then sell to end users, also passing along the Lonestar warranty. No problem with that business model. But many of you also know that the owner of Lonestar, Ken McKormick, is very understanding of NCRS members and if you call Lonestar, you can talk directly with Ken and purchase directly from Lonestar. Both buying directly from Lonestar or from a reseller can and should work out fine. But some people prefer to avoid a middle man.


Gary

[Floyd B.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

Lonestar is good but CSSB is also good (IMO), so it might depend on where you live. In my case CSSB is about 90 miles from my house so I save the shipping charges by swinging by their production facility in Gainesville the next time I happen to be going that way. They'll also give you a cash discount since they don't have to eat the credit card surcharges. One thing to consider is that Loanstar rebuilds/re-sleeves from existing cores. That's why there is a core charge. CSSB always uses newly cast cores - thus, no core charge. Most of the Corvette parts houses are supplied by one or the other. I think those that take usable cores in exchange are probably supplied by Loanstar and those with no core charge are supplied by CSSB.

It's been a long time since I've purchased calipers from Ken but I seem to recall people on this forum mentioning that the standard finish on calipers from Loanstar is gray paint and there is an up-charge to have them painted semigloss black. Take that with a grain of salt, but you might want to ask. The calipers I picked up from CSSB for my '69 last summer came painted black. Also, since they use brand new cores, the casting numbers are correct at all four corners. When ordering from CSSB, you can choose lip seals (if you want them to be as original) or O-rings - same price.

After spending months futzing around with calipers from the local auto parts store, I finally learned my lesson and gave up when all 6 calipers I cycled through leaked. I bolted on the new calipers from CSSB, spent the better part of a day bleeding them (using the buddy method), and they all worked perfectly on the first test drive. NO LEAKS!

[Joe L.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

Lonestar is good but CSSB is also good (IMO), so it might depend on where you live. In my case CSSB is about 90 miles from my house so I save the shipping charges by swinging by their production facility in Gainesville the next time I happen to be going that way. They'll also give you a cash discount since they don't have to eat the credit card surcharges. One thing to consider is that Loanstar rebuilds/re-sleeves from existing cores. That's why there is a core charge. CSSB always uses newly cast cores - thus, no core charge. Most of the Corvette parts houses are supplied by one or the other. I think those that take usable cores in exchange are probably supplied by Loanstar and those with no core charge are supplied by CSSB.

It's been a long time since I've purchased calipers from Ken but I seem to recall people on this forum mentioning that the standard finish on calipers from Loanstar is gray paint and there is an up-charge to have them painted semigloss black. Take that with a grain of salt, but you might want to ask. The calipers I picked up from CSSB for my '69 last summer came painted black. Also, since they use brand new cores, the casting numbers are correct at all four corners. When ordering from CSSB, you can choose lip seals (if you want them to be as original) or O-rings - same price.

After spending months futzing around with calipers from the local auto parts store, I finally learned my lesson and gave up when all 6 calipers I cycled through leaked. I bolted on the new calipers from CSSB, spent the better part of a day bleeding them (using the buddy method), and they all worked perfectly on the first test drive. NO LEAKS!

Floyd-------

Something to keep in mind: the 1965-E1967 calipers of casting number 546xxxx were cast of nodular iron. The L1967-about 1973 calipers of casting number 545xxxx were cast of malleable/ductile iron. The about 1973-1982 calipers of casting number 547xxxx I believe were cast of gray iron. As far as the reproduction calipers go, I don't know of what material they are cast. I have inquired to a few of the caliper retail sources but got no response. However, I highly suspect they are of gray iron. Of course, this is a suitable material for calipers or GM would not have used it for later C3 calipers. However, I prefer ductile/malleable iron as a first choice, nodular iron as a second choice and gray iron as a third and last choice.

By the way, I know that some or all of the reproduction front calipers are embossed "Armasteel". However, I do not think they are Armasteel. I think that's just one of these "cosmetic" features used for originality purposes and only "skin deep". As I recall, Armasteel is a GM trademark for malleable/ductile iron. Of original calipers, I believe only the 545xxxx front calipers were embossed "Armasteel".

The 545xxxx calipers were cast at the old GM Danville, IL foundry which was a malleable/ductile iron foundry. I do not know, for sure, where the 546xxxx calipers were cast but I expect it was at one of the Saginaw nodular iron foundries. I believe the 547xxxx calipers were cast by an outside foundry and not at a GM foundry.

[Mark E.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

I've had good luck with Lone Star too. Whatever you decide, make adding fluid and bleeding as one of the last steps in the restoration. These brakes do not store well with fluid in them.

[Paul S.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

Lonestar is good but CSSB is also good (IMO), so it might depend on where you live. In my case CSSB is about 90 miles from my house so I save the shipping charges by swinging by their production facility in Gainesville the next time I happen to be going that way. They'll also give you a cash discount since they don't have to eat the credit card surcharges. One thing to consider is that Loanstar rebuilds/re-sleeves from existing cores. That's why there is a core charge. CSSB always uses newly cast cores - thus, no core charge. Most of the Corvette parts houses are supplied by one or the other. I think those that take usable cores in exchange are probably supplied by Loanstar and those with no core charge are supplied by CSSB.

It's possible things have changed since 2013 when I did the standard disk brake to power disk brake on my 67, but then both CSSB and Lone Star sold new calipers and Lone Star also sold rebuilt calipers. Choice of lip or O ring seals, both places. I actually started with CSSB and by agreement returned the calipers for a full refund (couldn't get DOT 5 brake fluid to quit seeping and this was BEFORE CSSB put the warning on their web page that DOT 5 voids warranties). Then went with Lone Star, who's close enough to drive and pick them up, for me. There were no caliper core charges for the new ones purchased from Lone Star (there was a core charge with CSSB's new ones I started with, however). Lone Star's are gray, correct. I didn't ask if I could get black painted, which I take it they will do these days.

[Tim G.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

I just sent CSSB an email inquiring if they have 1967 J56 front calipers. Hopefully they do.

[Joe L.]

Re: Brake Calipers - What would you do?

I just sent CSSB an email inquiring if they have 1967 J56 front calipers. Hopefully they do.

Tim------


As far as the actual castings go, J-56 front calipers can be easily made by converting non-J-56 calipers (i.e. machine off the pin boss and drill holes for the pad retaining cotter pins). As far as the second design insulated pistons go, that's another matter. I don't know if those are currently available in reproduction, or not.