Project snowball - questions about parking brake and rear disc conversion

[twov8sandat4]

Good morning everyone,

I have owned my 74 Trans Am for 31 years.  For the most part, I kept it up and enjoyed driving the daylights out of it  .  A couple of years ago, I started noticing the car pulling to one side when I stepped on the brakes, and the pedal was feeling soft.  I figured one of the calipers were frozen, and took both out and rebuilt them.  I tried bleeding the brakes after install, but the left didn't bleed.  Looked like the hose was junk.  Since I always wanted to go discs all around, I picked up a used rear disc brake conversion kit from a friend who was building a pro touring Camaro with full on Wilwood brakes, and didn't want the generic rears.  I also ordered a full stainless steel line kit from Central Firebird with new booster and master cylinder.

When the car was ordered new in MA, the dealer must have applied rubberized undercoating.  All along the driver's side where the brake line runs had surface rust from trapping moisture.  Since the fuel vapor line runs in the same clip as the brake line, I got a set of stainless steel vapor line to replace the original.

So I have run into a couple of issues I'd need some help or guidance.

1.  Does anyone make a hard line for the rear axle to mate to the calipers?  The kit came with junk hoses and junkier bent parts store hard lines.  The Firebird Central kit lines do not match to the calipers, and I don't know if i can re-bend stainless.  Even if I could, the fittings in the line do not match the banjo bolt threads in the caliper.  I got a set of stainless braided lines to mate to parts store lines that go to the junction tee, but they look tacky.  If no hard lines are available, can I make stainless braided lines from the caliper to the tee?  Would that be too long for braided lines?

2.  Do you have to remove the parking brake cable in order to replace the front to rear brake and vapor lines?  If so, how do you do it?  Both lines run over a bracket that holds the cable with a c-clip, but I can't figure out what happens after you remove that clip.

3.  has anyone made the parking brake work with aftermarket calipers? how did you do it?  Do the stock drum brake cables work or do you have to replace them with something else?

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

[darrylta]

Welcome to the DAT World, ie Drop Another Thousand!
Darryl

[JJ 109]

Made the brake lines out of Nicopp.

It’s very easy, hand bendable. Flares easily also. All the fittings are available.

You can talk to Inline tube for the entire lines or just the components to make them.

For parking brake, lot of options too.

Check out the Tesla ebrake. EBay has a ton of them cheap.

[ryeguy2006a]

I approached mine the same way that JJ mentioned. NiCopp lines and hand bent them myself. I welded some tabs to the rear axle to secure the flex lines and it worked great. Not sure if your rear disk is OEM style or not, but I used LS1 rear brakes for my conversion and found that the universal emergency brake kit from Speedway was perfect for me.

[twov8sandat4]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I'll check out all the suggestions.

thanks again 

[MNBob]

I used flexible stainless lines to hook to the rear calipers when I did the Blazer rear disks.  That way you can replace the pads without bleeding the system.

I also used the NiCopp to make the lines.  Very easy to bend to what you want.

[twov8sandat4]

I ended up using a spare set of flexible stainless lines for the rears and had my friend shorten the prebent stainless lines to make them work.  All the brake lines are now plumbed, and master cylinder bench bled and installed along with a new booster.

I am working on taking the parking brake out now.  I sprayed some PBBlaster on the bolts holding the cables to the frame next to the front leaf spring eyes.  The driver's side cable is too long since the caliper sits in front of the rear axle.  The passenger side might make it, as the caliper is behind the axle 

Thanks for all your help.

[twov8sandat4]

The following should be a straightforward process, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what is going on.

As mentioned earlier, I replaced the entire braking system including booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve, and all the lines. The rears were converted to discs.  The booster/master cylinder/proportioning valve are the generic reproduction units (with the Delco stamp) that most vendors are selling.  They’re supposed to be for disc/disc setup.

My mechanic friend bench bled the master cylinder for me, and he told me to keep the bleeder at the rear caliper open to help fill the new lines going to the rear to help with bleeding.  I have had the bleeder open for 4 days now, and the fluid level has not gone down any in the master cylinder. I also tried bleeding with the help of wifey, but again fluid was not moving.  There was a leak where the rear line connects to the proportioning valve that I fixed by tightening the fitting, so fluid is getting at least to that point.

Since I have never done a complete brake system, does it take a long time and patience to bleed a brand new system, or is there an issue I need to address?

