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I haven't had a chance to test fit the engine/trans yet. That's probably 1-2 months out yet for me...
From the pictures I've seen, it looks like most people running the 6L80 end up rebuilding the entire tunnel. I'm hoping to just cut it out and raise the stock tunnel sheet metal up ~1" as mentioned above.
I'll be back to working on the front disc setup again tomorrow. My ARP studs came in today, I tapped one hub and installed them. My one new trial rotor also came in. It's in the lathe now, getting ready to open up the hub bore. I didn't realize it, but it's actually 13.185" OD, where is the last rotor I was working with was 12.637... I read that 325mm (~12.795") is the max that can be used with a 17" wheel, but it looks like I've got plenty of room based on my previous trial fitments with the other rotor. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. The rotor may have to go back into the lathe to have the OD turned down... Why do I torture myself?
Cool thanks. Whatever photos you can take while you do the trans would be awesome it'll really help when I get to it.
Was going this route with the brakes cheaper then c5 or c6 corvette brakes or were you just looking for a challenge lol?
Cool thanks. Whatever photos you can take while you do the trans would be awesome it'll really help when I get to it.
Was going this route with the brakes cheaper then c5 or c6 corvette brakes or were you just looking for a challenge lol?
I will be posting a lot of pictures of everything as I go along.
Going this route with the brakes was going to be be cheaper (for me), and I would end up with better brakes in the end (in my mind; 4 piston Brembo calipers vs 2 piston vette calipers.)...
I wanted these calipers in particular because they have a pretty flat face on them, and I wanted to mill the "Chevelle" script into them after they are recoated. Playing the mix and match game as led me to wasting a lot of time, and money.
These are 2014 ATS/CTS Brembo calipers. The ATS rotor dimensionally would have worked out perfect with no spacers required on the wheel or the rotor, but the bolt pattern is wrong. I ended up with 2010 5th Gen v6 Camaro rotors as they fit on the hubs and are the same OD. Didn't realize how big the calipers were at the time when I ordered all this stuff, so once I started putting it together, the calipers hit the wheels (may not be an issue with different wheels), so rather than run spacers, I started looking for a different rotor with more offset. I ended up with a Lexus LS460 rotor, same bolt pattern as the Camaro rotor, but 9.5mm more offset which is exactly what I needed to run without spacers. But being 13mm bigger OD, instead of the caliper hitting the back of the wheel spokes, it may just be into the side of the wheel... I should just buy the ATS rotors and machine the correct bolt pattern into them... But for now, moving forward with the Lexus rotor.
All this... Just so I could mill "Chevelle" into the calipers...
I put a LS3 6L80e in my 50 Chevy coupe. Absolutely love this trans. A good tuner made a new animal out of it. Shifts firm and always in the right gear for the RPM. I had a driveshaft made with an adapter to use the flange on the trans. Less than changing the output shaft and did not have to dis-assemble the trans. I will try to attach a photo.
I have 5000 miles on this set up and have hammered it. No problems
I widened the firewall setback to give me more room and look better. These old Chevys just came with straight 6.
One side of the brakes done, now that I know what I'm doing and have the brackets sorted out the other side should go a lot faster.
Bracket is 3/8" thick steel, I had to mill off 1/8" at the top mounting point on the spindle.
I ended up having to run a .060" SS shim behind the rotor to get it centered in the caliper. I guess I can mill .060" off of the bracket where the caliper mounts to pull it back and run without the shim, but shimming the rotor was quicker to see if this was even going to work and clear. I may go back and do that, as everything has to come apart again so I can repaint the calipers and mill the "Chevelle" script into them.
I also had to run a 1/4" spacer between the rotor and the wheel to push the wheel out to clear the face of the caliper. Other wheels may not have this problem, but I'm not going to change the wheels.
The only modification to the car was to have the hubs turned to fit the center bore of the rotors, and tap the hubs for the ARP studs.
