I have a vehicle with 1971 toronado running gear mounted in the rear and need to fashion up some parking brakes. I'm wondering if the rear calipers from any of the gm front drive cars will fit?

 

Time for a little research. Figure out how thick your rotors are, then research rear calipers with e-brake provision that fit that thickness rotor. You'll almost certainly have to make custom caliper brackets.

 

I realize this is an odd project but i'm going to have to get some sort of parking brakes to get an inspection sticker. I'll take some measurements of the rotor and of the distance between mounting bolts as well as the spacing between the back of the rotor and the front surface of the mounting bracket.

 

Centric Parts has a great online catalog that lists a lot of dimensional data for brake hardware. For example, here's a front rotor from a 1971 Toro:



Unfortunately, most rear rotors with e-brake calipers will be thinner, so the calipers won't work. For example, the rear rotors on the 1990s Caprice are only about .80" thick.

 

I have cheated on the E breaks with a shut off valve in the rear line, depress the peddle and close off the valve, lights will not be on and no one but YOU know how they were applied, OPEN the valve release the rear. Florida gave up on the inspections in 1982 (I think) but it worked for me then.
Good luck

Johnny

 

Cool, I'll check out Centric.

 

What type of shutoff were you using? Did you run the rear line into the front seat area and back out?

 

I used a valve from NAPA that had 1/4 line compression couple fittings, and yes run the line inside with easy reach to close and open.Took about 30 min to install and bleed, you can let it gravity bleed for the most part with things going GOOD you shouldn't need to bleed past the coupler last in line.
Good luck

Johnny

 

Using the primary brakes as the "emergency" brake kinda defeats the purpose of having an emergency brake...

 

What have you got at the front?. Several makers including Saab, Citroen, and Commer made vehicles with the parking brake at the front. I'm assuming you have a custom build project, it might ease costs to use a ready made system rather than fabricating a one off system. Of course, designing your own system might be a challenge you relish, in which case can you keep us up to date on your progress please?.

Roger.

 

Well I ended up getting a line lock from TCI and cutting it in just behind the proportioning valve on the left frame rail. I mounted a toggle switch under the dash and it worked out very well. Of course I went for the inspection and they didn't even ask me to apply the parking brake!!!

 

Go figure, LOL at least you were ready. Worked out very good.

Johnny