C5 calipers on a Panther.

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Ive got all the parts ordered to do the brakes on my CVLX. I actually still have pad, but with 85k miles I think they've done their job.
Im doing a swap someone on mm.net came up with. I got in on one of the group buys for the adapter bracket necessary to do the swap. It consists of 2010 Ford GT500 front rotors (14") and C5 Corvette front calipers. The Corvette calipers are actually designed for a 13" rotor, so there is a bit of 'extra' rotor, but that just means more sink area so its not all a waste.

Just for fun, I laid a rotor over top of my 18" wheel. Now, I don't actually know if this setup will fit under these wheels. They fit under Marauder wheels but these are a bit different. This is something I want to check this weekend. You can see its quite a bit bigger than the stock brakes.

I laid one of the brake pads to show actual portion it ends up biting.

These are the brackets. The threaded holes attach to the factory mounting point, and the unthreaded portion is where the C5 calipers mount.
However, Im going to be drilling the threads out as I was concerned about the amount of tension I could apply to the bolts before pulling the threads out of the aluminum.
I did some research and calculated that the factory M14-2 bolts at the specified 118ftlbs torque would be about 12900lbs tension.
I found a calculator to show me torque values for bolting into a particular material and couldnt get over about 95ft-lbs result 10400lbs tension at the max with 16mm of 6061-T6 and M14-2 bolts. I tried finding out which material these were made out of, but I never got an answer so that was just what I used as what I thought was a common aluminum to machine stuff out of. IF it was 2024-T6 it would be okay as is. -T4 would be borderline and I would probably do the same thing Im doing now.
So I decided to drill the threads out and use a nut to secure it. Along the way I came across Nord-Lock washers and I decided to use those to secure the bolt and the nut to prevent loosening. Their recommended torque value with their washers and oiled threads in M14 is 135lb-ft for 16600lbs tension.
So I have all new coated (included hardware was black oxide) hardware coming from Fastenal.

Here is one attached to a caliper.

Moving on to more mundane things, these are the front pads I selected.

Edge codes

Rear Crown Vic rotor

Rear pad selected

Edge codes
 
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Originally Posted By: abycat
cool man. Throw them on already!

I wanna! My Fastenal order won't get here until next Friday at the earliest. So I won't be able to pick it up until the following Monday.
Thats going to be the hold up, I think.
Though, I discovered that one of the Raybestos calipers I ordered has "CORVETTE" cast into it and the other does not. I emailed asking if that is normal for them just to be mixed like that. I really want plain ones. I may send them both back and order Centric calipers as they have separate part numbers for plain and "CORVETTE"
Or I could grind it off. Thats always an option, though I dont think it would turn out great.
 

So I got the braided set of hoses on Saturday and I figured out last night they were the wrong ones. Well, the two long ones are correct for the rear calipers, but the short ones are for stock calipers. For the C5 calipers they need to have a 90 degree bend on the banjo end.
I contacted the supplier and they are sending out the correct set ASAP.
 
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Got the correct hoses in. Got the nuts and washers in from Fastenal, but I think the guy screwed up my order because my bolts haven't come in and I think when he charged them out he deleted my order or something.
 


Success! What happened is they came in before I picked up the nuts and washers, but he didnt find the bolts so he just invoiced those to me. So I was never notified of the bolts because it was assumed I was already contacted.

But yeah, $70 worth of bolts and washers.
QTY SKU Desc
12 0129512 M14 Nord-Lock washers
4 11552505 M14-2.0x80mm Class 10.9 EcoGuard bolts
4 11552504 M14-2.0x70mm Class 10.9 EcoGuard bolts
4 11564980 M14-2.0 Class 10 EcoGuard Nut

I honestly don't think Ill get anything done this weekend. I have to work all night tonight so I sleep though Saturday, then Sunday I have things to do, so unless I get a wild hair on Sunday night, this will probably be in a holding pattern until I get more time.
 
Yeah, its not optimal, but it works with a fairly simple bracket setup.
Still has benefits.
Brake torque its capable of will be higher because the rotor is a larger diameter.
Rotor has more mass so it can absorb more heat and since it has more surface area it can dump that heat faster, too.
C5 Caliper is cast aluminium so that helps with heat dissipation as well. Also won't look rusty. Though the bracket will...
Once the caliper is over the rotor, it and the bracket covers the non-utilized area. So unless you knew what was going on, you'd be hard pressed to tell its off.
 
I haven't had the time. I did this weekend, and I would've, but I broke a finger at work so I didnt work on it.
 