Final parts combo:
2014 ATS/CTS 4 piston Brembo calipers (Loaded, only 14k miles from LKQ, $237.98 shipped)
5th gen Camaro v6 front rotors (centric stop tech sport, slotted, 12.64" OD) ($164.58 shipped)
Waterjet cost + Material for caliper brackets, rotor shims, and wheel spacers ($52.84)
Hardware ($20.00)
2x 5pk ARP #100-7704 studs ($33.65 shipped)
2x 5pk 1/2-20 open end lug nuts ($9.94 shipped)
----
Total to get brakes on the car = $ 518.99
I can't wait to see the calipers once they are done. Great job so far.
The RH s10 m/c is $50 on Amazon last time I checked.
Thanks, I hope the calipers turn out how they look in my mind.
I'm going to start practicing on some scrap 5052 aluminum this week. My biggest concern is that I don't know what kind of alloy/how hard the calipers are. I'm going to be using .032 bits to try and get a decent detail in the script but not use such a small bit that they just break left and right. Fingers crossed.
I got the price of the S10 mc from rock auto, an AC Delco unit. I'll shop around a little more
The two in the middle row, center were done with a .035, 60 deg half round engraving bit, everything else was done with an .062 ball end mill bit. Various feed speeds, and depth of cut combinations were tried. I'm pretty happy with the result in the 3rd picture down, I can see I need to tweak the script a little bit to clean it up, but I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing.
Current size of the script is about 1" tall x 3.4" wide. I may have to shrink it down a hair more. I think I may try and curve the script also, I think it might look a little better when seen through the wheel. I ordered an .045 ball end mill last night, should be here in a couple days. I'll give it a shot and make my final decision. Might be able to do the actual calipers this weekend if I can get them coated soon enough.
Sorry if this is boring, and not LSx related. Once I get this front brake setup finished, I'll be moving onto the fitting of the engine and transmission before getting back to the wiring.
That'll look sweet on the calipers.
Quick question, you guys seem to be far more experienced, but I found a broken header bolt flush with my l92 aluminum head. What's the best way to try to get it out?
That'll look sweet on the calipers.
Quick question, you guys seem to be far more experienced, but I found a broken header bolt flush with my l92 aluminum head. What's the best way to try to get it out?
I can't say that I've had that problem myself before, but I'd suggest trying an easy out? I've heard people having good luck with left hand drill bits on occasion also? Maybe spray some wd-40 on it and let it soak before hand.
Originally Posted by 1989GTA
They all look pretty good to me. You are there and if the 3rd picture fits your eye go for it. The script came out real nice. Do you have a CNC mill?
Thanks, they do look pretty good, but I still think I can get a little better results before I commit to defacing the calipers. I do have a CNC mill, it's just a little 3 axis with a build envelope of about 13x8 by 11 high or so. I'm really still learning how to run it, and the software is absolute garbage, so I'm kind of limited to things I can do with it at the moment. Mostly stuck with things like this, 2d milling/engraving/slotting etc. But doing this has really made me look hard at what it would take to start expanding what I can do (I'm thinking billet emblems now ie: factory style "MALIBU 364" for the fenders of the car)...
Originally Posted by Devans47
really like the milling
Thanks! I don't even know why I'm so hung up on the idea of having to have the calipers say "Chevelle" on them. Hopefully someone will notice it at a show one day, but I seriously doubt it LOL
That'll look sweet on the calipers.
Quick question, you guys seem to be far more experienced, but I found a broken header bolt flush with my l92 aluminum head. What's the best way to try to get it out?
The easiest way is to mig weld a washer on the broken bolt and then weld a nut on the washer. The metal weld won't stick to the aluminum and the heat will help loosen it up.
The easiest way is to mig weld a washer on the broken bolt and then weld a nut on the washer. The metal weld won't stick to the aluminum and the heat will help loosen it up.
