this is the email reply I sent to another bolter. I hope it helps. There was more to our emails, but I cannot seem to find the later emails.
I am sorry to hear you are having the same problems I encountered with the CPP 6 lug kit.
I am assuming from your comments that you have read all of the posts over the last couple of months concerning brake kits. You did not indicate that you had looked at=2 0the pictures on my build site. Here is the link.
http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/lonniegallaher/54chevy/Front%20brake%20problems/ I had some what of an advantage in that I am working on a total rebuild. Therefore everything is a lot easier to see and check. After you look at my pictures you will see that the quality of some of the parts is not so good. I think the engineering is sound, having been based on good GM factory parts. But the bending of the caliper bracket is not so good.
After an hour of so of measuring I found that the offset in the caliper bracket should be about 1/4 inch. This may vary with your hub/bearing configuration. This offset is the difference in the plate surfaces as it is laid on a table. My method of fixing these bend problems was to remove the bracket from the axle and clamp it to a heavy steel plate and with shims and clamps I adjusted the offset.
This took me quite a bit of time, only because I am some what of a perfectionist, when it comes to these things. Later when I was trying the caliper to rotor fit there was still some misalignment and I found the caliper bracket bends easily with a large adjustable wrench. In hind sight I would have started with the bracket bolted to the axle and tweaked it in this position.
Basically the area of the bracket where the caliper slide bolts attach need to be in line with each other and in line with the rotor surface. If you achieve this the caliper should work fine. Shimming or grinding is not the answer. Tweak the bracket until everything is lined up properly.
The caliper is self centering so once the bracket is in good shape it will work. A good way to check the caliper bracket alignment is to use a straight edge across the surfaces and across the rotor and measure the offset. After you get it as close as you think you can, mount the caliper and slide it up against the rotor. It should contact the rotor surface without any gaps. With the caliper installed you can also check to make sure that the offset is correct. These last steps are done without the pads installed. With the caliper installed you will be able to tell if the pads are going to fit without binding on one side.
John, I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, just send me an email.
BTW - Great looking truck.
Lonnie Gallaher
909.213.7686