Thanks for any help.

[langss]

The following should be a straightforward process, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what is going on.

As mentioned earlier, I replaced the entire braking system including booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve, and all the lines. The rears were converted to discs.  The booster/master cylinder/proportioning valve are the generic reproduction units (with the Delco stamp) that most vendors are selling.  They’re supposed to be for disc/disc setup.

My mechanic friend bench bled the master cylinder for me, and he told me to keep the bleeder at the rear caliper open to help fill the new lines going to the rear to help with bleeding.  I have had the bleeder open for 4 days now, and the fluid level has not gone down any in the master cylinder. I also tried bleeding with the help of wifey, but again fluid was not moving.  There was a leak where the rear line connects to the proportioning valve that I fixed by tightening the fitting, so fluid is getting at least to that point.

Since I have never done a complete brake system, does it take a long time and patience to bleed a brand new system, or is there an issue I need to address?

Thanks for any help.

You could try a Mityvac https://www.harborfreight.com/mityvac-vacuum-pump-39522.html or one of the other systems that HF sells. I had a similar issue and used an older version to pull the fluid through the lines and caliper. It worked after several days of having assorted people help pumping the brake pedal. I never did find out what was the problem, but it fixed it for me. I hope this helps.

[twov8sandat4]

You could try a Mityvac https://www.harborfreight.com/mityvac-vacuum-pump-39522.html or one of the other systems that HF sells. I had a similar issue and used an older version to pull the fluid through the lines and caliper. It worked after several days of having assorted people help pumping the brake pedal. I never did find out what was the problem, but it fixed it for me. I hope this helps.

That's a pretty good idea. I'll pick one up today and give it a shot.

Thanks 

[twov8sandat4]

This is a venting post, so I apologize in advance...   

So the working calipers I got as part of the used rear disc conversion setup were frozen solid.  I got the Mightyvac as suggested which worked great.  However, as much as I tried, neither rear caliper was bleeding or piston was moving.  I pent yesterday trying to chase down new calipers after figuring out those were 79-85 Eldorado units.  None of the chainstores had any here.  And to add insult to injury, the brand new lines going from the over the axle T to both wheels started leaking.  The brand new "rear disc conversion stainless lines" were actually for drum brakes, so i had to get the spare front flex hoses and hard lines to make them work....  where the flex meets the hard line on both sides now leak...  i think I am going to get stainless flex hoses from the axle T all the way to the calipers ( 24' left, 36" right.) Unless someone has a way to use brake line that will mate to the banjo fitting on the calipers.

Thanks.

[langss]

This is a venting post, so I apologize in advance...   

So the working calipers I got as part of the used rear disc conversion setup were frozen solid.  I got the Mightyvac as suggested which worked great.  However, as much as I tried, neither rear caliper was bleeding or piston was moving.  I pent yesterday trying to chase down new calipers after figuring out those were 79-85 Eldorado units.  None of the chainstores had any here.  And to add insult to injury, the brand new lines going from the over the axle T to both wheels started leaking.  The brand new "rear disc conversion stainless lines" were actually for drum brakes, so i had to get the spare front flex hoses and hard lines to make them work....  where the flex meets the hard line on both sides now leak...  i think I am going to get stainless flex hoses from the axle T all the way to the calipers ( 24' left, 36" right.) Unless someone has a way to use brake line that will mate to the banjo fitting on the calipers.

Thanks.

Sorry to hear of all the troubles...That as it turned out was the same problem I was having only I didn't know it at the time. That Mityvac sucked the fluid through that frozen caliper and after a little rubber mallet massage it worked just fine. I know there are conversion fittings and hoses made for the problem you are having, so someone will have the answer you need.

[twov8sandat4]

Sorry to hear of all the troubles...That as it turned out was the same problem I was having only I didn't know it at the time. That Mityvac sucked the fluid through that frozen caliper and after a little rubber mallet massage it worked just fine. I know there are conversion fittings and hoses made for the problem you are having, so someone will have the answer you need.

Thanks. One of the caliper pistons moved, but the other is frozen solid.  Nothing was making it budge. I decided rather than mess with it, I got a pair of rebuilts from NAPA.  I also ordered a couple of stainless flex hoses from Summit to replace the contraption I have.

The “budget” disc conversion is not turning out to be one  .  At least this should work for the foreseeable future for me.

Thanks again.

