S-10 Rear Disc on an older 10 bolt......

[strangler]

Hello. Tonight I am removing the rear disc setup from a friends totaled truck and would like so info.....

These will be going on my fathers '57 Bel Air which already has a 70's 8.5 10 bolt in it. The car currently has SSBC front brakes which I believe are very similar to 80's G body and S-10 as they fit over his 15" wheels without a problem.

The car does not have a booster, only a rebuilt m/c from a 70's F-body.

The car did not stop safely at all. I blamed the rears drums, and upon removal they do not appear to have been working very well at all. Not worth adjusting them, they are now in the trash.

So I'm getting the rotors, calipers, brackets and hoses from this S-10 tonight, and was wondering if I have any suprises in store for me? In theory these should fit on a 10 bolt, fit under a 15" wheel, and work a lot better than the drums (which weren't working at all).
Should I rob the m/c off of the S-10 as well? Will a power m/c work without a booster?

Please shoot holes in my plans.... I would rather know upfront.

Great site, thanks for the info. -Scott

[strangler]

Anyone done this?

[Randy67]

If the brakes are the 98-up style, it will bolt right on, if it is 2WD. If it is 4WD, then you will just need to get 2WD rotors. I'm not as familiar with the earlier (97-back) rear brakes.

As for the master cylinder, it would be better to have one for a manual than to run without power assist. The brake pedal effort may be too high.

[ZZ4Blazer]

I do not believe that they will bolt up the same to the rear end. I believe around the mid 80's the rear end housing flange changed to a trapazoid kinda shape on the s-series, along with most of hte 10 bolts.

The only discs to come factory on an s-series is a blazer, and I do believe they need atleast a 16" wheel.

[Randy67]

The 98-up Blazer/Jimmy brakes will bolt up to the older 4-bolt flange axles. They will clear most 15" wheels, I had a 98 Jimmy 4WD and it had 15" wheels with alot of backspace and they cleared. Here is a link to more info on them, look towards the bottom
http://www.geocities.com/diels12000/RearDiscBrakes.html

[DAK]

I have 98+ S-10 rear brakes on a early 70's 8.5. Practically a direct bolton. The s-10 rotors are only a hair smaller than Ls1's. Due to the rotor offset and slim caliper design even some 14's will fit.

[chevella]

They will bolt right on. I am running them on my 70 Chevelle 10 bolt rear. 15 in wheels will clear with no problem.

[strangler]

Thanks guys. I removed them from a 4wd pickup, the Highrider ZR2. The pattern was square, just like the old axle.

I will try to install everything tonight and report back. The rotor have a really tall 'hat', is this the reason that I may need 2wd rotors? I got the brackets, dust shields, calipers w/ good pads, good rotors and all the e-brake stuff for $40.

[chevella]

Yep, you will need to pick up a set of 2wd rotors. The 2wd & 4wd brackets and calipers are the same. Everything should bolt right up. The only thing you may have to do is space the caliper bracket out a bit to get the rotor centered in the caliper. A few flat washers will do the trick.

[DAK]

Yep, you will need to pick up a set of 2wd rotors. The 2wd & 4wd brackets and calipers are the same.

There is a difference in the brackets. 2wd's mount the calipers on the back and 4wd mounts on the front. They could be flipped but the way they came from factory the parking brake cable are routed forward. 4wd and 2wd use the same calipers and baskets but at the parts store the part #'s left to right will be the opposite from 2wd to 4wd. I used 2wd rotors with 4wd brackets with my conversion.

[strangler]

Thanks for the help guys. These were off of a 99 ZR2 4WD, and both mounting plates positioned the caliper toward the front of the vehicle. I had to buy 2wd (Extreme S-10 or Blazer) rotors because the 4WD rotors have a taller 'hat' due to longer axle shafts used to increase track width.

I mounted the plate to the 4-bolt flange, re-installed the shaft, mounted the caliper bracket on, and saw that the bracket was not centered over the rotor. To correct this I had to remove everything and install 2 standard 7/16 flat washers per bolt inbetween the flange and the brake mounting plate. With those spacers (roughly 3/16"), everything lined up perfectly. The rotors easily cleared his 15" aluminu, wheels and braking performance was drastically improved. I am going to replace his 70's F-body master cylinder with one from a Corvette or similar as I think the bore is currently too large to make these work to their full potential. I will report back after the M/C change.

[speED]

Just to make sure I did not miss anything, will this fit on a 12 bolt that had 67 Camaro drums?

[strangler]

Yes, I believe it should work out exactly the same.

[Blue90V8Caprice]

Will this setup work on my Caprice? I am wanting better braking for the mountains and curves up here in WNC.

[Randy67]

I'm not sure if it will work on your Caprice. the bolt pattern is off if your's is 5 on 5 (S10 is 5 on 4.75). Couldn't you use the rear brakes (or the entire axle) from a 91-96 Caprice copcar/Impala SS? That may be an option for you.