Camaro Brakes

Today, we're pulling out all stops on this 97 Ss Camaro. You better stay with us

today on horsepower TV.

We'll take a late model Camaro road racer in need of better breaks. Take it to the horsepower shop for a killer high-performance upgrade

and then back to the speedway for amazing results. That'll stop you in your tracks.

Later, we cruise to Saint Louis Missouri to witness the biggest and rarest collection of Chevy supercars,

all the muscle in the world's here today. It's just wonderful.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Hi and welcome to Horsepower TV. Where today we've got a shop full of Camaros, including this rare pair.

Now, first, how about this 69 in Pace car? It's one of only a few 100 ever built.

And besides the obvious graphics,

the package also included a special hood that picked up cold air from the base of the windshield.

Then it was mated

to the special air cleaner. Now, this one is powered by 300 horse 350 backed by a Munsey four speed.

Well, this 97 Ss here has the 30th anniversary option which includes the cold air hood and stripes plus inside the Houndstooth interior.

Now, both of these collectible Camaros lead Pampered Lives. But

this 97 I just brought in belongs to Chuck's neighbor and it sees plenty of action in road race competition.

It competes regularly in SCCA events at tracks like Road Atlanta

where the capabilities of the car are pushed to their limits.

In fact, their limits are sometimes exceeded as we found out with the stock four wheel disc brakes. So I guess we should break out the tools. Yeah, but before we start swapping parts, we needed to set up a baseline first, just to see how good or bad those stock brakes really are.

We took the car to Nashville superspeedway for some 60 to 0 testing.

Now, the best we could do is about 100 70 ft.

Not bad, but definitely some room for improvement

or whether you're road racing or just running the streets, your front brakes do the most work and that's where we'll begin this upgrade.

In fact, we're gonna install this GT plus system from bear racing. These massive rotors measure over 13 inches in diameter and almost an inch and a quarter in thickness. Of course, they've been cross drilled and slotted and treated with a corrosion resistant zinc coating. Now,

during heavy braking, the material in your pads here form a gas which creates a barrier between the pad and the rotor. Now, these slots and holes here allow the gasses to escape and Well, that way the pads come in full contact. That's a great design.

Now, these aluminum PB R calipers are every bit as impressive.

They're a two piston low inertia pad guided design.

Now,

the pads themselves are a carbon metallic material which means that they'll generate more friction

without having to heat them up like you would with full race metallic pads.

Well, the first step is to get the car up in the air and to do that, we got a new piece of gear here in the shop. It's a portable lift from Eagle that actually slides under the car and lifts from the side.

The best part is it runs off 110 house current.

We just positioned the arms at the vehicle's jacking points,

then push this button

so we get the car where we want it.

An automatic locking system holds it safely in place.

Now, one thing we like about this lift is the open access it offers for wheels, brakes and suspension.

Wow, check this out. The brakes really are hammered on this thing. The rotor is deeply scored and well, I'm sure that the pad is wasted as well. Now, it looks like they really did find the limits of the stock braking system and

well time for us to go to work

after disconnecting the brake hose at the frame,

we can go and on board to California,

remove the abs sensor wire,

then loosen and remove the four hub retaining bolts.

Now to mount up our new system, we first have to modify the spindle by removing these caliper mounting ears.

Now, there's a diagram in the instructions that shows where to make the cuts. Of course, to do that. You'll need a hacksaw or even better. A

saw is all like this one.

After making the cuts smooth, any rough edges with a hand grinder or a file,

the new caliper bracket bolts right up to the spindling hub

using the bolts that come in the kit. Now, ours already came with thread lock on them. But if yours don't give them a dab,

so they don't vibrate out,

talk the bracket bolts,

the 40 ft pounds,

then plug the A BS connector into the back of the hub.

Well, now we're gonna slip the rotor over the hub and hold it in place with an extra lug nut.

Yeah. Well, speaking of nuts, you've been a pretty busy one today. Yeah. Well, I'm not ready to stop what I'm doing and take a little bit of a break. Why don't you show them what you got there?

I knew that was coming. Well, the caliber boats on next and, well, here's a little tip for you. If you mount it with this bleeder in the up position, that's where the air and the system is gonna go. And, well, you'll get rid of it when you bleed the brakes.

The caliber anchor boats are torque to 100 and 10 ft pounds.

We're gonna go ahead and replace those stock rubber brake hoses with this braided stainless line. Now, those rubber hoses can expand under hard braking and of course, that's gonna give you a soft pedal.

Now, these braided lines, however nice and flexible, but they're not gonna expand like those rubber ones do.

After connecting one end of the stainless line to the brake system,

we're ready to install the crush washers that come with a kit. Now, one goes on either side of that banjo fitting

and you insert the bolt and torque it down to 20 ft pounds.

Yeah, and that's it for the front brakes. We'll be back with more of our upgrade on this SS right after this.