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So I was going to sell this car unmodified, but I realized two things.
1. No one wants my junk.
2A. The '02 is in worse shape than I thought, and the number of obsolete (and expensive) parts I have to hunt down is...long and totals out to about 150% of its gross value.
2B. Even if I put all that money into the suspension and steering with all new parts it still wouldnt drive as well as a 2003+ with 300k miles. The downside of a 1979 suspension design I guess.

So realizing that I would keep it and I have these parts here anyways that no one wants either...
I started this up again. I got the original brakes off with no hassle and got the adapter bracket to fit up with minimal grinding on the knuckle. I got far enough I was able to put the rotor and caliper on to check clearance with my wheels.



At this point, I was happy. It cleared my wheels, barely, but it does. I had to remove the tape weights off the inside or they would hit the caliper. That's how close it is. I think I see a way around this by having the weights placed directly behind the blades. this would provide enough clearance at the potential loss of accuracy.
After getting it off, I realized I was in a predicament as it was now 12am and I didnt have a 9/16" drill bit to remove the threads from the brackets.
So I was messing around and the sway bar and link caught my eye. I did some mental modeling and decided it could be a problem, so I reassembled it to check if I was right.
To my dismay it is a problem, a big one.

It hits pretty good. I'd have a hole in that lower link boot within a few days.
Im stumped. I only see two ways to fix this.
1. Use the threads that were proved in the bracket to begin with, but I kind of already did some destructive testing on one of them to find out how much torque the threads could take.
2. Move the swaybar forward on the frame. This isnt a simple task. The factory bolts are basically carriage bolts that slide into a slot in the frame with a metal tab setup that keeps it from trying to go up above the frame. The only way I think I could do this is with some flag bolts that I could finagle into postion and I would have to go at least 1.5" forward to get the rear bolt out of the slot provided for the factory bolt.

I guess my only real option is to get pads and rotors for the factory brakes and install them instead. I haven't put it back together yet. I imagine it'll be another month before I get around to that.
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
So I was going to sell this car unmodified, but I realized two things.
1. No one wants my junk.
2A. The '02 is in worse shape than I thought, and the number of obsolete (and expensive) parts I have to hunt down is...long and totals out to about 150% of its gross value.
2B. Even if I put all that money into the suspension and steering with all new parts it still wouldnt drive as well as a 2003+ with 300k miles. The downside of a 1979 suspension design I guess.

So realizing that I would keep it and I have these parts here anyways that no one wants either...
I started this up again. I got the original brakes off with no hassle and got the adapter bracket to fit up with minimal grinding on the knuckle. I got far enough I was able to put the rotor and caliper on to check clearance with my wheels.



At this point, I was happy. It cleared my wheels, barely, but it does. I had to remove the tape weights off the inside or they would hit the caliper. That's how close it is. I think I see a way around this by having the weights placed directly behind the blades. this would provide enough clearance at the potential loss of accuracy.
After getting it off, I realized I was in a predicament as it was now 12am and I didnt have a 9/16" drill bit to remove the threads from the brackets.
So I was messing around and the sway bar and link caught my eye. I did some mental modeling and decided it could be a problem, so I reassembled it to check if I was right.
To my dismay it is a problem, a big one.

It hits pretty good. I'd have a hole in that lower link boot within a few days.
Im stumped. I only see two ways to fix this.
1. Use the threads that were proved in the bracket to begin with, but I kind of already did some destructive testing on one of them to find out how much torque the threads could take.
2. Move the swaybar forward on the frame. This isnt a simple task. The factory bolts are basically carriage bolts that slide into a slot in the frame with a metal tab setup that keeps it from trying to go up above the frame. The only way I think I could do this is with some flag bolts that I could finagle into postion and I would have to go at least 1.5" forward to get the rear bolt out of the slot provided for the factory bolt.

I guess my only real option is to get pads and rotors for the factory brakes and install them instead. I haven't put it back together yet. I imagine it'll be another month before I get around to that.
 
So something Ive thought about is moving the point the sway bar link attaches to the swaybar forward bascinally drilling a new hole for it forward and then removing the material behind it.
 
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
can't you find slightly shorter links?

Thats another thought I had, but Im not sure of where I would find such an animal.
 
If the adapter brackets are threaded and the bolts are meant to be oriented with the heads outboard, then you could use studs with nuts and washers outboard. This would lessen the stress on the threads while applying torque. You could even apply Loctite to the threads and install the studs days prior to install.
 
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