[twov8sandat4]

The saga continues…

The rear brakes will not bleed.  Not with the Mighty Vac nor with pumping.  I get a trickle of fluid on either rear brakes no matter what. A search of the inter webs shows that sometimes the proportioning valve might be stuck in blocking the rear line position when installing all new lines and master cylinder.  However; of the 3 videos I found on resetting the valve, each one said to not try the other methods  .

So for the guys who experienced this issue, how did you resolve it?

And lastly, unrelated to the brakes, where does the charcoal canister mount on a 74? The service and assembly manual have one-line diagrams, but not an actual picture of how it mounts.

Thanks as always

 

[twov8sandat4]

Quick update.

I think I solved the problem. After trying every trick to reset the proportioning valve with no success, as a last ditch effort, I re-bled the master cylinder. And what do you know, there was air in it. I think during this entire fiasco, the rear master reservoir must have run dry. After rebleeding the master, I was able to bleed the rears 👍.

Thanks gentlemen for all your help.

And happy Father’s Day to all the dads 😎

[twov8sandat4]

The saga continues…

Has anyone done the rear disc conversion using the 1979-1985 Eldorado calipers and 15” Honeycomb wheels?  It looks like the calipers will not clear the wheels without some serious grinding of the calipers. Is this “normal”?  I ground quite a bit from the right side caliper, including the ear where the sliding pin goes into. It still feels that it is interfering. I already spaced the calipers inboard to center the rotor and calipers, which moved the calipers away from the wheels.

Any advice would be appreciated.

My eventual goal is to go 18” wheels all around and run Kore3 Z06 based brakes, but I want to sort this out so I can drive the car again until I can upgrade

[Fbird]

what are these "generic rears" you got from your buddy? the d154 "caddy" rear calipers are a stock otion used on an F-body and will clear most any 15" wheel. It's not like you can change calipers to whatever you want as the mounting bracket determines what caliper.

[twov8sandat4]

what are these "generic rears" you got from your buddy? the d154 "caddy" rear calipers are a stock otion used on an F-body and will clear most any 15" wheel. It's not like you can change calipers to whatever you want as the mounting bracket determines what caliper.

I apologize.  I have been away from then screen for a little while.  By generic, I mean every "performance parts" place carries a variation of the same concept of using these or S10 calipers for a budget rear disc conversion.

Either way, these Caddy calipers did not play nice with the stock Honeycombs.  Either the mounting brackets that they came with were wrong, or the Honeycomb inners are different from later year wheels, especially if the 79-85 Caddy was front wheels drive (I don't know).

Now that it's winter here, I have a few months to contemplate on the next steps.

Thanks.

[ryeguy2006a]

Sorry to hear about all of your troubles. If your eventual goal is to go with 18" wheels and C6 based Kore3 brakes, I'd highly suggest ditching the Caddy rear brakes and going with the "LS1" rear brakes. They are known to fit under most 15" wheels with slight modification and pair very nicely with the C6 brakes. That's what I'm running and love them. This is a kit that I found on eBay that includes everything but the rotors and pads. These brakes came on all 98-02 Camaro/Firebird and if you look around enough, you could find someone selling a complete rear end out of one for cheap. I've seen them as low as $100 bucks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363583736737?hash=item54a7478ba1:g:9z4AAOSwGSFha57X

In my opinion, you won't find a better braking kit for the money.

Also, Flynbye performance has a lot of good braking options for very reasonable.

[twov8sandat4]

Sorry to hear about all of your troubles. If your eventual goal is to go with 18" wheels and C6 based Kore3 brakes, I'd highly suggest ditching the Caddy rear brakes and going with the "LS1" rear brakes. They are known to fit under most 15" wheels with slight modification and pair very nicely with the C6 brakes. That's what I'm running and love them. This is a kit that I found on eBay that includes everything but the rotors and pads. These brakes came on all 98-02 Camaro/Firebird and if you look around enough, you could find someone selling a complete rear end out of one for cheap. I've seen them as low as $100 bucks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363583736737?hash=item54a7478ba1:g:9z4AAOSwGSFha57X

In my opinion, you won't find a better braking kit for the money.

Also, Flynbye performance has a lot of good braking options for very reasonable.

Thanks for the information.  I will look at these options over winter and see what will work for my situation.

Thanks.

