[braz28]

upon searching for jl8 parts i notice some vendors carry parts for the j-56 brakes.

what is j56

thanks

[wagonman]

JL8 Is the option code for Heavy Duty 4 wheel disc brakes.

J56 is front disc brakes only.

[BlackoutSteve]

J56 is a Corvette RPO code for HD 4WDisc brakes and these are the type of brakes that were adapted for use in the JL8 4WDisc option on Camaros.

J56 is not an RPO used on any Camaro, and was not just a front disc option.

The JL8 4WDisc option did not use the Camaro's regular J52 front disc brakes assemblies.

Adding rear discs to a J52 equipped Camaro does not "update" it to JL8 spec.
Big differences comparing just the fronts of J52 & J56.

(J52 from 69 onwards were single piston Delco Moraines. J56 were always a 4 spot. 67-68 J52 are smaller Kelsey Hayes 4 spot calipers.)

Many of the parts used to fit J56 to Camaro are unique and are not "off the shelf" J56 parts. Caliper brackets, backing plates and much of the 12 Bolt parts too like E brake stuff..

[Fred Ficarra]

About 30 years ago Hotrod Magazine did an article about how fabulous 69 Camaro's are. The #1 Camaro option of all time they said, was the JL8. At that time only 200 or so were believed to have been installed and over 100 went on race cars that were destroyed. An original is priceless. Proving it is the tough part.
OK, when I ordered my car I asked the two salesmen "How much for the 4 wheel disks?". They shrugged and left the room to find out. They came back and handed me a slip of paper with $512.00 written on it. That was more than my L78. But still,,,,, I wanted them. I looked at that paper for 10 minutes trying to come up with a way to pay for them. (calculators hadn't been invented) Nope. My buddies said the SS disks were plenty good enough and the JL8's were trouble prone. They were right. My original disks have never been turned and the calipers have never been rebuilt. Still going strong. But lordy, JL8's would have been the coolest.

[William]

J56 was a heavy-duty brake option for 1967. From our site:

The RPO J56 heavy duty disc brake option was only available on 67 Z28's and was in addition to the required J50 and J52 options. It consisted of heat insulators on the disc brake caliper pistons and metallic rear drum linings. Both RPO J65 and J56 used the same metallic rear drum linings (and thus used the same metallic brake rear axle assemblies).

http://www.camaros.org/suspen.shtml#Brakes

[BlackoutSteve]

Originally Posted by William

J56 was a heavy-duty brake option for 1967.

Only fronts?
Pity the AIM misses it completely.

[Jeff H]

Standard disc brakes use 11" rotors and the JL8 brakes use 11-3/4" rotors front and rear. The braking ability of the JL8 option still blows almost anything up until very recently with the Baer stuff.

[BlackoutSteve]

True.. In relative terms, the J52 disc/drum has 332.4 sq/in of swept area.
The JL8 has 461.2 sq/in.. That's a huge difference. Nearly 40% more overall!!

"Camaro. Untold Secrets" by Wayne D. Guinn.. Interesting reading.
ISBN 0-87938-527-8

[JIML82]

Back in 1969 I was a product engineer in the Advanced Engineering Department at Saginaw Steering Gear Division, GMC. We had a project where we were designing a parking brake for cars with rear wheel disc brakes. We approached management and told them that we needed a Corvette for our development work. No way were they going to spring for a Corvette! So we found that the JL8 Camaro option was available. "Sure you can purchase a Camaro!"

The toughest green (with white striping), Z28, 4-speed, with the JL8 disc brake option showed up at our Division a couple weeks later.

The parking brake project never really worked out. So right near the end of the 1969 model year that Camaro turned up on a posting of company cars available for employee purchase. The JL8 option price made the total car price just too high for any of the Saginaw employees (salary and hourly) to make a bid for it. I really don't remember the exact price but it might have been around $3800. As far as I know, it ended up going to some GM auction. I'm still sick over the missed opportunity. 20/20 hindsight!!!

Jim

[JohnZ]

Originally Posted by BlackoutSteve

Only fronts?
Pity the AIM misses it completely.

It's shown in the Option Index sheet; indexed only, parts shown in the Engineering Parts List.