Hi. Welcome back to the shop and more of our Bear brake upgrade on this 97 Camaro Ss. Now, before we start on the rear brakes, there's one more item that we wanna add while we still have access to the front suspension.

These Bear trucker tie rod ends are gonna help minimize steering deflection and bump steer. Plus they're gonna significantly enhance steering response. They use a billet aluminum adjusting barrel that attaches to this spherical rod end.

Now, these spacers on the tie rod pin allow vertical adjustment

that'll help minimize that bump steer

after removing the tie rod end from the steering knuckle

loosen up the jam nut.

After removing this stock outer tie rod end,

just screw the new one in its place

after tightening up the jam nut,

insert the tapered end of the p

into the steering knuckle.

Well, now you can go ahead and torque the nuts on the tie rod end here. The top one goes to 45 the bottom one goes to 60

well, then you can go ahead and try and find yourself an alignment shop. Now, when you're hunting for an alignment shop, make sure that you find one that understands the concept of bump steer, which is basically a tow in change as the suspension moves up and down through its travel.

Now, it's no secret that having a proper alignment is the best way to find the quick way around the track.

Good point there. Chuck. Now, we don't have to worry about bump steering back here, but we do have some more brakes that need attention.

Unlike the fronts, these rear brakes aren't quite as hammered, but we do want a balanced braking system. So

we're gonna go with Bear's Pro touring plus, set up, check out the difference there and like the fronts, these rotors measure over 13 inches in diameter, a little less thick though at just under an inch. Now, this rear setup gets aluminum PB R single piston calibers with hardware for the parking brake that uses original cables

and for removing the differential cover,

we can extract the differential pin from the carrier,

then remove the caliper assembly

or the rotor

ok. Now you wanna push in on the axle and hold it while you get a buddy under there to remove the axle, sea cliff.

All right, I've got it. Ok. Now you pull the axle out of the housing and here's a tip for you. Now is a good time to check the condition of all seals, bearings and axles and replace them. If they need it,

then remove the caliber bracket bolts

and the bracket itself,

new caliber brackets are included in the kit and they install. So the calipers are located in the lower rear position and what you get them on, just install the boats and torque them to 40 ft pounds.

That's great. Now, once Joe gets done bolting up those brackets, we can go ahead and reinstall our axles

just by reversing the procedure that we showed you earlier.

Now we're gonna take care of that while you take a little bit of a break and we'll be back to bolt on the rest of our parts after that.

So stick with us.

Welcome back to the horsepower shop and our bear brake installation on this 97 Camaro. Well, we got the axle back in so now

I can just slide on this new rotor and

like we did before, we'll hold it in place for the lug knife.

Now we can install the new caliber assembly

and the boats

next using a feeler gauge check for 30 to 90,000 clearance between this caliper anchor and the rotor. Now, you can use shims if you need to, to bring it into spec ours is ok. So

we'll go ahead and torque down the caliber boats to 85 ft pounds.

Well, I've already reinstalled the sea cliffs, the differential pin and the retaining bolt. And once I get the cover tightened up, we can go ahead and top off the differential with some of this royal purple synthetic gear lube.

Now, after that's done well, all we've got left to do then is bleed, the system break in the pads and rotors and we're gonna be ready to test.

You. Hit the first set of cons and hit the brakes.

Yeah.

Ok. Now we've set cones every 50 ft along the course here. And as you can see, we're about 100 and 3 ft.

Now that's 67 less than 100 and 70 that we started with or about a 30% reduction in overall stopping distance. Yeah, I can save a lot of sheet metal and maybe even your life.

Hey, no doubt about it. This Camaro really cooks. And if you like your Camaros rare, just wait till you see what we're serving up after this.

One guy said it was worth a million dollars. And I said, well, get your checkbook out and start writing,

but he did

see all this

stuff in one place. So it's gotta be here. It's gotta be the best.

And now a horsepower happening, celebrating the people, places and events of the high performance lifestyle,

the dealers hopped them up. Uh the factory got involved and really just if you're into muscle cars, this is the top of the pyramid. This is the ultimate muscle car

and just imagine about 25,000 horsepower from some of the rarest muscle cars on the planet. Yeah. Now this is the largest gathering of Chevy Supercars ever. In fact, what you see here is the fourth annual Supercar reunion. Yeah, I gotta admit even a Ford fanatic would drool over this collection of bow tie beauties. Well, if we're gonna see it all, we're gonna have to split up. Now I'll hook up with you later on. All right,

Yanko are perhaps the best known of all super cars and, well, this 69 Camaro here still belongs to its original owner, Gary Crawford.

Well, they were building mostly 396 cars at that time and

you know, you just never seen 427 cars and when I had a chance to get a 427 car, I just went and got it. I never questioned it.

Well, Yanko wasn't the only dealer building tour cars back then.