[twov8sandat4]

Bringing this back up from the dead.  I did ditch the Caddy rear caliper setup for a full on 2010 Z51 brakes.  I got a full set of 2010 C6 calipers from ebay for $350, Z51 rotors from Rockauto for another $250 (13.4" front, 13" rear), CPP C5 spindles and AC Delco C7 hubs, and Kore 3 brackets.  I was done messing with the crappy Caddy setup.  While I was at it, got the full GT-Pro suspension, chassis stiffening kit, and front end rebuild parts from Dave at pro Touring.   I could not find a set of C6 Z06 calipers (not for a reasonable price anyways,)  otherwise I had a set of Z06 rotors I wanted to use.

Also ended up ordering a set of 18" x 8" front and 9.5" rear US Mags Rambler wheels with the grey centers.  They were similar in color to the honeycombs, so it will look good on the car.  Tires will be Nitto 255/45 F and 295/40 R.

Hope to get this wrapped up in a month or so.

[stros]

Good call to replace the CPP hub with the C7 one.  I’d recommend coating the CPP spindles with some rustproof paint as mine had some rusting issues even in California.  Your setup should work well, it’s very similar to what I have.

[JJ 109]

Big jump. Look forward to some pics

[twov8sandat4]

Thanks.

I took some pictures and videos along the way.  Jumping from one phone to another wreaked some havoc but was able to salvage most of the pics.


Rear 13" rotors and single piston caliper
Brake upgrades by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Test fitting the 18" x 9.5" US Mags Rambler.  Clears the new brakes
Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


I temporarily bolted the front knuckle, hub, rotor and caliper to my bench to test fit the front 18" x 8" wheel.  Since the front suspension was completely apart I had no way of testing.  My friend let me take the wheels home to test fit before he ordered the tires.
Wheel clears the setup with the exception of the Corvette logo which was scraping (you can see the mark in the picture.)  Since I did not like it anyways, this gives me the excuse to grind the logo off 
Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

Close up of the logo mark
Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Yesterday the tires showed up.  295/40-18 Rear, 255/45-18 Front:
Brake upgrades by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

I debated between these and the popular US Mags Bandits, and settled on these as the Bandits looked bland IMHO.  These looked more in line with the factory Honeycombs.  Ideally, I would have loved to get either the Trans Am or the Forged Bandits, but those are for down the road when I do the mini tubs, built engine,...

Just for fun, here is a comparison between the Vette and stock front rotors:
by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

As soon as the front rebuild parts and full suspension arrive from Pro Touring, I will put the front together and wrap up this project. 

[5th T/A]

Substantial tire, wheel and brake upgrade. Maybe it’s been a while since you have driven your car, I would be curious to hear your driving impressions regarding braking and handling?

[twov8sandat4]

Substantial tire, wheel and brake upgrade. Maybe it’s been a while since you have driven your car, I would be curious to hear your driving impressions regarding braking and handling?

It is a big departure from what I had, but it was in my plans for a while.  I drove it briefly last year before taking it apart, but for a very short distance.  I will do a driving impression and comparison hopefully soon.

Meanwhile I test fitted the rear wheels and tires last night.  With the jackstands under the rear end, everything cleared.  I had over an inch clearance from tire to leaf spring, and almost 2" to the shock.  I had just under an inch to the seat belt hump.  Once I put the car on the ground, I will double check.  I might take the hammer to the hump to get a little better clearance.  In the pictures you'll also see I swapped the factory studs with ARP M12x1.5 to both match the front C7 hubs, and also to get a longer stud so the lug nuts would have something more substantial than the 7-8 threads that were available with the factory shorty studs.

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Clearance between tire and spring:  I am glad I went with the 295s rather than the more safe 285s:
Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Clearance between tire and shock:
Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Clearance between tire and seat belt hump:
Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

[MNBob]

That looks fantastic, how can you go wrong with 13.4 and 13 inch brakes?  I am of the opinion that these cars are heavier and can benefit from extra braking.  Wheels (I am biased; I have them in 17) and tires also look great.

I was planning a similar upgrade at some point.  I found Powerstop front 14” calipers for a reasonable price ($340 / pair) at Rock Auto, but now they are out of stock (They were in stock 3 months ago).  You would have to check for wheel clearance though.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/power+stop,S15042,caliper,1704

Does Kore3 offer just the brackets for the rear?  Do they include the parking shoes, shoe mount and dust shield if any?

