[NOGO]

I recently installed CPP's 13" big brake kit on my 67 and thought I would pass on my install information and kit review. I believe the kit is available for all generation Novas as well as stock or drop spindles, and the installs should all be pretty much the same.

The kit I received came in an assembly with new spindles, aluminum hubs with bearings and seals, rotors, loaded caliper/anchor assemblies, and anchor mounting brackets. I took the assembly apart for ease of installation and inspect the components I received.

Spindles

Hub

Rotor

Loaded caliper/anchor assembly

Anchor mounting bracket

My old brakes were SSBC calipers and pads with A-body rotors, brackets, and backing plates. I also had modified drum brake spindles, which I later found out will not work with this kit. YOU NEED CPP SPINDLES OR DISC BRAKE SPINDLES.

Removing the old brakes is quick and easy. I pulled off the calipers, then the anchor brackets, backing plates, steering arms, then the spindles. Remember that a ball joint puller makes the job much easier with no risk of damaging your ball joints.

Now for the comparison. I weighed all the old brake components (for one side) and compared them with the big brake kit components:

Calipers and pads:
Old- 7.5 lbs, New- 15.5 lbs

Anchors and backing plates:
Old- 3.5 lbs, New 1.5 lbs

Rotor and hub assemblies:
Old- 22 lbs, New 16.5 lbs

Total:
Old- 33 lbs, New 33.5 lbs. I could not believe the big brake kit weighed about the same as my old brakes- especially since my old brakes had aluminum calipers! I credit the aluminum hubs provided in the big brake kit for shaving a lot of weight.

I also looked at wheel mounting surface. The old brake mounting surface was 5/8" outboard of the new wheel mounting surface, so you could consider this kit as being "zero offset", as compared to factory drum brakes.

On to the install.
First come the spindles and the new anchor brackets, while re-attaching the steering arms.

Then the new hubs.

The rotor slips right on. It makes your life easier when installing the loaded caliper/anchor assemblies if you use a nut to hold the rotor against the hub.

After re-attaching the brake hoses it only takes a quick bleed and its good to go.

I checked UCA clearance for piece of mind- there is plenty of room.

This kit requires 17"+ wheels. The rim center needs to be a minumim of 14.75" for ample clearance.

I wanted to get new wheels for a new look, as well as put some more rubber on the road for handling and braking improvement. Here are my new wheels:

After a quick alignment and short test drive, my head is bleeding and my windshield is broken! I need to install vent extensions because my engine starts to flood under hard braking. My Nova now handles, steers, and brakes like a modern sporty car!

 

[Pro-touring72]

Sorry if I missed it but if for some reason you needed to replace the rotor is there an OEM eqivalant or are they special one offs only available from CPP??

 

[NOGO]

Sorry if I missed it but if for some reason you needed to replace the rotor is there an OEM eqivalant or are they special one offs only available from CPP??

I have a feeling there is an OEM equivalent for the rotors, calipers, and pads but I dont know what vehicle they are from. They look to me like GM truck or SUV brakes...

 

[veno]

I was kinda hoping this was a junkyard build... but still nice stuff and good job.... one note...

you left out the part about the new uppers a arms!

 

[veno]

I have a feeling there is an OEM equivalent for the rotors, calipers, and pads but I dont know what vehicle they are from. They look to me like GM truck or SUV brakes...

Looks very reminiscent of Vett rotors... and PBR calipers

 

[NOGO]

I was kinda hoping this was a junkyard build... but still nice stuff and good job.... one note...

you left out the part about the new uppers a arms!

Not so new buddy!:no:

http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40275&highlight=upper+unofficial

 

[batman09]

Is this the zero offset kit?Did that setup push your front wheels out?What is the bs on your front wheels?thanks bm

 

[veno]

Gotcha..... this pic threw me

 

[NOGO]

Is this the zero offset kit?Did that setup push your front wheels out?What is the bs on your front wheels?thanks bm

This isn't the standard CPP zero offset kit most people know of, which I believe has 11" rotors, but this kit does not change the wheel mounting face compared to factory drum brakes.

My front wheels are 17" x 7" with 4.25" backspace.

 

[f16fxr4real]

Damn ! ! !

Those look awesome, the only thing that worries me is, what about when the time comes with these kinds of brake kits, what do we do when we need new brake pads or warp a rotor?

 

[NOGO]

Gotcha..... this pic threw me

Oh yeah- good catch! I didnt get a good before side shot, so I used an old pic!:yes:

 

[TomM]

Those look awesome, the only thing that worries me is, what about when the time comes with these kinds of brake kits, what do we do when we need new brake pads or warp a rotor?

It uses 97 GM truck rotors and calipers I believe, I'll have to check my spreadsheet at home, bearings and races are standard Timken for that year, or anyone will work.

Looks good bro....were you able to get close on any other wheels, or only 17" will work? I like the look of the new wheels.....:yes:

Now you gotta get a 17" spare.......

Oh, and welcome to the nosebleed society......


T,

 

[NOGO]

It uses 97 GM truck rotors and calipers I believe, I'll have to check my spreadsheet at home, bearings and races are standard Timken for that year, or anyone will work.

Looks good bro....were you able to get close on any other wheels, or only 17" will work? I like the look of the new wheels.....:yes:

Now you gotta get a 17" spare.......

Oh, and welcome to the nosebleed society......


T,

Thanks Tom. I could not locate any 16" wheels that fit a 1st/ 2nd gen for this kit, but they might work on a 3rd/ 4th gen. With less backspace, it may be possible to use a 16" wheel, but the 1st/ 2nd genners require more backspace than the 3rd/ 4th genners.

