At this time most orders are running about 2-3 weeks, some longer. Some vital parts have been hard to acquire and one small part missing can hold up an order. These are all custom built parts and built per order so things take time. Please allow for this when you order and please be patient with us, we are working as hard and as fast as possible to get your order out to you. As much as I would like to stay in constant contact with all the customers it is just impossible, the emails could consume our whole day every day if we let it. If you have sent a question or are waiting on a response Please be patient we are working toward your response.
Author: bigbrake
GM Brembo Caliper Identification
So more times than I can count customers have miss identified calipers , these can be expensive mistakes. I hope this post can clear up some of the confusion and shed some light on some of the subtle differences that these calipers have. First let`s talk about front calipers. Each Brembo caliper is created to fit a certain rotor size and for the most part we keep them on that intended size to keep things simple. So starting with the smallest 4 piston the general uses, the “JL9” or ATS is the base caliper on the JL9 brake optioned C7 corvettes and also that same caliper was used on early ATS Cadillac’s and most recently the V6 6th gen Camaro w/ Brembo option. All of these calipers use a 12.6 inch rotor, however each rotor has its own differences, the C7 rotor is the one we use with all of these calipers for most conversions. Reason being is that the c7 rotor has the legacy pilot hole size (2.78) and the low hat depth of 2.010. below is a list of the rotors critical specs for each C8 JL9 =12.6 2.010 hat 5 x 120mm 67.5mm Pilot 14MM studs C7 […]
Shipping going up again
FedEx has kept commerce moving and delivered critical shipments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the virus continues to generate elevated volumes, high demand for capacity and increased operating costs across our network. We wanted to let you know that effective June 21, 2021 until further notice, the per-package charge for the Peak-Additional Handling Surcharge will increase. Surcharge details can be found here. This surcharge increase will allow us to continue providing our customers with the best possible service during this challenging time. Peak surcharges and fees for U.S. Express and Ground services and Ground International Updated May 21, 2021 FedEx has kept commerce moving and delivered critical shipments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the virus continues to generate elevated volumes, high demand for capacity and increased operating costs across our network. To provide our customers with the best possible service during this challenging time, the following surcharge increases are being implemented: Surcharge name Applicable services Surcharge amount Effective date Peak — Oversize Charge1 U.S. Express Package Services, U.S. Ground Services, International Ground Service $30.00 per package Jan. 18, 2021 until further notice Peak — Additional Handling Surcharge1 U.S. Express Package Services, U.S. Ground Services, International Ground […]
The Holy Grail of 3rd gen spindles
Bet you were thinking 1LE ? right? Heck no..those were std 3rd gen spindles modified by the factory..same thing we do to them to bring our conversions to life..it`s better than that ! Just look what these are going for !?? no…. Belltech 2 inch drop spindles. Long discontinued, highly coveted and rarely for sale. Oddly enough these were only on a car for a short time before being put up and ultimately removed from the car they were installed on to bring it back too original. The owner of these would like to see them go to a deserving build and knows they are worth more than original retail ..sealed bids ? best offers ? a reserve amount is in place.. Q’s Idea`s .. lmk
Tall Spindle guys ! Inside….
1970-1996 applications excluding the HD spindle (full size like 71-76 Impala) So all the A body 73-77, F body 70-81, B body 77-96 (5x 4.75 pattern) X body 1975-’79 Nova, Omega, Skylark, Ventura- Look for something very exciting coming soon for your applications. We know they have been out of stock, we know you have been asking when will they return ? but we have had some time to think about making this conversion easier and better..exciting things to come! stay tuned 🙂 Starting with the CPP C5 / C6 tall spindle we have designed a bracket and with some precise and subtle spindle modifications so we can bolt on the latest Brembo based GM brakes. We remove the factory cast C5 mounts and counter bore the back to exacting tolerance to set our conversion bracket in place. Ultimately we will have two versions of the bracket, one for the 2.10 hat depth brake and one for the 2.40 hat depth. This conversion will be limited to 5 x 4.75 applications and possibly the 5 x 120mm which has the smaller 67.5 mm pilot, testing will show if that is a possibility or not.