[twov8sandat4]

Thanks.

http://www.kore3.com/products.php?cat=26

These are all the brackets on Kore3’s website.  The BOP rear brackets listed are just the brackets with no parking brake parts. If you call Tobin at Kore3, he will put together any combination of parts for your setup.  I didn’t get the C5/C6 parking brake setup at this point, but it is retrofittable if I want to down the road.

I also have full Z06 rotor set from Napa.  They were about $250 shipped. Once I find a set of Z06 calipers, I will try the swap.  Hopefully they will clear the wheels.

[twov8sandat4]

Well that escalated quickly 

In the downtime waiting for parts to arrive, I decided to clean up the control arms and remove the lower ball joints in preparation of the new parts, when I realized all the bushings in the arms were dry rotted (still the originals).  So I ordered some bushings and sway bar end links from Summit.  My friend came over to help with removal of the arms so we can press out the bushings, and he said might as well order tubular control arms since we have gone this far, so that's what I did.  Ordered them Saturday night from Summit, and they showed up yesterday   

Front end all out (except steering parts which are next):

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Control arms out:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


New CPP lower control arms:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Upper arms:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Festivities start this weekend.  My 9 year old son wanted to work on the project, so I created a Youtube channel (Little Miss G Racing) where I am recording the progress and posting them as I do work.

I should have just changed the rear shoes and bled the system 

[roadking77]

  I love it!  Cant wait to hear how everything turns out. I do you tube just a bit more often than fb, but I will try to find what you have. My front end is fine for now, but when I was talking to the guy about doing the bushings he said I may as well put in new arms with the bushings already pressed in. I knew I would end up doing exactly like you so I took a step back, LOL.

[twov8sandat4]

Reassembly started this weekend.  We installed the CPP upper and lower control arms.  Oddly enough, they came with all new hardware for the lowers, but none for the uppers.  I will stop by the local ACE Hardware and get the same Grade 8 bolts as the lowers.  My friend came over to give me a hand installing the Pro Touring F Body GT Pro springs in with the help of a spring compressor.  I had to reuse the Konis, as the shocks had not come in yet.

Upper control arms:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Lower control arms:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


CPP C5 spindle and ACDelco C7 hub:

 Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


At this point we were done, but my son wanted to see the wheels on the car  .  So everything from this point on is just mocked up:

C6 Z51 rotors and calipers:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


All wheels installed.  Car is still in the air, so it does not look done yet:

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr


Tonight we'll remove the wheels and rotors, so I can continue on the steering parts.  The calipers still need a slight grinding to clear, and got to install the sway bar end links.  Hoping the rest of the suspension shows up soon, so i can fully finish it.  But getting there    Still working on the video part.  That should be done later this week.

[twov8sandat4]

Brief update.  I installed all the new steering parts, bled the brakes, and gave the car the tried and true eyeball alignment.  However, we ran into a major problem.  The body on the left side is slightly lower than the right side.  At stock height, it was not that noticeable, but with the Pro Touring’s GT Pro front springs, it was quite obvious. The fender to tire clearance was about an inch on the right side, but about 0.5” on the left (maybe less as I couldn’t get my finger  between them).  The result was the left side tire rubbing on the fender when I took it out for a spin.  I got a factory GM 0.5” spring spacer in hopes that will temporarily fix the problem, but no such luck 

So for now, I reinstalled the factory springs.  Since I don’t have the rest of the new suspension anyways, it didn’t make sense to just keep these springs and not drive the car.

The plan is, once the chassis parts show up, to take it to my friend’s body shop so he can put it on the frame machine and true up the body, and install the new body bushings.  Hopefully when everything is squared up, I can install the new suspension, and be able to drive it as it is intended.

Pictures on stock suspension coming up later.

Thanks for bearing with me.

[FormTA]

Every one of my F bodys sit crooked like that. Only suggestion I have for you is try leveling the rear too. That also throws off the front. I'm surprised the 1/2" spacer did help, it should have. Also check the other side spring to make sure it is sitting in the upper pocket correctly as well as aligned right on the bottom. It is easy to get one or both of these positions wrong. That said, again not many of these sat right, even from the factory.

[JJ 109]

Not uncommon, mine is very square, no bushings at all and still off.

surprised to hear the spacer didn’t work. Was it rubber or aluminum. You would need a solid one. Remember it a 2:1 ratio, so a 0.5” should have got you and inch at the fender.

You can always cut the stop spring, to the height you want on each side.