In 1973 a company called Motion out of Baldwin, New York built this meta A GT to get this, only three were built with the power and styling cues that set this bet apart from the rest, the other two had big blocks. This one's 350 automatic with air. Just a nice family street cruiser.

Yeah,

no doubt about it. Racing was the inspiration behind a lot of these super cars and a Midwest racer named Dickie Harold built a handful of race ready Chevys back in the late sixties. Now, this 68 Novo was one of them and it was purchased new by Ray Morrison. It's one of the 50 cars that was built for Fred Gibbs

Chevalle

in Harp Illinois

to compete against Ford and Chrysler and uh N hr A drag racing.

But after seeing dealers drop these big motors into little cars, Chevy got in the act itself in 69 with its own super cars and you know, it doesn't get any better than the all aluminum ZL one Camaro. Now this engine option doubled the price to the eight grand.

Yeah, there are a lot of cool Camaros here. But

Yanko also built a handful of these special 69 Chevelles with a 4 27 4 25 horse big block in them.

Now, this is a 22,000 mile original unrestored car that got a graphics package

a lot like the one that was found on the Camaro. And hey, check this one out. It was even ordered with a special rear spoiler. What's this? A Yanko 350 you bet in 1970 in answer to higher insurance rates, the horsepower went down with these Chevy Deuces. A 350 replacing the 427. Now, you might say this marked the beginning of the end for the high horsepower super cars.

Well, that is until 1981 when Yanko turned out a handful of these turbo Zs. Now basically what they did was strapped on a hair dryer to the 350.

Then he added a few body panels and some interior enhancements. Now, according to the literature of the time, uh

this was the ultimate Camaro. Yeah, maybe so. But I'll tell you what, this is the ultimate collection of bow tie super cars. But hey, right now we got a blast from the past that you won't believe

it's one thing to see this assemblage of Rare Iron cruising down the road. But get this, they're headed to Gateway International Raceway to run these gyms down the quarter mile strip.

Well, no track records were broken today. Just a lot of Chevy Supercar guys showing off their prize rides

at this reunion of uncanny American Iron,

all the muscle in the world's here today. It's just wonderful to see all this Ferrere stuff in one place. It's gotta be here. It's gotta be the best

horsepower TV S Hot parts. A close up. Look at the latest in high performance hardware.

Have you ever heard that song? I like my women on the trashy side. Well, I don't know about you, but when it comes to fuel, I prefer good clean fun.

That's why this pro filter from Russell makes good sense. It's machined from billet aluminum and features removable in caps that allow you to access the filter element, which by the way comes in either paper for gas or steel like this for alcohol. Either way it'll flow up to 100 40 gallons per hour at seven P si

now you can get it in either red and blue anodized like this or cool carbon fiber.

And a price is pretty cool too at 75 and up.

Hey, here's a heads up for you racers that are running rat motors.

It's trick flow's new R series race head for big block Chevys. Now they come with extra large 340 or 3 60 cc intake ports and these 122 CC combustion chambers that contain

ductal iron valve seats. Now, this is a bear casting, but these heads can be built to your specs with either 225 or 230 in stainless intake valves and 180 exhaust. Plus, you can get your choice of valve springs that'll handle up to 700 thousand's lift. Now, if you can handle dropping about two grand from your budget, hey, you can have a pair of these.

Well, here's some cool pipes for your PT cruiser from Flowmaster. It's a high flow exhaust system that will enhance your PTS performance while giving it that distinctive flow master sound.

Now, all the pipes are aluminized for long life and the use of factory hangers. Now, the muffler uses sound

canceling technology for better horsepower torque and fuel economy without obnoxious noise. Now, the dual exhaust tips are polish stainless and well, if all this sounds good to you,

so will the price about 335 bucks? Well, I know it sounds good to me.

How about a look at next week's lineup?

Whether your cars for show or for go.

Chances are you need a heavy duty ride like our horsepower hauler.

We'll pump some power into ours with a new computer module, rapid flow exhaust and even a propane injection system.

You won't believe the power gains we make on our

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Then it's off to East Tennessee for some high performance fun at the annual Bristol back

for information about the products used in today's show and more. Check us out online at horsepower tv.com

then loosen and remove the four hub retaining

now to mount up our new system. We have to modify the spindle.

I think the right time for that.

Hey, well, speaking of nuts, looks like you've been a busy one today. Yeah. Well, I'm about ready to take a break though and

stop. What I'm doing

quick breaks out.

I'm about ready to stop and take a break.

All right.

Now, once Joe finishes bolting up those brackets, we can go ahead and reinstall our axles.

Really?

Let's do it by reversing that

by reversing that procedure. We showed you earlier?

Yeah. Ok.

Now, no matter what you say, this Camaro really cooks and hey, if you like your Camaros rare, just wait, what,

wait, wait,

wait,

wait,

wait, what you see later. Boy,

wait a minute.

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