LS1 / C5 Calipers - I'm gonna get it right if it kills me

[Joe_Rocket]

I am now looking to get my !@*# third set of LS1 or C5 rear calipers to complete my brake swap. Man this is getting expensive.


Anyhow, what I need to know is:

1) 98-up LS1's and C5's interchange, right?

2) looking at GM Parts direct, I can get the torch red Z06 Calipers or the standard C5 calipers. I don't want red. But there's no cool picture of the others and I am wondering if the standard C5 calipers are just raw aluminum, painted black or what? If they are not finished, I'd just as soon get some rebuilts...

Thanks


If you are curious why I am on my third set, read on...

I wanted custom powder coating on them. The place I took the first set to sand blasted the heck out of the piston chamber. I didn't want to put it all together and have it leak, so I got a second set, and took them to a different place. They plugged up the piston chamber well, but pitted the heck out of the area the banjo fitting bolts too. So, I had them milled down a little to smooth them out, but the banjo couldn't quite sink into the milled area far enough because the shaft of the banjo hit the edge of the caliper. But I didn't notice. So, I put an airline to the hose and kept tightening the banjo a little more and a little more to get the leak to stop and stripped the threads.

I guess I can't really blame the shop since I didn't explicitly tell them to be careful about sand blasting those areas. Well, I'm learning the hard way...

[yody]

I have a set of almost brand new rear LS1 calipers, abutments, and rotors for sale, powdercoated blue with Hawk pads, PM me if interested

[MrQuick]

if you don't buy cody's, just buy the LS1's and get caliper paint from eastwood. Stuff works well.

[yody]

yeah, that will work too, but not nearly as tough as powdercoating, especially on soemthing like brake calipers.

[MrQuick]

we thought the same but it really holds up. We did several Magnums at work and no chipping or fading even after bleeding them. Perhaps you didn't clean them right before you painted them? they have to be clean and dry.

[yody]

Yeah that stuff does work well, but no comparison to powdercoating. You must of been using Dot5 or whatever, because even some powdercoating will come off with enough brake fluid. Every single type of paint I have ever seen will lift with brake fluid. But for the price it is a good deal. And you don't have to disassemlbe the caliper to do it which is nice

[Joe_Rocket]

Yeah, I thought of just getting the caliper paint, too. It's an option. Though I may just get a basic powder coating setup and do it myself, too. That way I can do other small stuff for my car.

But, I am still hoping for answers to my 2 questions above, since IF the normal C5 calipers are already black, I may just stick with that and skip trying to coat them.

Thanks.


BTW, Yody, did you get the PM I sent?

[Moose]

they come as aluminium for standard ones..

[Joe_Rocket]

Well, I ended up driving down to the dealer and bugged the guy at the counter to call the warehouse to pull a box off the shelf and check the color.


So, the Corvette Rear Calipers #'s:

12530684
12530685

are black...


But they wouldn't give them to me at GMParts Direct prices. What's the deal with that? Every time I order from GMParts Direct, it appears the parts are drop shipped from some dealer anyways, so why can't I walk into the dealer and get the same price?

[derekf]

Joe, GMPartsDirect is the parts department of Flow Chevrolet in NC and not something officially done by GM... that's why Flow is the return address.

It's always seemed to me that GMPD undercut the parts prices a little and made their money on the shipping & handling; I wouldn't expect local dealers to match their price in that case.

[Joe_Rocket]

So, they are a Chevy Dealer... Interesting...

Even with the shipping and handling costs and the stuff I've looked at, it still seems a lot cheaper than the local dealer prices I've been quoted.

Two calipers at GM Parts direct for about $68 each and $15 each S&H still is a fair savings over the $138 each plus tax my local dealer quoted.

LOL

[Ralph LoGrasso]

From everything I've seen GM Parts Direct sells items at dealer cost, which is usually around 30% off of list. I've never bought from them, but from what others have said, it seems they make their money off of shipping.