I recently purchased this 4 wheel disk brake kit and I'm curious if it looks like I have everything or if I need to get more stuff to Finnish the swap. My car is 4 wheel drums, single reservoir all stock setup. This is my 66 btw, and by more stuff I mean proportioning valve or anything of the like or do I bolt it on and hook up the hydraulic lines and go? Oh and the spindles, are these kits supposed to work with my drum spindles?
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The Brass "manifold" attached to the master cylinder is the proportioning valve. I did the swap on a 72 cutlass. If you have the bolt in retainer style rear axle you may need some shims. I believe the disc spindles are different from drum brake spindles (They are for later years) if the rear calipers have e brakes, you will likely need a new rear cable. Bleeding the rears can be a challenge...

 

It came with new rear cables and I do have bolt in axle rear end.

 

What car was this kit off of? Are you using wheels larger than 14"? Looks similar to the "right stuff" kit I put on my 72. The rear dust shields may have to be "dished" in the center with a press to accommodate the bolted retainer configuration axle. Are any shims included? If not, you may be able to get them from right stuff, or the company that originally put this kit together. They are used to space the caliper mount to align the caliper and disc. I have SS1 15" wheels and have to use a wheel spacer 3/8 thick to keep the edge of the caliper from scraping against the seam weld of the wheels. It took several tries to get the stack-up correct... that is pulling out the axle shaft each time.

 

I didn't get rear dust shields, just the mounting bracket for the caliper. And I have 19" wheels so I don't foresee any issues with that. I didn't get any shims with it I don't think and the parts came off a 66 chevelle.

 

Sounds like the parts should work. Are you replacing the brake lines when you install this set up? If you make your own, fit should not be a big issue. The lines from right stuff needed a little bit of tweaking (after I got the correct ones) but nothing serious. Watch for clearance around the exhaust on the drivers side. One last piece of advice, you will need to make sure the bleeder valve on the rear brakes is rotated up so the air comes out... (The mounting bracket location may not do this) To bleed the rears completely I had to remove the calipers from the mount, stick a block of wood the same thickness as the disc between the pads and rotate the so the bleeder was up. That finally got the last of the air out. Good luck with your project!

 

thanks!

 

I read that one of the steering arm bolt bosses, on the spindle, needs to be machines to put disk brakes on drum spindles. Is this true or only in curtain cases?

 

Its not the steering arm boss, its the top boss where the large bolt goes. It has to be machined off 5/8". Or get spindles for disc brakes. I did the swop on my 67, but i bought disc spindles. Steering arms bolted on as original.

 

So I need 5/8 of and inch machined off? When I get the car pulled apart I'll have to see what it cost vs buying spindles

 

If you get disc spindles don't throw away your drum spindles like some people do. They are used for C5/C6/f-body disk upgrades.