C4 Frame Project

[WagonCrazy]

11,600 entries? Geez that's big. Makes me want to jump on a plane and check it out some year. Thanks for posting those pics.

[Custer55]

New Brakes and Wheels

So on the way to one of the last car shows of the season around here (late September) I had a deer run across the road in front of me. Luckily it wasn't to close to hitting the deer but it left me feeling like I wish I had better brakes even though they are pretty good. So I made a decision to order a set of Power Stop slotted and cross drilled rotors with the Z23 pads. The Z23 carbon ceramic pads are supposed to have 20% better braking power. The pads I have been using since I did the C4 Conversion are the original pads in front and cheap replacement pads on the rear that are horrible in regards to brake dust.
So as long as I was on a roll with the brake project I decided to look at different wheels as well. After looking at some C6 & C7 Corvette wheels on ebay. There were a some that looked nice but being that the ones that would work on my car with adapters on the rear, but most were 18" fronts and 19" rears which would also mean new tires so I decided against that plan. What I ended up getting was a set of C6 replica wheels from OE Wheels that are available in several different diameters and offsets as well as the same size and offset as my 90 Vette wheels. This way I was able to use my current 17" tires.



After receiving the wheels and test fitting the bare wheels I was only getting about 5 1/2 turns on the lug nuts with the stock wheel studs on the front and only about 3 on the rear with the 3/16" spacers I need on the rear. Not nearly enough to be safe. The new wheels turned out to be about 1/8" thicker than the 90 Corvette wheels. So longer wheel studs were needed. After some searching on the internet I came up with studs that are 1/2" longer than stock so they will now be plenty long enough and I have at least 1/4" to spare before the lug nuts I will have bottom out on the studs on the front where there is no spacers.
The studs I found are Dorman part number 610-323 which is a stock replacent on many GM vehicles including 2013 to 2017 Cadillac ATS's. Available at just about any auto parts store (I had to go to 3 to get 20 studs)




A shot with the front rotors installed.




And with the caliper and pads installed.




Rear rotor, caliper, pads and 3/16" spacer installed.

And a few shots with the new wheels on the car.



For sure a completely different look. After bedding in the brakes following the directions with the Power Stop pads (5 stops from 40 to 10 then 5 stops from 35 to 5, then 5 minutes of driving without stopping to cool the brakes) I did a couple of hard stops from about 60 mph to test the difference. I have to say I was pleased with the results. Stopping distance is much improved, easily 20% as advertised or better. Over the winter I may swap out my 7" power booster for an 8" or 9" dual booster for even better brakes. You can never have brakes that are to good!!!



And the added benefit of the new wheels is being able to see the nice new rotors through the wheel.
(the right front in this shot)
Brian

[BamaNomad]

Great writeup and photos, Doug! Be careful you don't throw YOURSELF thru the windshield..!

and let us know how the new pads wear and 'dust' once you get some miles on them...

[Custer55]

Great writeup and photos, Be careful you don't throw YOURSELF thru the windshield..!

and let us know how the new pads wear and 'dust' once you get some miles on them...

Had the 55 out for a ride today. Amazing how much better the brakes are with basically just a pad change.
I will let you know how they are for brake dust when I get a few more miles on them. Unfortunately that probably won't be until spring as driving season up here in Wisconsin is quickly coming to an end, although it has been a pretty nice fall up here so far the extended forecast for next week doesn't look good.
Brian

[BamaNomad]

Brian! My apologies for referencing you as 'doug' in my earlier response... no idea where my brain was at the time~

[Custer55]

No worries. Stuff happens!!

[redmanf1]

Nice welds...

[Custer55]

Recently My wife was going through some old boxes in the attic and found the photo album with the original pictures of my 55 Chevy. These pictures are from nearly 50 years ago and I don't think I had seen them in over 30 years!!





These 3 photos are from December of 1976 shortly after I had purchased my 55 at our family home in Merrill, WI. At this time it still had the original 235 6 cylinder engine and 3 speed manual transmission. Unfortunately the engine stopped running a couple of months after that, Maybe couldn't take the cold being from California.

This picture was from about a year later after transplanting a rebuilt 283 V8 and four speed manual transmission. (The same engine and transmission are in it today) I had started to do some body work at this point as well, even though I wasn't very good at it at that time. Pretty cool to look back in time at these old pictures to see what you have today started out like, quite a difference from what it is today!!
Brian

[Belair-o]

What an amazing journey! I hadn't read your 55 build posting before - great that you have had the 55 so very long, and have built the vision you had for the car!

[Custer55]

What an amazing journey! I hadn't read your 55 build posting before - great that you have had the 55 so very long, and have built the vision you had for the car!

Thanks, hard to believe I have had my 55 for nearly 50 years! Time flies when your having fun!!