Satellitecentral

Hi Guys I,m in the middle of re doing , My 66 Dynamic 88 , 4 DR, and was wondering if any off you know of any available Disc Brake Conversion Kits
that would be near enough Bolt On ?

The Brakes on my Car kinda suck at the min , and need some serious attention , I just thought it may be a better investment to go Disc .

citcapp

Disc break conversions are not cheap. Try Scarbird brakes on the internet I believe they have the front conversion, not sure about the rear.

Satellitecentral

Thanks for that
I emailed em , got a reply that
They can do the 88 , BUT not with 14 ince rims (MINE IS 14) nor can they do a pre 71 15 rims

citcapp

I should have mentioned that. I am converting to 15" rims on my 57. I don't think you will find a disc brake conversion that will fit the 14" wheels. At least that is what I found out in my search.

OLD SKL 69

Stainless steel brakes corporation, www.ssbrakes.com. They do have a kit for your car that allows you to keep the 14x7 wheels. Not cheap and I am not sure that it is exactly what you are looking for but check it out anyway.

joe_padavano

I really don't know what the problem is with these aftermarket brake companies. The factory disk brakes (yes, offered 67-70, but the 65-66 suspension and spindles are interchangeable) came with 14" wheels. Just remember that in the 1960s GM made wheels that would not clear any disk brakes due to the contour of the backside of the wheel. Thus you will often hear about disk brake and non-disk brake wheels in that time frame.

Satellitecentral

I,de rather do that as well, Convert to 15,s , but where in the heck do you get 5x5 15x7,s that arent Bling Bling , lol
I have a 4 door hard top , dont want it to look silly

joe_padavano

These are readily available, since that bolt pattern was used on the 91-96 Caprice/Impala as well as on many GM half ton pickups. I got these from an 88-91 GMC half ton to use on my Custom Cruiser:

88 coupe

Seventies GM and Ford big cars.

15x7 wheels, from a Chev ½ ton, easily clear the '84 Olds 98 rotors on my '50 Coupe.

Norm

Satellitecentral

Quick update.
I am off work today , an decided to take a look at the front brakes on the 66 Dynamic ,
pulled the pssenger front drum off ,
Now I know why its not stopping very well,
Leaking Wheel Cylinder
Havent even checked the rest , but i,m sure it,s time to do the 4 off them .
Money is tight at the min (Thats a familiar story) so I,m gonna have to fix the drums , instead off going to discs at the min

Any one got a suggestion, where a good place is to get new wheel Cylinders ?

Oh and also, There seem to be 2 differt size bores being sold , how would I know which is mine , without pulling it all apart ?

joe_padavano

The larger bore is for police and HD use. The reality is that using the larger brake cylinders will provide more braking force anyway, so there's no reason not to use them. The larger volume will result in slightly greater pedal travel for a given braking force, but I suspect it will not be noticeable.

Satellitecentral

Thanks for the reply
So would I be right in assuming , That I could use either one ?, without any modifications ?
and if you were doing it , would you just replace both front ones , or just do all 4 at the same time , to freshen up the brake system ?
The Reason I ask is I,ve only had the Car 6 months , have done a tone off work on it already and I cant honestly say when the Brakes were done last,

joe_padavano

Given how inexpensive the brake cylinders are, I'd just replace them all. Of course, you can guarantee that at least one of the flare nuts will either round off or twist the line, and then you're into brake line replacement...

Satellitecentral

Thanks Joe
Can you post me a link to where you recommend getting them from ?
and your prefered make ?

joe_padavano

The brake cylinders? I just use the auto parts store, or Rock Auto if I have time.

Satellitecentral

Joe I just went to the parts store today , looking for some Brake Cylinders , they dident have any , But they did have a rebuild kit,
I bought 2 , just to see if I could rebuild mine .
God what a Dirty Job , lol
ah wel, thats part off the fun

I only had time to rebuid the front passenger side cylinder, havent reinstalled it yet , tomorrow

I,ve never worked on these before so its a learning curve
I just wanted to do it to say i had done it myself , an save some green is always a good thing .

By the way , I suppose I better go get some spring Pliars tomorrow , I cant see me being able to get the springs back on the shoes without them ?

citcapp

I hope you bought a brake cylinder hone at the same time you bopught the rebuild kit. Good idea to clean the barrel with the hone prior to re-assembly. Good luck.

Satellitecentral

Hey Joe
Just back in from rebuilding that brake cylinder ,
Yes I bought a Hone at the same time , and cleaned the bore up like new ,

I had never worked on Drum Brakes before , an certainly nothing like these Monsters !!!

I went an got the spring Pliares , they came in very handy.

Anyway
It took me a good while to clean everything up nice , an had to see how it all worked ,
but in the end I got it all put back together , an had my
buddy pump up the brakes while I bled (and from cuts as well , lol)

Brakes are super good now
May not even bother with the disc,s for a long time

Thanks for all the help
I feel it was well worth doing the job myself , after all, it saved a load off money, which I can spend on doing some more jobs on the Car