The C-body brakes I'm using (Park Avenue) are 12" in diameter.. but the bolts to hold the caliper bracket to the knuckle were larger than the ones the N-body brakes used. If I remember correctly, it was a 13mm bolt on the N-body, 15mm now on the C-body. I had to drill out the holes on the knuckle a bit to accommodate the larger bolts.
I don't know if this bracket I'm using is the same as the F-body dual-piston application... if it is, that's f'n mint! And all I have to change is the caliper...
^ nope, the c-body bracket and caliper is the same thats used on the w-body gp/impala. which is different than the bracket thats used on the f-body. which is different than the n-body malibu/grand am.
but, if you did what you did, then you have done exactly what i wanna do
hook me up with some pix of your setup lekno?
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
Amazing write ups! I've seen these brakes on other, bigger GM's with 16" wheels and was wondering what went into a swap. Now I know. I'm always confused by reading tons of information (after 5 minutes everything blures together.) The pictures were a great help. I've replaced bushings in my truck and struts and the front suspension in my BMW, which doesn't seem much more difficult than this. I may be searching junk yards soon, which seem to have tons of these cars around here. BTW, I can't figure out which rear end was used for the IRS swap ( didn't see what car this was sourced from).
so, i got super lucky at the junkyard today. there was almost NOTHING there. i found a malibu that had no suspension in it, only to later find it along with its subframe underneath another subframe that was INSIDE a car. and the axles were already off, so i was able to get the axles and knuckles only by taking off the ball joint nut
then, i found one damn wbody caliper (i dont want to do the fbody caliper for fitment reasons, but there were no fbodies there anyway!), but the damn bracket was missing a bolt. dammit, but on my way out, i find an olds aurora that had everything on it, and i was able to get it off nicely, except that it was missing a bolt, so i had my extra from the first (now third) caliper i had gotten.
man, i got lucky, i know you guys dont care, but i had to share my joy with someone.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
ok, (i dont remember seeing this anywhere in this thread), but i was just looking up ball joints for the malibu, and when i clicked "show all applications this fits", not only did it show both malibu and grandam, but it said it also fit cavy's and sunfires. sooooooo then why is it listed here to replace the ball joint? why replace it if its the same part number? looks like this swap just got even easier.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
From what I remember the pre 99 or 98's ones are the same, but the newer ones are the one you need for the swap. They are bigger. I think Aaron asked about it about a page back.
see, now i looked it up on another website (rockauto), and i got mostly different part numbers, except for ONE. one of them was exactly the same for both cars. so now i debate, why are there sometimes two different part numbers, and sometimes not? if i dont have to change the ball joint, i'd rather not.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
could it be that they are the same size, yet they have different weight/load abilities?
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
Personally i would replace it because you have the front end apart so why not. Also by replacing it you have one less thing to worry about in your suspension. Also DO NOT cheap out on the ball joints. I had a cheap set on my car and the boots ripped in less then 3 months.
mmmm yummy
anyway, i little info for you guys on "brembo" rotors. i bought brembo cuz they're a quality brand, but when i received my rotors i noticed i got two different looking rotors. after arguing with the seller that they weren't brembo (even though they were manufactured by someone for brembo, which is common practice in the auto industry), i bought a second set from someone else, and sure enough, the same thing happened again lol. anyway, so i now have two extra brand new brembo (certified and quality tested) rotors if anyone wants to buy. i just want my money back on what i paid for em, which was about $130. i know i'll have to take a loss, so i'll take care of the shipping. if you're interested, lemme know.
ps - i'm still wondering about the ball joint thing.......
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
I might be interested in the rotors.... i had some surface cracks develop on the drivers rotor
Too bad your brembos are slotted
actually, im probably gonna end up just returning a set to one of the companies and take the shipping loss. it'll just be easiest. but what do you mean they're slotted? no they're not.....
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
also, if anyone's interested, i had to buy two sets of hub rings (70.3 and 57.1) for my new wheels. but i only need 4 rings, not 8. so if you wanna buy the other "mixed" set lemme know, outer diameter is 73 mm.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
the only issue i had was that the rotor was rubbing the backing plate on the spindle. so i just took off the backing plate, and voila. now, if you're talking about the rotor hitting the caliper bracket, then no. if you want, hit me up on AIM and we can talk. i think u might have the wrong bracket?
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
well, i confirmed tonight that you do need nbody ball joints. the nbody knuckle hole is slightly larger than the jbody hole
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
i am whoring up this post lol.
anyway, everything is assembled, but i noticed something. my new napa malibu ball joints (mcquay-norris rebadged i think) hit the rotor. the rotor fits fine bracket and caliper wise, but the damn ball joint hits it. i might have to put a spacer or something there. anyone else seen this problem?
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
Viper98912 wrote:i am whoring up this post lol.
anyway, everything is assembled, but i noticed something. my new napa malibu ball joints (mcquay-norris rebadged i think) hit the rotor. the rotor fits fine bracket and caliper wise, but the damn ball joint hits it. i might have to put a spacer or something there. anyone else seen this problem?
I have yet to see hte balljoint hit the rotor... hmmm
double check they are the right balljoints
ok, so the car for now is kinda band-aid'd with the old ball joints - no rubbing. one of the wheel bearings is also bad because the dash is all lit up, and you can definitely hear and feel the hum when turning. regardless, at least everything works for now. the car stops pretty damn good, although its very easy to lock up if you get on it way too quickly. its gonna take some getting use to so i can figure the fastest way to stop without locking up. i've ordered new ball joints and about to order new bearings. this swap has cost me more than i wanted to, but oh well, its been something that i've wanted to do (big brakes) since the day i bought my car (6 years ago).
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
lil update from me for future reference for other ppl:
so, i got new nbody ball joints (the ones that cts bought), and they also just BARELY rubbed when turning. pretty gay. what i ended up doing was putting on a set of washers behind the rotor and caliper bracket to space it out, slightly ground down the edge of the ball joint that was hitting, and now i've got a good amount of space with no rubbing issues. so, for anyone who's considering this swap, try to get the ball joints that cts got (thin style), and also you might need to do a set of washers, but so far im the only one with this issue. weird. but, one set of washers is not that big a deal, as i've got the same thing for the neon rear disks
axle boots - you're gonna have to retighten them after a while once you notice there's grease EVERYWHERE.
how it stops and feels - i'm using the wbody caliper (single 2.5" piston) instead of the fbody (dual smaller pistons), and it stops pretty damn hard. you have to now adjust your driving style, because if you get into it way too fast, you will lock up the fronts. you have to ease into it, and then get on it, and it stops damn hard and fast. my pedal has gotten a little spongier, but the travel amount is still the same. even with the neon rear disc swap, the pedal feels pretty good for having front and rear brakes that were never designed for this car. overall im happy, just slightly stressed with the damn ball joint issue.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
I was collecting parts for this swap and searched for the impala rotors. It came up with a match on a Oldsmobile Aurora. Is this right? Does the 2001 G body have the same rotors as the 2004 W body and thus the F body? All 11.92 inches?
I could search more in the internet but I figured I'd ask the experts.
yea, cuz thats where i got my calipers from.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
yup. like this?
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
Hey which braided brake lines do we use with this swap, I have the 11" setup from a 99 Malibu but later I will change to 98-02 Fbody dual piston calipers and 12" rotors so if I get braised lines now will they still work on the f-body calipers?
Also will thr axles from the 99 Malibu be a direct fit in the J-body or are they the same length as the Grand am, theose Malibus seem to be narrower than a Grand Am?
2000 Z24 5spd header & catback for now.
