Eldo caliper vs Camaro or Corvette

[JIM88K5]

Why not use Corvette or Camaro rr caliper instead of Eldorado calipers. Anyone have any insight on this subject ? Is it a mounting issue or some other problem ?

 

[sandawgk5]

Not 100% but pretty sure corvette and comaro do not have 12" diameter rotors that are 1" wide. The distance between the pads is too narrow for the 3/4 ton front rotors.

Ira

 

[Shawn]

I know Camaro's have a small drum inside the hub in the rotor for the e-brake where the eldo has the arm you can hook up to your e-brake cables and is simpler. Your axle would have to fit the small drum e-brake mounted to make it work. I'm sure Corvettes use something similar.

 

[K5Chris]

i had 84-86 mustang svo/contintental/mark iv rear calipers back when i had a 10 bolt. the problem with most of those is you can't hardly find a rotor thin enough to fit between it. i had to use 89 k1500 regular cab light duty front clipers with the center hole machined to fit over the flange.

 

[guido666]

What do the eldorodo calipers cost vs. the corvette ones?

 

[4xcrazy]

I know Camaro's have a small drum inside the hub in the rotor for the e-brake where the eldo has the arm you can hook up to your e-brake cables and is simpler. Your axle would have to fit the small drum e-brake mounted to make it work. I'm sure Corvettes use something similar.

i guess this depends on what year you are using, i had an '88 IROC that did not use this "drum" setup, it was a lever setup, like the Caddy ones.

 

[dyeager535]

i guess this depends on what year you are using, i had an '88 IROC that did not use this "drum" setup, it was a lever setup, like the Caddy ones.

Camaro stuff didn't go to the drum in hat setup until sometime in the 90's, probably around when the body changed again.

The problem with ANY other GM rear caliper that has been found, is that none are setup for the front truck rotor width (1.25") and even though you can find the 1" (or less depending on caliper) rotors, you won't find any from GM that are 6 or 8 lug.

Supposedly '88+ C/K front rotors for low GVWR are 1", I've seen it in print, but when I went to Napa to take a look at them, they brought out rotors that were 1.25" and that was what was listed for the 7200lb trucks, vs. the 8000lb variant.

Any make that shares the same lug spacing as GM could be a possible donor, but that is a lot of searching. The foreign trucks are more likely to have thin front rotors, but I could never spend the time searching all of them to find a 1" 6 lug rotor.

Finding a 1" thick, 10" diameter 6 lug rotor would allow all the 79-85 Cadillac stuff, plus a bunch more applications, to be used.

I pulled a set of '88-ish Camaro calipers in anticipation of finding these rotors, however I don't think they are that good of a setup. Many that I've seen, including the ones I purchased, have broken e-brake levers. Unlike the Cadillac stuff, these are cast iron and apparently quite brittle.

 

[RootBreaker]

i guess this depends on what year you are using, i had an '88 IROC that did not use this "drum" setup, it was a lever setup, like the Caddy ones.

if that is the deal.. there is a place near me that is nothing but older camaros.. i could go there and check... and see what he has and how much he wants for calipers.... with levers and springs..


here is the problem..

d44 front calipers work great but no ebrake

1976-1978 eldo calipers from napa are $65 each without lever and spring. with a core of about same price i think

The problem starts here.. you cannot buy the spring and lever....if you can post up where to get them...

I went to car-part.com and bought 2 calipers to my door... $45 but they werent working..... got new ones.. used these as cores and kept the elevers and springs... so all good now.... I only have the ebrake for inspection purposes and wife purposes.. she wanted it so be it...

 

[hawkeye649]

if that is the deal.. there is a place near me that is nothing but older camaros.. i could go there and check... and see what he has and how much he wants for calipers.... with levers and springs..


here is the problem..

d44 front calipers work great but no ebrake

1976-1978 eldo calipers from napa are $65 each without lever and spring. with a core of about same price i think

The problem starts here.. you cannot buy the spring and lever....if you can post up where to get them...

I went to car-part.com and bought 2 calipers to my door... $45 but they werent working..... got new ones.. used these as cores and kept the elevers and springs... so all good now.... I only have the ebrake for inspection purposes and wife purposes.. she wanted it so be it...

E-brake = useless
Mine's there for the state as well...

GMC Graemlin

 

[shane74]

Why not use Corvette or Camaro rr caliper instead of Eldorado calipers. Anyone have any insight on this subject ? Is it a mounting issue or some other problem ?

I have a TON of personal research on this. There are a few major differences between the caliper years.

#1. The mount holes are narrower the 76-78 Eldo calipers. Those model years have a mounting pin distance of 7.0", the later model years are 5.375". BIG difference. They will not work on the same mounting brackets for the 76-78 years.

#2. The newer calipers need a narrow thickness (1.0" or less) or solid rotor (no venting) to work. There are a couple that do work, but they are more expensive than the cheap D44 rotors ($60 to $80 ea.).

#3. The newer model calipers are not designed to stop an oversize tire. They are designed to work with much smaller dia. tires and much lighter weights. You could be over working the caliper and have a failure under hard braking conditions.

#4. Since the reservior inside the newer style caliper is so much smaller than the larger size, you might have issues with them locking up way to easy. You may not be able to get a prop valve dialed in correctly to eliminate the issue.

 

[JIM88K5]

Hmmm...

I guess the the real drawback is the rotor width. More research...

 

[Blue85]

You might look into Toyota rotors...