ZL1 1LE Brembo 6 Piston Caliper (lightly used)
I like big brakes and I cannot lie! With several options available in the aftermarket world making a decision on what brakes to upgrade to can be challenging. I think it’s important to have an overall concept or theme or plan for your build before making any of these pricy decisions. There were a couple of things that helped steer my decision on going with the factory Brembo ZL1 1LE brakes. One was price. Unless I can get some major parts sponsors on board I need to be very mindful of how much money gets spent on this project. We build custom cars for a living so I am well aware how expensive any modified project can become. I know right out of the gate that I cannot afford myself and the services we offer. However, I have the resources, space, tools, and knowledge that will give me a significant advantage when it comes to adding up the total cost. We don’t give quotes here at Hammer Fab. Just plan on it being expensive but you will be getting a LOT of value and the best quality in a custom built automobile.
After deciding I wanted as big of brakes as I could squeeze in a 19” wheel (I did a lot of comparing online to third gens and decided 19’s looked the best), I ended up going with a lot of 5th and 6th gen Camaro second hand parts. I sourced many of these from EBay and FB marketplace. If you take your time and don’t buy the first thing that comes along you can scrounge up some pretty good deals on mildly used, otherwise expensive parts. Buying similar size brand new brakes was out of the question for me on this build (at least for now). After this build is all sorted out and tested these parts can be easily upgraded or replaced with brand new readily available items. I found a set of ZL1 1LE 19” OEM wheels with mildly used tires on eBay. They came mounted, balanced, with TPMS sensors and programmer, nicely wrapped for shipping (19×11’s and 19×12’s) with lug nuts and locks for about what you can get one HRE wheel for. This combo allows me to speed up the build process by not messing around mounting and balancing tires and not having to wait months for custom wheels. I am able to keep building the car quickly and now that I have the actual wheels and tires I’ll be using I can continue mocking up and planning out the next stages of the build and any new parts that the wheels may dictate.
ZL1 1L3 19” Wheels and tires (lightly used)
I went to the inter webs in search of help adapting these big brakes to my 85 IROC-Z. I came across a thread on ThirdGen.org where a guy was describing how he had adapted ZL1 brakes to modified third gen spindles. The article was very helpful and sent me to BigBrakeUpgrade.com
Scott from BBU even called me to make sure things were getting sorted out correctly. He was full of good tips and information.
Stay tuned for more brake tutorials and videos in the near future. We will also probably be upgrading the master cylinder. Possibly to OEM Camaro or Corvette.
For now check out our latest unboxing video of parts for this IROC build HERE