Ok I was worried about the weld right by the aluminum but if that reverse bit doesn't work ill try that. Thanks for the help
The easiest way is to mig weld a washer on the broken bolt and then weld a nut on the washer. The metal weld won't stick to the aluminum and the heat will help loosen it up.
I did try that once upon a time on someone elses car, I forgot... Problem I kept having was that the nut would keep breaking off. I don't think we ever got that bolt out lol...
Still fighting the front brakes. Problem now is that with the rotor, and the wheel spacer, there is no hub to center the wheel... I'll have to either find and buy or make a set of hub centric wheels spacers, or some hub centric rings to fit the wheels/hubs.
I haven't milled the calipers yet as I want to be 100% sure this setup is going to work on the car before I deface them (hoping to sell them if I can't get this working).
I did do a little more milling practice today though, the most detailed/intricate/complex thing I've done on the mill. Learning a little more, and starting to think about trusting the mill to do it's thing.
I was thinking the 350 fender emblems needed to be replaced...
Wrong alloy, and wrong tool for the job, but still turned out pretty cool in the end. I modified the emblem drawing a little bit, and I'm going to try a thinner one tonight.
I did try that once upon a time on someone elses car, I forgot... Problem I kept having was that the nut would keep breaking off. I don't think we ever got that bolt out lol...
I found welding the washer on first makes it easier to weld the nut than just welding the nut directly to the broken bolt.
One more thing to be aware of when you get to that point is the alternator. I believe yours would be controlled by the ECM/BCM and has a two wire plug.
So if you are not using the BCM than your alternator will not charge properly. Mine reverted to 13.8 volts as the default voltage. In my case that did not work out over the long term as the battery would slowly go down. So I am in the process of changing it out to a 4 plug alternator that is not controlled by the ECM.
Do you have a link to the CNC machine you are using? How much $ is one?
The items you are making look great to my eye!
Doug
The mill I have is no longer made. It's a Novakon NM-135. Novakon is based out of Canada, but I imagine the mill itself is Chinese made. I'm pretty sure the Puslar model replaced what I currently have, starting price @ $9,000. The Pulsar looks like it's quite a bit more advanced than mine.
I've seen a couple bad reviews of Novakon here and there (speficically one super angry guy that started his own website of his bad experience), but I've had really good luck with mine. It's taken me quite a bit of time to learn how to use it, programming, and the ins and outs of milling tools, feed speeds, etc, but I'm finally churning out some parts coming from having zero experience with it. When it was new the NM-135 was about the same price as the Pulsar. I lucked out and an older gentleman it town had bought it and decided figuring out CAD and how to use it was more work than he wanted to do so it was practically new when I got it, and at 1/3 of the price of new. Couldn't say no.
Here's my second attempt at the slightly changed 364 emblem, this time in the proper alloy, but still not the best bit I could have used for the job. Pretty happy with how it turned out
Originally Posted by 1989GTA
One more thing to be aware of when you get to that point is the alternator. I believe yours would be controlled by the ECM/BCM and has a two wire plug.
So if you are not using the BCM than your alternator will not charge properly. Mine reverted to 13.8 volts as the default voltage. In my case that did not work out over the long term as the battery would slowly go down. So I am in the process of changing it out to a 4 plug alternator that is not controlled by the ECM.
Anyways check into it.
Excellent info, thanks for that. I'll have to take a look at my Alternator. How would one go about wiring in the 4 wire, and any particular application to source one from?
My cousin robbed my g8 exhaust manifolds for his 38 Chevy w/ the 5.3... So now I'm trying to decide if I want to go with swap headers, another set of g8 manifolds, or if there is some other stock manifold that I would be better off using?
02-27-2015, 04:18 PM
Problem now is that with the rotor, and the wheel spacer, there is no hub to center the wheel... I'll have to either find and buy or make a set of hub centric wheels spacers, or some hub centric rings to fit the wheels/hubs. 
