WS6 Brakes vs. LT1 brakes

[POS71RS]

Well, I have the whole setup already for the WS6 brakes in the rear. But, Ive heard horror stories about problems with them, or less than satisfactory performance.
My other option would be to buy LT1 style discs and calipers, and I think it was two left hand backing plates, or something along those lines.
Im planning on doing either a 12 or 13" conversion on the front, using LS1 calipers I already have for the front.
What do you guys think?
Mike

[SHANE 73Z]

Hey Mike,

I would seriously consider using the LT1s especially since you will be using the C5 fronts. The bore in the rear of the WS6 brakes is too large and you will never get your biasing correct (unless you ran a dual MC with a bias bar) The LT1 rears will let you run a factory style MC and adjustable prop valve. The only way I would run the WS6 is if you were staying with stock front calipers.

Hope this helps,
Shane

[WS6]

could you explain more how the bore size of the rear caliper affects this? i personally like my brakes, but i also will be staying stock sized only using SSBC dual piston calipers on the front. im staying with my 15x8 snowflakes so i am limited by that

[SHANE 73Z]

WS6,

I would say it depends which SSBC front caliper you will be running in the front they make a power (twin 43mm bore) and a manual (twin 38mm bore) I would think you would be alright as long as you were using the power version with your stock rear setup. I would check with SSBC to be sure though.

Since Mike will be running the LS1 calipers in the front he is going to have to do something about his MC bore regardless whether he runs power or manual. When he matches his MC to the front caliper the MC wont be able to provide enough pressure for the WS6 rear brakes.

Shane

[Conekiller13]

WS6,

To try and help shed some light on the bore size issue.........if Your rear caliper bore size exceeds more than 40% volume of the front bore size n o amount of adjustable biasing will reduce the braking force to rear giving You entirly too much rear brake bias leading to lock up and possible spinning. SSBC is in the street rod brake business and does not take such performance aspects into consideration. In fact when I asked one of there representatives at SEMA about how they acomplish proper biasing using the same caliper front and rear(force 10 set up) he said "Uhh.....it's mostly for looks." That is why You see such small rear calipers on performance brake packages like Baer and Willwood. I'm not that knowledgable on the WS6 calipers, are they the same as C-5 rears? The LT-1 calipers are what Baer uses in their kits. The adjustable prop valves only lessen the amount of pressure to the rear brakes so much. They do nat actually adjust front to rear brake balance. For that You need dual masters and a balance bar as stated above.

Hopefully that helps some.

[WS6]

yes it does. i was thinking that maybe the MC would not be able to provide enough fluid to both the large rear brakes and even larger front brakes with one stroke. the amount of fluid is very small that is needed, this i know, but that still doesnt mean with one stroke youll get enough. thats what i thought you were getting at. ive never heard the size comparison of 40% before. that makes perfect sense though. most of the braking is done up front, i believe most people say 70% front 30% rear. i have LT1 brakes on my formula in the rear. yes i know i am LT1, but the vettes used the same style caliper even on the L98 cars. they have a different parking brake design. what a lot of guys do that have upgraded to bigger front brakes on fourth gens is to run a crappy much less agressive pad in the rear, while running a very good pad in the front. sure the bias is technically unchanged, but the rear pads just simply will not provide the fricton needed to compare to the front.

the ws6 rear calipers are front calipers adated to work on an axel. i believe they are off B body cars from the same era. im not sure on that though. the brakes on a WS6 car have the same size front and back rotor wise, if not then its very close. like i said stock they feel great, but it is an old system. and on that note the brakes on a corvette were the same from 65-82. four piston calipers on all four corners. rotors were the same size front and back and the only difference between rotors front and back was bleeder screw location. that was a long time to have one style braking system with no upgrades. makes you wonder if it was that good, or did they just not bother making it any better.

thanks for the info

[Conekiller13]

. and on that note the brakes on a corvette were the same from 65-82. four piston calipers on all four corners. rotors were the same size front and back and the only difference between rotors front and back was bleeder screw location. that was a long time to have one style braking system with no upgrades. makes you wonder if it was that good, or did they just not bother making it any better.

thanks for the info

Those "same size brakes" I think actually did have different piston sizes front to rear even though the exterior apearence was the same. I think they really didn't have anything better untill the late '80's. Braking technology hasn't been a front line item untill about 15 years ago, I would say.

[WS6]

hmm ill have to double check the pistons.

would a larger piston master cylinder make up for the difference in volume needed?

[POS71RS]

Do you guys know any m/c that would work well with LS1 calipers in the front? Something that wouldnt require major fabwork?

[a73formula]

Would it be a problem to switch the rear calipers from the ws6 to the lt1's without having to change all the brackets involved? I just got all the parts to do this on my 73 and was palnning on running the c5 brakes in the front and don't want start having to collenct parts all over again. What if you used a m/c from a ws6 car or a newer camaro?

[bnoon]

Would it be a problem to switch the rear calipers from the ws6 to the lt1's without having to change all the brackets involved? I just got all the parts to do this on my 73 and was palnning on running the c5 brakes in the front and don't want start having to collenct parts all over again. What if you used a m/c from a ws6 car or a newer camaro?

Without knowing what year WS6 you're talking about, I can't tell. WS6 was a performance suspension package on my '86 TA as well as on my old 77 TA and they were not the same size discs. The fourth gens had WS6 as well on LT1 and LS1 models which are also different. Are all WS6 cars equipped with the same M/C?

I know that the thirdgenners are having no trouble upgrading to fourth gen rear ends including the fourth gen LT1 rear brakes. I don't know how the LS1 fourth gen rear brakes differ in caliper size though.