STOPPING A TRACK STARInstalling Wilwood Superlite brakes on a strong running C5 Z06 Corvette

The front Corvette upgrade kit with the red calipers anddrilled and slotted rotors is part number 140-8230-DR. The kitfeatures Superlite 6R forged billet six-piston calipers in redfinish, and they work with the 14-inch drilled and slotted ro-tors that are black E-coated for protection. The kit comes withaluminum rotor adapters, aluminum caliper brackets, BP-10Smart Pads, and all of the hardware required to complete theinstallation.

The rear Corvette upgrade kit with the red calipers anddrilled and slotted rotors is part number 140-9119-DR.The kit features forged billet Superlite 4R four-pistoncalipers in a red finish and they work with the 14-inchdrilled and slotted rotors that are black E-coated for pro-tection. The kit comes with aluminum rotor adapters thatwork perfectly with the OE parking brake mechanism. Thekit also comes with the aluminum caliper brackets, BP-10Smart Pads and all of the hardware required to completethe installation.

Engine horsepower certainly has increased over theyears, and with today’s computer technology thereare some extremely powerful cars on the marketthat not only have horsepower figures far exceed-ing the muscle cars of old, they also provide excel-lent fuel efficiency and are emissions compliant. TheCorvette engineers were certainly aware of whatthey have achieved with the standard Corvette en-gine, so a few years ago they wanted to introducethe ultimate Corvette for the street and the track.The engineers based their ultimate performance caron the Corvette coupe, which is the lightest Cor-

vette available, and then upgraded it with an alu-minum frame along with the standard aluminumsuspension parts to make it even lighter. TheCorvette engineers also increased horsepower byinstalling a larger displacement engine that wasproducing 405 horsepower in the specialCorvette. It’s important to remember that in themuscle car era horsepower was rated at gross fig-ures. Today we are rating the horsepower at thelower net figures so that 405 horsepower engineis actually producing more gross horsepower thanany of the old big-block 427 engines used in the

late ‘60s and early ‘70s, plus instead of getting 6miles per gallon, the new Corvette engines are get-ting over 20 miles per gallon, even if you have aheavy right foot. It is actually pretty amazing whenyou think about it.

Henry De Los Santos, the editor of Chevy HighPerformance Magazine, has a 2002 Z06 Corvettethat he drives to work every day and also takes it totrack events as often as possible. He has noticedthat the Z06 brakes, which were an upgrade,weren’t up to his driving skills on the track, so hecontacted Wilwood Engineering to find out if wehad brakes that could help his Corvette performeven better. He was informed that we have trackproven brakes that would easily outperform hisoriginal brake system. The front kit that works per-fectly on the C5 Corvettes is part number 140-8230, but in this case red calipers and drilled andslotted rotors were desired so the kit is part number140-8230-DR. The upgraded brake kit feature Su-perlite 6R forged billet six-piston calipers with a redfinish working together with 14-inch drilled and slot-ted rotors in the black E-coated finish. The kitcomes with aluminum caliper brackets, aluminumrotor adapters, BP-10 Smart Pads, and all of thehardware required to finish the installation. The rearimprovement kit is part number 140-9119 in stan-dard form but with the red calipers and drilled andslotted rotors it is part number 140-9119-DR. Thiskit features forged billet Superlite 4R four-pistoncalipers that are working together with 14-inchdrilled and slotted rotors in the black E-coated fin-ish. The kit features aluminum rotor adapters thatare designed to work with the OE parking brake

