My 1970 Cutlass has front disc brakes that the PO installed. When I bought the car, he said they were from a 68 or 69 442. From what I can see, the '68 brakes are quite different but what I have doesn't match what I'm seeing for the 69-72 disc setups.

Have these two piece assemblies been replaced by the one piece, or are hubs always bought new with the rotors?

I want to replace everything...rotors, pads, calipers, bearings, etc. What should I be looking for?

 

I'm gonna say the condition of the spindle assembly looks kinda sketchy and I'm sure other opinions and/or clarifications about what that assortment came from will follow. But my '72 was a full drum car when I got it and I just decided to start with all fresh disc conversion parts to make it a one-and-done job.

So that's my suggestion for you - ditch all the old and go new the way you'd want it - you could start with a basic kit (Like an SSB 68-72 A-body kit or similar companies) and then customize from there as to correct 1-piece rotors, calipers and pads, etc. I have the Wilwood D52 calipers on mine - much lighter in weight than stock calipers and seemingly more effective.

 

Those are 69-72 single piston calipers and brackets. The rotors appear to be the 67-68 two part rotors, however.

 

What seems sketchy about the spindle? The discoloured parts are just grease I haven't wiped off yet.

I've got a new in box Wilwood dual piston disc conversion setup that I was debating using on this car, but would rather save it for my '71 if I can get this one together. Otherwise, that one's a backup, but it uses the spindles already on the car. Replacing the spindles just opens a whole other can of worms I was planning to save for another year, after I've had a chance to drive the car a bit.

 

I was going to say, I don't see anything particularly wrong with those spindles.

 

Better shot of the spindles...look ok to me.






How can I determine what year these spindles would be from, or do I need to figure that out at all? Would the 69-72 one piece rotors work on these as the calipers seemed to fit fine?

I just found out my heads are still many months away, which puts me in the danger of having the car apart longer and finding more stuff to spend money on, lol.

 

These are A-body disc brake spindles. Can you catch your fingernail on that surface where the inboard bearing sits? If so, that's a problem. Yes, the one-piece 69-72 rotors bolt up.

 

Yeah I guess they just looked worse for the wear to me in the before pics than after - the Wilwood 2 piston calipers are good units if you choose to go with them on your refit for this car. I don't recall they were all that expensive when I got my set but that was a a few years ago before pandemic pricing took hold of our hobby.

 

It was a low resolution pic with grease still on the spindle, easy to misread the condition.

The Wilwood calipers are $442 (such an ironic number...) at OPGI, but the description calls for 15" wheels. I was planning on using my 14" SS2 wheels on the front, although I do have some 15s I could use instead although not my first choice. One thing leads to another lol.

 

I'd say your spindles look "fair". Yes, the below photos are stock (Summit). I just finished replacing a rotor assembly on my '71 - mine were smooth as glass, yours demonstrates some wear; how much you're comfortable w/ is your call; but, as Joe stated if you can catch a fingernail you have an issue.

 

This is unfortunately the usual "must use 15 in wheels" comment with all A-body disc brake kits. File it in the same place as "headers don't fit Supremes". The Wilwood D52 calipers should fit anywhere that the original single piston calipers fit.

 

I did wonder about that. I've seen the comment many times before, but hadn't looked into where it does and doesn't apply.

How much is a "catch"? The undersides of both spindles have more wear than the tops, and enough of a ridge that I can feel it and my fingernail does a light click going over it, but it doesn't catch or stop my nail moving.






I have a complete setup I saved from a parts car a while back. The spindles seem to be in better condition, but if I'm going to have it all apart I'm more inclined to just use new parts...