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Member ID: clark75

Location: Hermiston, OR

Vehicle Info

2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
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Bragging Rights

  • 1/4 Mile15.8 sec @ 85 mph
  • 0-600sec
  • Top Speed-1mph
  • HP235
  • Weight3400lbs

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Modifications

 

Updated on May 06, 2012

Hits: 18,302

clark75’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo
“big sexy”

    • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
     

This is the F-body to W-body caliper swap page. If you want info on how to upgrade your W-body (I know this specifically works on all 00+ monte carlos, and GTPs with the 12" rotor upgrade) you have come to the right place. Note that this will only work if you have a 12" rotor. The F-body calipers are made of aluminum, rather than cast iron, and are a dual piston design, rather than single.

I found a set of calipers off a 99 firebird at a local salvage yard. Price was $100 for both, which is pretty reasonable in my book. If you shop around you may be able to find these cheaper, but I chose this route because I could inspect them myself, and wouldn't have to pay shipping. You can get these calipers off any 98 and newer firebird or camaro. You'll need the caliper brackets too, but these were included in the price of my caliper. I'd keep the banjo bolts too, since the W- and F-body ones are different.

Assuming you already have 12 inch rotors, the only modification you'll have to make is to the threads that attach the caliper to the steering knuckle. The F-body is threaded to accept 12mm bolts, at a 1.75 pitch. W-bodies are 14mm x 2.0 pitch.

It may be easier to call a few machine shops and find out if they have a 14mm tap. This is a pretty large size and most will not have much of a metric selection. If they don't, you'll need to go to any reputalbe fastener supply store, and they should have one. The one I bought was 14mm x 2.0. This is the same pitch as the ones already in your caliper brackets, so no new bolts are required.

Next you'll need to clean your calipers. My favorite method is to use a wire wheel attachment on a drill. Easiest way to get all the nooks and crannies is to separate the bracket from the caliper. Get all the caked up dust and grime off the calipers and caliper bracket. After you are confident that all the dirt is off, get some shop towels and some lacquer thinner and rub the caliper down, focusing your attention on the fronts that will be seen. You will be amazed at how much more dirt the thinner pulls off the calipers than the wire wheel did.

For paint, I used some barbecue grill paint, which is good to temps up to 500 degrees or so. I wanted mine black anyway, but if you want yours a different color use some high temp engine enamel and it should come out good.

Of course, when you get brake pads, you will need to say you have a 99 camaro, etc. Here is a comparison of the stock Monte brake pad and the F-body pad:

clark75's 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Here are what my calipers look like now:

clark75's 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

clark75's 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Here is a pic of the stock caliper next to the F-body caliper:

clark75's 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo clark75's 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

The install was fairly straightforward. It is very important that after you remove the stock calipers, take the banjo bolts and thread them back into the calipers - this will prevent you from being tempted to thread them into your aluminum calipers. They are different threads and it won't work, so you need to either 1. use the bolts that came in the calipers, or 2. if there weren't any, take one to a parts store to get one test fit. Get 4 new copper gaskets too. I got it all finished with no help in about 3 hours, which included cleaning and painting. Just make sure the air bleeder valve is pointing UP, or you will never get the brakes bled all the way.

Total cost of this upgrade:
Calipers: $100
Tap: $25
Machine work: $27
New brake pads: $35
TOTAL: $187.

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Displaying entries 1-5 of 50

Breezy74  

Posted by: Breezy74

Hott monte, what new gauges did you put in and how did you change the colors?

Chevy_Ridin_Haze  

Posted by: Chevy_Ridin_Haze

yo i like this jawn, you did a lot of work to this. ur LS is faster than a SS i like that. 5 stars give me some tips on what i can do to boost my hp up.

HOTELS60  

Posted by: HOTELS60

clean ass car keep up the good work go check mines out and tell me what u think!

montecarlo_2003  

Posted by: montecarlo_2003

where did u get ur after market gauges from for ur car? but over all ur car look tight as hell check out mine some time and give me some suggestions

xprojectflx  

Posted by: xprojectflx

Does the brake upgrade have any effect on ABS system?

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2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 

Vehicle Owner

Member ID: clark75

Location: Hermiston, OR