mechanism. The kit also comes with aluminumcaliper brackets, BP-10 Smart Pads, and all of thehardware needed to make the changeover. Thecalipers also require new brake hoses so theWilwood front braided steel brake hoses are partnumber 220-8176 and the rear braided steel hosesare part number 220-9101.Henry ordered the parts and they were installed atthe Wilwood tech center in Camarillo, California bythe chief technician, Tony Porto. Tony did one sidefirst to find the correct amount of shims needed toget the caliper centered over the rotor, so on theside that we photographed the same shim arrange-ment was used. Wilwood Engineering recom-mends that persons experienced in the installationand proper operation of disc brake systems shouldonly perform the installation of this kit. A hobbybuilder can install this kit if he has good mechani-cal ability, car building experience and a good as-sortment of tools. In order to complete thisinstallation you need a floor jack and jack stands,an impact gun, an assortment of standard and met-ric wrenches, line wrenches, standard and metricsockets, a socket wrench, and an inch pound andfoot pound torque wrench. Before the installationbegins, it would be a good idea to spread all of thecomponents out so you can make sure that all ofthe parts are included in the kit. Check all of theitems you have with the parts listed on the instruc-tion sheet. We are going to show you the completeinstallation, so you can decide whether you want toinstall the system yourself, or have a professionaldo it for you.If you are a competent mechanic thisinstallation can be done in a day.

Using the appropriate size socket and an impact gun, the lugnuts were disconnected.

After the lug nuts were disconnected, the wheels and tireswere removed. Here Tony is lifting the tire off of the lug studs.

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The Z06 comes with improved brakes that work good on thestreet, but an improvement is needed on the track where thebrakes get hot and fade.

Using an impact gun and the appropriate size socket, thecaliper bolts were removed. Here the top bolt is being dis-connected.

After the bolts were disconnected, some friendly persuasionwas needed to remove the calipers. There was a wear lip atthe edge of the rotor that made removal more difficult.

The caliper was removed and here is the stock rotor. Youcan tell that these brakes have been used hard becausethere is a wear ridge at the edge of the rotor from years ofstreet and track use.

After the caliper was removed, the rotor could be lifted offof the studs. Sometimes you have to tap the back of therotor to get it off of the centering ring.

The hub assembly was cleaned with a wire brush to removedirt and rust deposits.

The original caliper mounting bolts were coated with Loctite271 prior to installation. Notice that the original bolt and flatwasher were reused.

The bolts were inserted into the caliper mounting ears, andthen two shim washers were installed that will sit betweenthe mounting ear and the caliper bracket.

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The caliper bracket was carefully placed against the calipermounting ears and the bolts were screwed into the bracketholes finger tight.

The bracket was tightened with a small socket wrench firstand then the final tightening was done with a torque wrench.The bolts should be tightened to 65 ft-lbs.

The mounting studs for the caliper were loaded with twoshim washers and a 0.42-inch long spacer.

The rotors have to be assembled next. Tony placed the rotoron top of the rotor adapter, aligned the holes, placed the flatwashers in place and then he coated the mounting boltswith Loctite 271 and screwed them into the adapter one byone.

After the bolts were coated with Loctite, they were screwedinto the rotor adapter finger tight.

Using a small impact gun, the bolts were tightened to the rotorusing an alternating sequence.

After all of the bolts were installed and were snug, they weretightened to 85 in-lbs using an inch pound torque wrench.

The finished rotor was placed over the studs and then it waspushed back until it seated on the centering ring. Three lugnuts were used to hold it in place.

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The caliper inlet fitting threads were covered with PTFE Thread Tapeand then it was screwed into the side of the caliper.

A look inside of the caliper shows that this unit was outfittedwith Thermlock pistons, which are designed for high temper-ature track use.

The calipers were installed into the studs and then the wash-ers and locknuts were installed.

The brake pads were installed into the caliper as seen here.Notice the lettering on the brake pads that indicate the padnumber. This number should be used when new pads haveto be ordered.

The caliper mounting nuts were tightened with a small socketwrench first.

After the caliper mounting locknuts were snug, they weretightened to 35 ft-lbs using a foot-pound torque wrench.

The caliper bridge bolt was installed to hold the brake pads inplace. Here the bolt is being secured finger tight.

Using an Allen T-handle and an open-end wrench, the bridgebolt was tightened. A locknut is used to keep the bolt in place.

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Using a line wrench, the hard line to flex line connection wasbroken loose prior to removal.

