I noticed on another post that people were not to impressed with this idea. I am currently planning on this swap and would consider pros and cons. It will have a 1/2 " thick plate to attach the caliper to the axle. redrill the rotor to the 5 X 100 pattern. thanks
If you get it working please post how. I haven't looked at it myself. I really don't want to discourage you, but I know the guys who have looked into it are damn good at this stuff. They tell me it's more work than it's worth, I tend to believe them.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Saturday, December 16, 2006 6:19 AM
It's a lot more difficult than you might think to just re-drill a rotor to a specific pattern. Measure 50 times to cut once and don't forget, lots of FWD rotors are hub-centric (center on the hub). If you don't mark the rotor using the EXACT center of the hub on a lathe it will wobble. Being the wise guy that I am, I bought a set of cheap used steel wheels a while back for a car only to find out the pattern was off. I tried as I might to drill the holes correctly but alas, I couldn't get the car over 5 mph without a noticable wobble.
there is better brakes out there , and easier to swap
yeah, do the neon swap,
Pros:
cheap
easy
effective
Cons:
difficult ebrake hookup
1998 Chevrolet Cavalier
5-spd
yea whats wrong w/ the neon swap?
The hub center on the G6/Cobalt is WAY bigger than the the J's 57.1mm. Even if you drill the rotors with the 5x100mm pattern, I don't think it will center properly on the hub. The only way I see to make this work is to try to adapt the 5x110mm hubs to your J. Also not a simple task, but it can be done. Good luck!
currently what the plan is:
1. send bracket diagram to the machine shop
2. redrill rotors to 5 X 100 pattern
3. open the hub center on rotor to a commonly used hubcentric ring
4. attach bracket
5. find out what is needed to use stock e cables and g6 e brackets
I have done the fiero rear disc conversion before, i want to use "newer" and readily available GM parts
neon parts dumbass!!
god, the G6 parts will be expensive, and having to redirll your rotors? thats not exactly cheap if you can even find a place that will do it for you. I had problems trying to use the older W-Body calipers, because nobody would redrill the 02 Camry rear rotors...
for WAY less money, and hassle do the neon swap, or even the Daytona rear swap, 11 inch rotors
and what are you saying that 88-02 parts arent readily available?
you can use the calipers from 88-02 dodge/chryslers maybe all the way up to 05 as well as SRT4 stuff, if you're trying to make a name for yourself, i'm all for it, but if you just want to take the difficult route and spend way too much on a @!#$ty stock braking system, then givver
no my problem, or my cash, cost me $350 to do my rear discs, with new everything minus calipers
1998 Chevrolet Cavalier
5-spd
BlkCav wrote:neon parts dumbass!!
god, the G6 parts will be expensive, and having to redirll your rotors? thats not exactly cheap if you can even find a place that will do it for you. I had problems trying to use the older W-Body calipers, because nobody would redrill the 02 Camry rear rotors...
for WAY less money, and hassle do the neon swap, or even the Daytona rear swap, 11 inch rotors
and what are you saying that 88-02 parts arent readily available?
you can use the calipers from 88-02 dodge/chryslers maybe all the way up to 05 as well as SRT4 stuff, if you're trying to make a name for yourself, i'm all for it, but if you just want to take the difficult route and spend way too much on a @!#$ty stock braking system, then givver
no my problem, or my cash, cost me $350 to do my rear discs, with new everything minus calipers
just let people find out the hard way
It sounds like this guy knows all the steps he needs to take to make this happen.
That being the case, I say go for it!
You see people drop by now and then asking this sort of thing thinking that just because the Cobalt is made by GM and is a similar size, maybe they can just swap everything over with some elbow grease.
This guy obviously knows better. Essentially, he's creating his own custom brake kit. The car that the parts are coming from is pretty much irrelevant at this point. Maybe he's already got them or something.
true it sounds like he knows alot more than most on what he is doing but i still think the neon swap is the best for him. if he wants to be different and be the first to do this then thats great, id love to see it done but to do it just to have "newer" parts doesnt make sense. you can pick up neon parts just as easily
Well... what's he's doing isn't anything new. He's basically doing exactly what Baer does for their rear disc conversion.
