Brake upgrades 78 t/a

[LS1_78Bandit]

OK, now onto brakes ... you probably know this from other forums, but just in case - I'm working on upgrading my 78 t/a. This is primarily, if not entirely, for street use. I just want a good-performing/handling setup.

Right now my car has disc fronts and drum rears. Now I'm debating what to do. Given advances in technology and the fact that it sat in a lot for 7 years and is now 28 years old, I was thinking I should change out all the brakes. I figure my options are:

1) Look at my existing parts and just replace anything that looks suspicious.
2) Put in a new disc brake kit in the front, but leave the rear drums.
3) Put in new brake kits front&rear.

My inclination is to at least do option 2), but if option 1) is sufficient, I'm all for saving money! As for option 3), how much benefit will I get since 70% of the braking comes from the front anyway?

Since it would cover all the necessary pieces, let's say I choose option 3).

I was thinking of getting the Wilwood Dynalite Pro Series kit. It seems people generally like the Wilwoods, though others like Baer, and in this thread, Mean 69 says he thinks all of the kits are crap and you should just search the "Cheap Big Brakes" threads and follow those directions.

http://69.94.75.177/forum/showthread.php?t=5130

Though he does say he has more of a racing bent and that might be biasing things.

Now if I upgrade the rear drums to discs, the only kit I was able to find was the SSBC. LTorres (Precision Brakes) made reference to wilwood rear disc kits in a couple threads, but looking at the precision brake catalog online, I couldn't find any for 2nd gens. Did I miss them?

What additional things might I need? My guess is I'll need a proportioning valve. Do I need that if I just put a front brake kit in and leave the rear as drums?

And finally, I saw mention in a couple threads of the various brake kits affecting wheel backspacing. Good thing I saw that now, since I was just about to order wheels!

With the Wilwood kit mentioned above and the SSBC kit listed below, will I have any backspacing issues?

http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=egnsearch.asp&N=115+-59143+-59338+-42236

I was going to get TT-II's (even though they're "over-done") with 17x9.5 5.5" backspacing upfront and 17x11 5.75" backspacing in the rear. In case it's relevant, I was thinking of either 315/35/17's in the rear and 275/40/17's upfront or 285/40/17's in the rear and 255/40/17's upfront.

Sorry for the length! And thanks for all your help.

[PTAddict]

I think the best value for money in brake upgrades are the various kits that use C5/C6 corvette calipers and rotors, like those available from touring classics (site sponsor, www.touring-classics.com). For $1500 or so, you'll have very good front and rear brakes, based on fairly cheap, easily replacable production parts which can be gotten from any Chevy parts department. And they're floating caliper designs, which aren't as fussy about the kind of spindle deflection or axle end play issues that can cause caliper knockback with fixed-piston designs like the Wilwoods. Caliper knockback can be very annoying - I had a set of fixed piston Wilwoods on a '69 Camaro, and I'd get knockback just parking the car.

TT-II wheels don't have much caliper clearance - the spokes curve back very close to the outward face of the caliper. They won't clear a C5 front caliper/rotor combo without spacers. You can use spacers, or touring-classics makes a kit using C5 calipers and C4 rotors which tucks the caliper further away from the wheel spokes. Or, you can go with similarly styled wheels like these:

http://www.vintagewheelworks.com/products/wheels

which have more caliper room, and can be custom ordered with much faster turn-around time than you will get from American Racing (speaking from experience).

[essenge]

I don't think you can get a front and rear kit from touring for 1500. Unless youre referring to the home made C5 conversions?

There are a ton of write ups floating around on here about how to do the 12 inch B-Body brake upgrade (CHEAP). You use your stock caliper but get bigger pads and a 12 inch rotor. Also, you can do the C5 upgrade yourself with 13" rotors/twin piston calipers for a few hundred more.

For the rears, the LT1 f-body conversion (11.7" I think?) is relatively simple and also can be done for a few hundred bucks. You can get used kits from a site that isn't a sponsor here so I wont post the link but let me know if you want it. It will at least show you all the parts required.

[PTAddict]

I don't think you can get a front and rear kit from touring for 1500. Unless youre referring to the home made C5 conversions?


You're right, it's closer to $2K. I was thinking of the first gen kits, but the 2nd gen kits have the added expense of a fabricated hub for the front brakes.

[essenge]

If you did not have to pay for their spindles and hub I would just buy from them. They have real nice kits :(

[JoshStratton]

I got a set of 13" Baer fronts and 12" Baer rears (cross-drilled/slotted/zinc washed) with everything from the master to the hoses and 2" dropped spindles included for just under $2000 off of a group purchase. If you look around, deals can be found.

[MrQuick]

but the 2nd gen kits have the added expense of a fabricated hub for the front brakes. To use a C5 set up on a 2nd gen you can just use a 3rd gen rotor cut down to a hub...and the brackets from joe run you around a hun.

[essenge]

Yeah but can you order from touring classics without their hub and spindle?

[LS1_78Bandit]

and the brackets from joe run you around a hun.

Sorry for my ignorance here ... who/what does this refer to?

Edit: D'Uh! I just re-read the sentence and it makes more sense now. I thought "joe run you around a hun" was an alias for someone. I feel pretty stoopid ... though now my question is, who is Joe?

[MrQuick]

sorry, that was a rushed post... wait...did that sound gay? check it..https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13161 holla

[Jeremy]

I run factory discs front and rear. I use Wilwood GM III calipers front and rear with stainless flex lines. The difference over stock is significant and I have gotten 60-0 braking under 120 feet. The aluminum calipers also save some unsprung weight and make a difference in ride.

I paid right around 600 from precision brakes for all four calipers and 5 stainless lines. I like this setup as I can use any stock replacement pad and rotor. The calipers will also work if one chooses to upgrade to 1LE brakes up front at some point.

About the only down side is that I need to come up with an e brake as the wilwood calipers don't have a built in one. In over a year, I haven't really noticed not having it for a cruiser.