1969 Chevy Camaro - The Four Corners
One of today's hottest musclecars is the first-gen Camaro, most notably the '69. Whether it's the timeless looks of these cars, the choice of original powerplants, or the interesting options available when new, owning and driving an early F-body is just fun.
For '69 the JL8 four-wheel-disc brake option added bigger Corvette disc brakes (11.75-inch rotors) and four-piston calipers at each corner of the car. This package added $500 to $700 (depending on the model) to the price of any Camaro. Considering most Camaros at the time listed for $3,500 to $4,000, the JL8 package bumped the price of the car by a huge margin.
Today, the JL8 four-wheel-disc brake setup is one of the early Camaro's most coveted options. Not only is it difficult to find a JL8 rearend-either production or service package-but it's tough to track down all the smaller unique parts necessary to install the major components. Fortunately, Rick's First Gen of Athens, Georgia, has solved this dilemma by making available almost all of the supporting JL8 parts and stocking (when available) complete original JL8 rearends. We recently hung out and watched as a bona fide '69 Z/28 that had been fitted with a service-package JL8 rearend during the '70s underwent the transformation to complete the JL8 system up front and had a few missing incidental items added to the rear. When completed the installation looked and performed just as the factory JL8 package was intended
JL8 Swap Parts List
Here's the parts list for this installation. Rick's First Gen also sells complete JL8 and service-package rearends, front JL8 assemblies, and other rare and reproduction early-Camaro parts. Brake lines manufactured by The Right Stuff are available from Rick's First Gen.
PNDESCRIPTIONPRICEJL-14hose brackets, pair$79.00JL-13caliper line brackets, pair$125.00FH-30front brake hose, each$26.00BR-6JL8 front caliper mounting brackets$450.00JL-12JL8 front backing plate$189.00DCL-7LH 3/8 x 1/2-inch caliper line$22.50DCR-8RH 3/8 x 7/16-inch caliper line$22.50JL812rear parking brake cable set$239.00JL850LH rear parking cable shield set$99.00JL-9front caliper fittings, pair$75.00 Total$1,327.00
Stop Order
Chevrolet records report that just over 200 Camaros were equipped with the JL8 brake package (out of about 240,000 total production units). Most '69 Camaros with brake options wore the power front-disc (11-inch front rotors)/ rear-drum arrangement (coded J50/J52), which cost just $61 extra on most models (replacing four-wheel drums).

Photo Gallery: 1969 Chevy Camaro - The Four Corners



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