 

[DKN]

Pads Caliper and Rotors

The rotors are not Corvette. They are CPP. The CPP rotors are thicker than Corvette rotors and can handle more stopping energy. We also made the rotors with a taller hat section to move the caliper farther from the wheel mounting surface. This helps more of the old 17inch wheels fit. The rotors are made with the highest carbon content. This makes them very resistant to fade even at high tempatures. In our brake testing we normaly take these kits from 60-0 at full effort 15 times in about 7 minutes. The stopping distance for the last several stops is usually better than the first stop, with a max difference of about 6 feet. The only other brake kit we've tested to equal this performance is the Brembo 13" kit. (Brembos best stop was 3 feet shorter from 60mph)

The calipers and pads come from the 99-06 GM 6 lug trucks and SUV's. (GM sold about 1.2 million a year, so replacements are no problem) These vehicles with trailers whiegh up to 17,000lbs. Thats about 5 times more weight/brakes than the Corvette. The OE GM pads last about 100,000 miles on these large vehicles. The OE GM Iron rotors typicaly last between 300,000 500,000 miles before they need to be turned down for the first time. We expect that on smaller cars you should get much higher pad and rotor life.

The caliper piston area is almost 2 times larger than the Corvette caliper. This keeps the brake system operating at similar hydraulic pressures that GM designed your car to work at. The brake pad friction area is also larger than the Corvette pad.

We put this kit together with componets that will last a very long time, provide incredible brake performance, fit as many wheels as possible, allow you to use many common parts store wear items, and be very affordible.

Danny Nix
CPP

 

[batman09]

The rotors are not Corvette. They are CPP. The CPP rotors are thicker than Corvette rotors and can handle more stopping energy. We also made the rotors with a taller hat section to move the caliper farther from the wheel mounting surface. This helps more of the old 17inch wheels fit. The rotors are made with the highest carbon content. This makes them very resistant to fade even at high tempatures. In our brake testing we normaly take these kits from 60-0 at full effort 15 times in about 7 minutes. The stopping distance for the last several stops is usually better than the first stop, with a max difference of about 6 feet. The only other brake kit we've tested to equal this performance is the Brembo 13" kit. (Brembos best stop was 3 feet shorter from 60mph)

The calipers and pads come from the 99-06 GM 6 lug trucks and SUV's. (GM sold about 1.2 million a year, so replacements are no problem) These vehicles with trailers whiegh up to 17,000lbs. Thats about 5 times more weight/brakes than the Corvette. The OE GM pads last about 100,000 miles on these large vehicles. The OE GM Iron rotors typicaly last between 300,000 500,000 miles before they need to be turned down for the first time. We expect that on smaller cars you should get much higher pad and rotor life.

The caliper piston area is almost 2 times larger than the Corvette caliper. This keeps the brake system operating at similar hydraulic pressures that GM designed your car to work at. The brake pad friction area is also larger than the Corvette pad.

We put this kit together with componets that will last a very long time, provide incredible brake performance, fit as many wheels as possible, allow you to use many common parts store wear items, and be very affordible.

Danny Nix
CPP

do the calipers push the wheels out at all?thanks bm

 

[blownnova]

Looking at the clock position of your caliper it looks like you have the older style caliper brackets, does it look like you have less turning radius, if so they have a bracket that clocks the caliper at about 9:30, giving a little more turn radius before caliper hit upper arm. See pic of big brake install to see clock position on mine

http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss278/01ws6bird/

 

[DKN]

do the calipers push the wheels out at all?thanks bm

We can keep the wheels in the same location they are now.

There are 2 different 13inch kits for the Nova, A,F,&X body cars. The SOS (Zero Offset) keeps the wheel in the stock drum brake location. The other kit puts the wheel in the stock disc brake location.

CPP recomends the SOS klits. If you already have your tires and wheels on a 11inch Chevelle type disc and they fit well then you probably want the "wide" kit. NOGO has the SOS kit; you can see the difference in wheel location betweeen factory Chevelle type disc and factory drum in one of his pictures.

Danny Nix CPP

 

[DKN]

Looking at the clock position of your caliper it looks like you have the older style caliper brackets, does it look like you have less turning radius, if so they have a bracket that clocks the caliper at about 9:30, giving a little more turn radius before caliper hit upper arm. See pic of big brake install to see clock position on mine

http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss278/01ws6bird/

Because this caliper is so big we have a different bracket that must be used when you are running a drop spindle.

The caliper is so big that it just barely fits between the steering arm and the A-arm. We must use different brackets for stock and drop spindles.

Danny Nix
CPP

 

[blownnova]

Because this caliper is so big we have a different bracket that must be used when you are running a drop spindle.

The caliper is so big that it just barely fits between the steering arm and the A-arm. We must use different brackets for stock and drop spindles.

Danny Nix
CPP

Yes, I found this out, I bought kit last year? Well now I just installed it, and found out, I bought the other brackets and it makes a BIG difference. Thank you

 

[NOGO]

Well I finally had the chance to put the new brakes to the test. I raced at an autocross event last weekend, and I had all the brake I could ever want! After a couple good brakes it felt like the pads were grabbing more and more when they were warmed up, and did not have any hint of fade. Im glad I have a 4 point harness- the car felt like it was going to stand on the front wheels under hard braking!

http://public.fotki.com/makofoto/2009-auto-cross-sol-2/cscc-gra-hosted-pra/img2089.html