The spring clip that secures the flex line to the mountingbracket was disconnected.

The Wilwood part number 220-8176 braided steel flex linewas connected to the caliper inlet fitting using a line wrench.

The other end of the braided steel Wilwood flex line wasconnected to the bracket and the original Corvette hard line.

Here is the finished front Superlite 6R caliper ready for bleed-ing and bedding. After the bedding process is complete, therotor face will be cleaned to shiny steel. The rest of the rotorthat doesn’t come in contact with the pad will remain coveredwith the black E-coating.

Using an impact gun and the appropriated size socket, the lugnuts were removed from the lug studs.

Here we see Tony removing the tire and wheel from the car sothe brakes can be accessed.

Using an impact gun and the appropriate size socket, thecaliper bolts were disconnected.

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After the bolts were disconnected, the caliper was re-moved from the assembly.

After the caliper was out of the way, the rotor was re-moved from the rear hub assembly.

After the rotor was removed, you can see the internalparking brake assembly. The Wilwood rotors were de-signed to work with this system.

The original caliper bolts were reused and here they arebeing coated with Loctite 271. The original flat washershould also be retained.

The original bolts were reinstalled into the mounting earsand a shim washer was installed. Adding or subtractingshims can be used to center the caliper over the rotor.

The bolts were screwed into the bracket and then they weretightened with a small socket wrench. Here the bottom boltis being tightened.

The upper bolt was also secured with a socket wrench asseen here.

After the caliper bracket bolts were secured, they were tight-ened to 65 ft-lbs using a foot-pound torque wrench.

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After the caliper bracket was in place, it was loaded withfour shim washers and a 0.470-inch long spacer ring.

The hub face was cleaned off with a wire brush to makesure the rotor will seat properly.

The rotor was placed on the hub adapter and then thewashers were installed followed by the small bolts. All ofthe bolts were coated with Loctite 271 before they werescrewed into the rotor adapter.

After the bolts were screwed in place, they were tightenedin an alternating sequence using an impact gun.

After all of the bolts were snug, they were tightened to 85 in-lbs using an inch-pound torque wrench.

The rotor was aligned on the studs and then the rotor waspushed back until it was resting on the centering ring.

The rotor was tightened to the rear hub assembly using threelug nuts. Now the caliper to rotor adjustments can be madeaccurately.

The caliper inlet fitting threads were coated with PTFEThread Tape and then it was screwed into the caliper body.

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The caliper was installed on the bracket studs and thenthe washers and locknuts were installed to hold it in place.

The caliper to rotor centering was perfect so the brakepads were installed. If you have a difficult time when youtry to install a brake pad, it is probably because the caliperisn’t centered properly.

After the caliper pads were installed, the lock nuts weretightened to 35 ft-lbs using a foot-pound torque wrench.

The bridge bolt was installed and then the lock nut wastightened with an open-end wrench and an Allen T-han-dle.

The Wilwood braided steel brake line part number 220-9101was connected to the caliper inlet fitting. Here it is being tight-ened with a line wrench.

The other end of the Wilwood braided steel line was con-nected to the Corvette hard line. The line is held in place withthe spring clip shown here.

Here is the finished rear brake system ready for bleeding andbedding. The rear brake uses a Superlite 4 four-piston caliperand a 14-inch rotor for perfect front to rear brake bias.

Here is the finished brake assembly that can easily be seenthrough the spokes in the Corvette custom wheels. After thebedding process, the steel rotor face is shiny and the rest ofthe rotor remains black E-coated and it gives the brake as-sembly a very nice appearance.

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Here the rear brake assembly is finished and bedded in. Therear Superlite 4R calipers and 14-inch rotors match the frontbrakes adding to the aggressive appearance of the Corvette.

Wilwood Engineering4700 Calle Bolero

Camarillo, CA 93012(805) 388-1188

www.wilwood.comCopyright © 2010 Wilwood Engineering, Inc. -

All Rights Reserved

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