6th Gen ZL-1 and CTS-V3 conversions
Yes those massive 390mm / 15.35 rotors and those Huge 6 piston calipers. These brakes command respect, the shear mass of the rotor and caliper dominate the poor little 3rd gen spindle. Staying current has always been a trait to keep new business flowing and I have to admit, I’ve had these brakes sitting here for a while now. Not that I hadn’t tried swapping them onto all the common spindle set ups I do but I kind of zeroed in on the 3rd gen first and after several attempts to graft them in with all the usual mods- I came up short. I’d pull them out every now and then and try a new idea and like past attempts decide that the necessary mods are too extensive or involved. I try to make these brakes fit vintage era spindles as simply as possible and that had not happened until today. Sometimes the easiest answer is starring you right in the face the whole time and you can’t see the forest for the trees. So with the solution in hand now I can safely say this one is conquered. And I can make it fit all the other spindles too.. […]
August 2020
As we all traverse the new reality of the world today, hopefully we become accustomed to what we have to do to stay safe until a vaccine is in circulation. The disruption that has happened is no doubt the most our age group has ever witnessed and hopefully will be for the rest of our lives and our children’s lives. I wanted to drop in a leave a few thoughts and updates about what we have been up to around here. (we as in me) As of July I began my deferred retirement from public service, this was a hard decision to make especially in this climate but I had been planning for a while to focus on bigbrakeupgrade solely. Without the distractions of a regular 40 hr week job I could offer more and offer more faster. The extra time I’ve afforded myself has not gone wasted. With a new shop and home in the works I’ve needed the extra time to meet with architects, engineers, builders, suppliers etc. Not only have we been very fortunate to have plenty of work thought this pandemic we have had enough to keep me so busy I still have not had […]
April updates
Hi All, We truly hope you and yours are all well and doing good during this tragedy. I wanted to take a moment and relay some problems we are running into and our solutions of course. Shipping: Our shipments now have to be picked up by the service used (FedEx or USPS) This adds a day to your shipment because we cannot anticipate the completion of your order until it is actually near completed. There are too many variables involved with custom brake kits to be able to order pick ups daily, we dont want to have drivers showing up for no shipments of course. While we have been doing this practice for the last several weeks it is proven to be reliable but slower. Stocked items: While we were lucky to have been well stocked with most everything we offer some items have ran low or out and getting them replaced has been a challenge. We are doing our best to find these parts and bring them in as fast as possible. Some items we will have to substituted while this crisis continues. The substitutes if any will be equivalent or better, we only look to fulfill your order […]
New Products for Spring 2020
HI All, I hope this post finds you and yours well with these past few weeks we have all be going through. Today I wanted to pre-release a few new parts we will be offering soon. I’ve always asked customers what they want and try to make those niche parts available. After some requests and a phone conversation with Chris from Curless auto we have a bracket designed and developed the needed components to accompany the bracket and are in the process of supplying ourselves with the hardware to make it all bolt together. There are some spindle modifications which are irreversible but they are pretty simple to accomplish. The prototype set has been installed and verified for fitment and is going out for coat for the final installation on the test vehicle. While final cost for this bracket is to be determined still it is a bit more complex in its execution than a normal bracket like we would normally offer. This bracket is similar to a few others I have done (the heidts 55 chevy spindle, the Mustang Pro spindle from wilwood and a the C4 early spindle) some of which have never been seen on this […]
Pandemic Corona Virus
Not ever something I thought I’d be writing about… Most times like now I`d be writing to tell you about a new product we are working on for release..and I have some, but today- Uncharted waters we as a world are all in now and I urge you to take this with the utmost seriousness. As it stands, we could all loose someone we know and the age ranges are dropping for U.S. citizens, now 50 and below are topping the numbers instead of the earlier numbers where it was 70+. Take all the precautions you can to protect you and your family, trust that the Government is doing its best to control the spread and take it with a grain of salt that some of your civil liberties are being taken temporarily, its only to protect you and yours. As I write I have heard that the national guard is being assembled on our closet military installation ( Selfridge AFB ) I can only assume they are preparing to invoke a curfew. We, (bigbrakeupgradeLLC) were having the best year of our history as was the global market and I want to thank each and every person who has trusted […]