Cadillac / Brembo brake upgrade

[Bill]

There is a great deal out on some of the other forums about using the Caddy brakes from the ATS and XTS (not the same calipers). Since a lot of our builders do upgrades on the cheap, I thought I'd throw this out there. There are a couple of kits on the market and some YouTube videos that show how to make it happen. There are also several extensive threads on some of the other sites. I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel here, just have a conversation. Have any of you actually done the swap and what can you tell us about your experience?

 

[D3vst8r96gt]

I watched the Stang Domination youtube channel do the swap on their foxbody. Seemed simple.

I ended up going with the Fully Torqued Racing (FTR) kit poor mans big brakes. Uses S197 calipers and gt500 rotors. Kind of wish I would have gone for the full gt500 brembo kit but I think Ill be fine on the set up.

 

[Bill]

I watched the Stang Domination youtube channel do the swap on their foxbody. Seemed simple.

I ended up going with the Fully Torqued Racing (FTR) kit poor mans big brakes. Uses S197 calipers and gt500 rotors. Kind of wish I would have gone for the full gt500 brembo kit but I think Ill be fine on the set up.

Any chance you took pics? Could you do a quick write up on your experience with that kit?

 

[D3vst8r96gt]

I haven't installed it, front end is still apart. Will do my best, will likely be around Christmas.

 

[Bill]

I have picked up a set of spindles to play with this, but won't start until I finish the PI upgrade I'm doing on an SN95 Vert.

 

[Bill]

So, in the time that it has been since I started looking at this project, S&S Engineering is now offering a kit with almost no drilling/fabrication/grinding involved for $175. I order the kit this week. I will start accumulating the rest of the parts and will do a build write-up on how it works. I'm currently running AM FR500 17/9 on the front. I would love to keep those, so we shall see. I'm also looking at going to the 13" Tauris rear brakes. I haven't committed to that yet, but the upgrade looks easy enough. Fab a couple of brackets out of 1/2" plate and bolt it up.

 

[D3vst8r96gt]

I am finally getting my spindle sand blasted this week, going to por15 them, new wheel bearings and then the front can start getting pieced together. I graduate in December so time and money will be more plentiful to get the projects going. I just hope the economy holds out, parts cost are already starting to climb.

 

[Bill]

We haven't had much activity on this thread in a while. I did the ATS install with the S&S kit. Now I'm looking at doing the S&S kit for big brakes on the back Here is a bias calculator that S&S shows the link to on their page: https://lawpaul.github.io/SN95-Brake-Bias/

This page also shows some issues/complaints about Taurus calipers. I haven't decided if I will go to the Taurus caliper or not. I like the Cobra calipers.

This is the link to the S&S rear kit https://www.ssengineeringllc.com/product-page/fox-sn-rear-big-rotor-adapter

 

[Bill]

So...I did a thing today. The Cady these are off of rearended something. More to follow once they arrive. We are going to go to 14" rotors all around. The calipers I ordered are XTS Brembos. I'll have to go to 18" wheels, so it might be a while before I get it all actually installed. The bad news is that this adds 8.5 lbs of unsprung weight on each corner. The good news is that it will increase stopping ability significantly. I still have to order the brackets for the back and rotors. I'll be using the Cobra rear calipers and the 4-channel ABS. That will help adapt the change in bias, which will be just off 70/30. I will eventually do a more serious write up with pic showing the difference between the GT/Cobra/Brembo-GT500 since I will have that entire pile of parts hanging around at the same time.

UPDATE: the last of the calipers finally arrived. I have to get a refund on one of the first set I ordered, which set me back a couple of weeks. The two in the picture are now safely in my garage. I put a Cobra caliper next to them for size reference. These things are massive, but the pair only set me back $135 total. The 14" rotors will be a bit more than that, but I'm looking forward to it.