First Gen - Disk Brakes

[stroked68ss]

For those that have done the upgrade to disk brakes, did you go with the big dollar kits or keep it simple, and enjoy the upgrade?? My car has manual drums all around, and is what I would call your All Go - No Whoa kind of car. I'd like to cheaply upgrade to power disk brakes, but I still rock the 15" steelie wheels. So for a big brake upgrade I would have to do rims and tires.

Can anyone suggest a good strategy for this upgrade and staying within my 15" wheels??

Thanks!!

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Look up CPP or a similar company and buy the complete kit. I think CPP is $575 for unassembled kit. I've done a few swaps and bought parts individually, but I had a lot of time wrapped up in it. You will need spindles, calipers and hardware, dust shields, rotors, wheel bearings, caps, hoses, pads, master cylinder, booster, proportioning valve, etc.

Remember - cheap and brakes don't mix well

[mikewoods]

I just went though the same search not too long ago. I decided to go to 17" wheels and LS1 Fbody brakes, but there are numerous options out there for not a lot of money while still keeping your 15" wheels. These are what I found during my search for a somewhat stock application:

http://www.inlinetube.com/dbrake.htm

http://catalog.p-s-t.com/index.php?c...212&categoryID[]=3721

[stroked68ss]

Thanks Mike and Mike. I def don't want cheap brakes, but I feel going from manual drums to power single small caliper disks will be a huge increase. And I can do it sooner than later. Wheels seem like a big investment and I'm still not sure where the car is going. Pro Touring or just casual street rod. I will check out the sites you've mentioned.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

I will ask my brother if he wants to sell, but I believe he has a set of complete spindles with the 67-68 four piston calipers.

[meissen]

+1 for inline tube - that's where I got my stainless steel brake lines from when I was doing my rebuild on Red Alert. They're local in Macomb Twp and are top notch.

[StoveBolts]

Thanks Mike and Mike. I def don't want cheap brakes, but I feel going from manual drums to power single small caliper disks will be a huge increase. And I can do it sooner than later. Wheels seem like a big investment and I'm still not sure where the car is going. Pro Touring or just casual street rod. I will check out the sites you've mentioned.

I went with a stock conversion kit from http://ssbrakes.com/ and they work very well. I purchased the kit for 4 wheel disk brakes but haven't converted the rear yet so I have to run a manual portioning valve.

Make sure you get the 2" drop spindles.

While your at it, money well spent would be to do all of your bushings including body mounts. You can get the complete kits for a reasonable price.

I did my disk conversion and all of my bushings, tie rods etc at the same time and I can't tell you how much of an improvement it made. First, I don't have to worry about skidding a front tire when coming to a quick stop, and my car doesn't lunge to the left or right when coming to a hard stop either. As far as cornering, wow, what a difference the new bushings made! It took all the sway out of the car and she now hugs nice and tight... and if I hit a bump while taking a corner hard, I keep right on track instead of skipping into the other lane lol!

[leadfoot4]

I see that this is a pretty old discussion, but I just stumbled on it, and FWIW, let me throw this into the mix......Keep in mind, the factory disc brake option on the first-gen cars, on the 67s I know from personal experience, came with 14", Rally wheels. The Rallys were part of the deal, as the different centers of the wheels were designed to clear the added width of the calipers themselves. My father had a '67, with the 250 cu.in. 6 cylinder engine, a posi rear axle (for added traction in the snow), and the disc brakes, therefore the rally wheels, which mounted D-70/14 red stripes.

Anyway, my point is that you CAN fit OE style disc brakes behind (inside) a 14" or 15" wheel.

[MP81]

Do the disc brake wheels require a larger hub size than the drums? I was literally just reading something on Facebook (on the NastyZ28 group) regarding wheels, and the fact the front wheel (disc) and rear wheel (drum) hubs are different sizes - to the point where four-wheel drum wheels won't fit over the disc brake's hub.

[leadfoot4]

It's my understanding, based on my memories from years ago, learned from my father's '67 Camaro, that the calipers used on the F-Bods of that era, had a caliper that was very similar to the Delco Moraine calipers that were used on the C-2 and C-3 Corvettes. They were "wider" of "fatter" if you will, than the single piston calipers that came into play later on. The early rally wheels had centers that were more convex, in shape than later wheels. It's more noticeable in the portion of the center where the cooling slots are.

With respect to the hubs, I'm not aware of any difference in the diameters, front to rear. We used to rotate the tires on my father's car, and front or rear, the wheels fit. If someone was having trouble getting a wheel on the front of an early F-Body that has OE disc brakes, my first suspicion would be that the inside of the wheel's center is contacting the caliper, before the wheel is contacting the hub.

Along that line, the only GM car that I ever saw, that had different hub diameters, front to rear, was my '96 Z/28, The rear hubs were the "standard" GM OD, while the front hubs were about 1/8-3/16" smaller. I could never figure that....

[MP81]

With respect to the hubs, I'm not aware of any difference in the diameters, front to rear. We used to rotate the tires on my father's car, and front or rear, the wheels fit. If someone was having trouble getting a wheel on the front of an early F-Body that has OE disc brakes, my first suspicion would be that the inside of the wheel's center is contacting the caliper, before the wheel is contacting the hub..

It wouldn't have been an issue on a car with discs up front - the front and rear wheels would have the same hub size - that of the larger front hub, so the wheels would be both hub and lug-centric up front, while only lug-centric out back. They were saying that a four-wheel drum car would have wheels with a smaller hub bore, and thus wouldn't fit on a car with front discs. Again, that's just what I saw on FB, and seems a bit odd to me - I would agree that it's usually the caliper that causes wheel fitment issues.

It's possible on the newer vehicles that they're accounting for the disc to grow during hard operation (since they get a lot hotter than a drum would), but those are also the more modern wheel/hub assembly, so that shouldn't be an issue at all...very strange! Definitely don't see that issue on my Cobalt, Volt or my wife's Cruze. But maybe I'll measure the '81's hubs next time I have the wheels off (whenever that might be).