Re: Roller Bearings

[Joe L.]

Peter----

Your question confuses me. You mention that you will be replacing your front ROTORS and go on to say that you currently have BALL BEARINGS. Those two things seem inconsistent. No Corvette with ball bearing type wheel bearings (53-62) ever used brake ROTORS and no Corvette with ROTORS (65-82) ever used BALL BEARING-type wheel bearings. Of course, you could have a C1 retrofitted with disc brakes, but, usually, a conversion to tapered roller bearings is part of the "package".

Anyway, I PERSONALLY consider tapered roller bearings to be far superior to ball bearings. However, I've never owned a C1 and I've, obviously then, never converted one. On the other hand, for a limited usage vehicle like your C1 probably is, I'd probably leave it the way it is. Unless, of course, you really do have a C1 with disc brakes and without tapered roller bearings. In that case, I'd convert it for sure.

[Dale Pearman]

Re: Roller Bearings

If you do have a C1, DO NOT USE THE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE DISC CONVERSION! The tapered roller bearings supplied with this kit are DANGEROUS!They are intended for FORD PINTO applications and are made in China. These bearings are not engineered for high performance applications and will not take the loading. As Howard Loomis can attest, (he was a passenger) the bearings fail without warning at high speed. I've had two instances of failures. I've got some blueprints for making disc conversions with stock ball bearings. Balls ain't all that bad for C1 applications. They WILL side-load in the races.

Varooom!