Make a bracket to hold a caliper where you want it. Re-drill rotors to fit and use a hub ring to fit them to a hub. Get lines to hook up the hydraulics.
Done.
He's just doing it in a different size.
BlkCav wrote:neon parts dumbass!!
That was uncalled for. It's certainly not adding to the discussion or helping anyone.
John, don't forget to post pictures of what you've done. I would agree that other parts would be cheaper, but it'll be unique.
we should not be so quick to discourage ideas. engineering is something that is reguarded as sacred but really the way hot roding began is people like us messing around with our cars now people who are "professionals" (do it for a living) do what any joe can do. engineering is a mix of enginuity and materials. both can be found in people on these forums people may say it is hard to do but really you just need to know the concept study it well pick good materials and make sure you measure 20 times cut twice and take your time other then that every one on here can do what bear ssbc or other break companies can do. you pay for their enginuity not physics or anything like that.
enginuity - is that ingenuity mixed with engines?
SSBC wouldn't like you talking about them breaking things either, their brakes work just fine.
People pay for convenience. You buy it from someone else because you can't make it or because you don't want do. People who have time, ability, and drive do make it themselves. It has less to do with ingenuity and more to do with economics than you think.
uhhh sorry some one did not understand...... brake companies. not break , like to disassemble, but brake, like to stop. sorry you didn't catch the type-o. if you notice I said that they use their ingenuity (like creativity but a bigger word). they are a good reputable company that does this type of thing for a living...professionals. same as I am a professional aircraft electronic specialist with an airframe and power plant degree. sorry for the miss spell hope this gives you better light to what I meant.
PROGRESS !!
I have 2 drawings out for bids, one is a bolt on bracket and the other is a weld on bracket. For my vehicle i am going to use the modified cobalt bracket (tig weld on). Costs so far?? a complete (very low milage) cobalt SS rear axle, $250. off this i will use the calipers, rotors, and bracket. the machine shop says redrilling rotors should be no more than $40, hub-centric rings are about $20. depending on the e-brake stuff this is a very cost effective swap-and it uses all gm parts. the weld on bracket keeps the stock track width where as the bolt on will add 1/2" to the track width. thanks for everyones input
NEMESIS wrote:we should not be so quick to discourage ideas. engineering is something that is reguarded as sacred but really the way hot roding began is people like us messing around with our cars now people who are "professionals" (do it for a living) do what any joe can do. engineering is a mix of enginuity and materials. both can be found in people on these forums people may say it is hard to do but really you just need to know the concept study it well pick good materials and make sure you measure 20 times cut twice and take your time other then that every one on here can do what bear ssbc or other break companies can do. you pay for their enginuity not physics or anything like that.
I have to disagree. Engineering is not a mix of ingenuity and materials, its a mix of advanced knowledge in the fields of math, science, physics, chemistry and applying them to achieve a goal. I didn't say that just to nit pick, my point is "try it tell it works" or "measure and cut until it fits" isn't engineering in anyway. Engineering something involves doing analysis to achieve the goal with precision and accuracy, every time.
I will be following this to see the progress, I'm interested in how this will work out on our J's, keep it up.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, January 02, 2007 8:24 PM
UPDATE:
new brackets welded and painted -- just waiting for my hub rings!!
They're just welded to the back of the bearing mount? Interesting. I've never seen it done that way before, and I don't know why, since its so simple and works just fine.
Pardon me if this is an ignorant question. Couldn't you get Neon rotors, or rotors of the same dimension as the Cobalt, that already have the 5x100 pattern?
Seeing how the cost looks on the bolt-on... *subscribed*
the srt neon rotors "should" work with this bracket if- a spacer (approx 3/8")is placed between the mount and the factory hub. that rotor is about 3/8" taller than the g6- I have looked into this mix- Advantage- no hubring, same pattern --Negs- wider track, use of spacer. That will widen the rear track about 3/4". I will finish with the g6 parts since I already have them. And yes, 'simple and strong'