This is why the coil overs are nice, for the adjustability.

[twov8sandat4]

The spacer is the OER reproduction unit.  it is rubber.  I was surprised it did not work too.  Or it worked, but the spring settled after the short drive and compensated for the lift back to where it was (just a wild theory.)

This is what it looks now with the factory springs back in.

Untitled by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

This is the side that is low.

I ran into my bosyshop friend at a car show yesterday and talked to him about the problem.  he said he will take care of it, which makes me happy.  The spacer was always a band aid fix for me.  I'd rather address the root issue and start from there.

As for the brakes, what a difference!  It just blows my mind how much progress has been made since that car was new.  And I am not even on the top of the line Z06 brakes.  Hitting the brake pedal now is a command, not a suggestion.  I think this is the best thing I have done to the car in the 32 years I have owned it.  I can now actually enjoy driving it like it was meant to be driven 

After bedding the pads in on the ride to the show, the brake pedal is firm, and the car stops. Period.

The ultimate goal is to drive to the Palmer Motorsports Park in western MA, race for the day, and drive home.  This is the first step towards that goal.

And oh yeah, my 9 year old son, who helped me on the car, just claimed it as his.  Which makes me happier.

  
 

[twov8sandat4]

I did a tally of all the parts I used for the conversion.  Attached is the spreadsheet that shows the $$ spent.

costs (2) by Steve Blacksmith, on Flickr

A few notes:

I broke down the parts into two categories:  Must have (green) and nice to have (white).  The prices were what I paid in early summer minus taxes and shipping.  Obviously there are other ways of doing this swap using the factory spindles that require modifications and would cost less, but I opted not to cut any factory parts.  My reasoning for the nice to have parts was they were not needed to do the conversion, but some of them had to be done regardless (like master cylinder, booster, lines) and some of them were just because I was in there, I might as well, like the tubular control arms, steering parts,...

I opted for all new parts with the exception of the calipers which I got used from ebay off a 22k mile C6 Vette.

I also made this video that goes through all of the costs line by line if anyone is interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz3yLLrth_0

Thanks.

[ryeguy2006a]

I had those same brakes on my 1968 Camaro and what a difference good brakes will make. One suggestion that I'll make is now your brakes will lock up much easier, so keep that in mind for emergency stops. Another nice upgrade is an adjustable rear proportional valve. Make sure that the rear brakes aren't coming on too soon.

Love the wheels and tires, that's a great look. And I'll be honest I think that your stance looks great with the stock springs! I love the look of lowered cars, but I hate the sound of scraping when I go into parking lots and over bumps. 

[twov8sandat4]

I had those same brakes on my 1968 Camaro and what a difference good brakes will make. One suggestion that I'll make is now your brakes will lock up much easier, so keep that in mind for emergency stops. Another nice upgrade is an adjustable rear proportional valve. Make sure that the rear brakes aren't coming on too soon.

Love the wheels and tires, that's a great look. And I'll be honest I think that your stance looks great with the stock springs! I love the look of lowered cars, but I hate the sound of scraping when I go into parking lots and over bumps. 

These are great suggestions.  You’re right, I have never experienced braking this hard, so yes I will keep that in mind.  I will also keep an eye on braking balance to see if an adjustable proportioning valve is needed.

I honestly was going for max handling for a street tired car, not stance.  Even though the stock springs look good, the handling does not match it.  I am hoping I can strike a good balance between looks and handling.

[twov8sandat4]

Bringing this back up for a quick update.  The last time I took it out for a drive with the family, my wife said she smelled gas.  Since I just filled it up, I chalked it up to spillage during fillup.  However; the smell didn't go away, and I found a puddle of gas under the tank...  Quick inspection revealed gas leaking from the rear seam of the tank, which is still the original unit.  So I just bought a replacement tank from Oreilly, which surprisingly was the exact match of the stocker, and was under $150.  However; the "OER" stainless straps and sending unit I got online were nowhere near what the originals were, so I had to reuse the factory straps, modify the supply and return lines of the sending unit, and lengthen the ground wire to make it work      Should be able to wrap it up this weekend, and if it doesn't snow, take it for a spin.

Never ends 

[FormTA]

Glad to see you back around.  I love that color of TA. Yours looks great! I used an aftermarket tank for my LS swap and I was surprised how well they replicated the original.  I too used my original straps, haven't heard that the OER units don't fit. Good to know.