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I thought I had hooking up my rear LS1 swap brakes figured out by using LS1 rear brake lines and stop brackets, but it looks like using them puts the stop brackets (where the brake lines meet the hoses) very close to the brake calipers since the 3rd gen axle tubes are almost 2" shorter at the ends between where the brackets mount and the calipers. This makes it hard to run the hoses from the lines to the calipers since they have to be curved very tightly, especially if you try to use the LS1 hoses, too.
Could someone please chime in here and give me some kind of idea how people deal with this issue? Would one option be to use shortened and re-flared 3rd gen rear drum brake lines rerouted somehow and just eliminate the LS1 stop brackets? Looking at my 3rd gen assembly manual it looks like the factory rear disc brake cars were done in this fashion (but it's hard to tell for sure where the lines go).
Any pictures of how people have done this would be helpful. Thanks.
I assume your 4th gen rear didn't come with the hardline that spans across it? I just tied directly into that.
Yes, it came with the hard lines that go from the left of center T to the stop brackets where the hard lines connect to the hoses. Maybe it doesn't matter if you have to bend the hoses almost in two to go from there to the banjo bolt on the caliper, but it sure seems odd to me. It would seem that at the very least you would need shorter (end) hoses than what came on the 4th gen LS1 one rear brakes.
A little bending is fine as long as you don't kink them. Do you have a picture? Still not totally sure I understand you correctly.
I should have taken a picture when I had it together but I took it back apart to work ion my spring seats more and do some painting in that area. I can post a picture in a few days when I have it back together.
Basically the leg of the stop brackets where the brakeline/hose connection is is only about 2" from the caliper which points the hose directly into the side of the caliper, Then it has to make an immediate turn up to get the banjo bolt fitting on the hose, inline with the hole it goes over on the caliper, but the 4th gen hoses are too long to do this so they have to loop down a bit before they go up to allow for the extra length of hose.. On the wider 4th gen rear end this isn't a problem, but since 3rd gen rear ends are so much narrower the hose has less space to make this do all this, and it ends up being a crammed together mess.
The 3rd gen rear disc brake cars apparently don't use the brakeline/hose connection brackets (I call them stop brackets) that mount to the outside of the rear trailing arm brackets like the 4th gen cars do, so the hoses have a straighter shot to the calipers, at least according to my 3rd gen assembly manual.
Seems like when you do these kinds of swaps there's always some issue that isn't covered in the tutorials.
Is it a 3rdgen axle or a 4thgen axle? In your first post, it sounds like you're describing the close fitment because you've installed 4thgen hardlines on a 3rdgen axle. But it sounds like Shifty is referring to a 4thgen axle, and your replies sound like you're going with that too.
If 3rdgen, then what year? For a pre-89 3rdgen axle, most people who did the LS rear brakes on a 3rdgen axle probably used 89+ 3rdgen hardlines and 14"-ish hoses from the back of the LCA brackets to the calipers.
4thgen hardlines would seem like a natural for a 4thgen brake swap, but on the shorter 3rdgen axle, it's closer between the hardline and the caliper, so it would be difficult to make the connections with thick rubber hoses. Even on 4thgen axles, the thick rubber hoses are tightly curved to make the connections, but that is how it was done.
If you're using a 3rdgen axle, then here's a picture of mine with 4thgen hardlines and brackets. Thick rubber hoses wouldn't have worked here, because the 3rdgen axle is narrower between the bump stop and caliper than a 4thgen axle. I used 6" stainless hoses, which are much thinner than rubber hoses, and a swivel connector, pictured below.
Is it a 3rdgen axle or a 4thgen axle? In your first post, it sounds like you're describing the close fitment because you've installed 4thgen hardlines on a 3rdgen axle. But it sounds like Shifty is referring to a 4thgen axle, and your replies sound like you're going with that too.
If 3rdgen, then what year? For a pre-89 3rdgen axle, most people who did the LS rear brakes on a 3rdgen axle probably used 89+ 3rdgen hardlines and 14"-ish hoses from the back of the LCA brackets to the calipers.
4thgen hardlines would seem like a natural for a 4thgen brake swap, but on the shorter 3rdgen axle, it's closer between the hardline and the caliper, so it would be difficult to make the connections with thick rubber hoses. Even on 4thgen axles, the thick rubber hoses are tightly curved to make the connections, but that is how it was done.
If you're using a 3rdgen axle, then here's a picture of mine with 4thgen hardlines and brackets. Thick rubber hoses wouldn't have worked here, because the 3rdgen axle is narrower between the bump stop and caliper than a 4thgen axle. I used 6" stainless hoses, which are much thinner than rubber hoses, and a swivel connector, pictured below.
What you describd in your third paragraph is what I've been trying to describe in my posts about the shorter distance between the trailing arm brackets and the calipers.
My car/axle is an '89 that I put LS brakes off of a 2001 Camaro I bought the rear end off of..
It looks like you installed 90 degree fittings to point the brake hose down immediately after the brake line stop brackets. Where did you find the parts for that set-up?
It was a one-off, sort of, trial-and-error collaboration between Scott at BBU and myself for the C6 rear conversion on my 9-bolt axle. The 6" hoses (Earl's) and 90* fittings (probably also Earl's) were the final pieces of the puzzle. It was a few years ago, but he'd probably remember what he sent me. I think I still have the invoices from him, but I'm out of town for a few more weeks.
Right now I'm leaning towards trying to recreate the 3rd gen rear disc brake line set-up as best as I can from the pictures in my assembly and service manuals and use the corresponding hoses. It would be nice to have a stop bracket to transition from hard lines to hoses but I don't think they are necessary as long as the hard lines are well secured.
01-29-2024, 12:04 AM
