I have a rear Wilwood disc brake setup that was bought for my Ford 9 inch rear.The issue is the wheels I am using do not clear the calipers,so I wanted to see if I could buy the bracket kit to bolt it on an 8.5 rear that I will be using aftermarket wheels on. I have seen several Wilwood kits that are for the 10/12 bolt chevy rears,but I need to know what the flange that is on our Buicks and if the bolt pattern is the same.The kit I have currently is 140-7140 with 12 inch rotors and 2.50 offset. I paid decent money for it and would like to see if it can work.The Wilwood people weren't that helpful to me.
Here is the deal - You have 2.75 brake offset... GM - Ford and Mopar are 2.5 brake offset. which is what you have. It will not work Parking brakes will not line up and the caliper would need to be shimmed 1/4 inch at least. So your real options are sell what you have and buy the correct kit... Or chop the rear flange ends off your rear install FORD ends and Upgrade the rear to 30 spline axles and FORD offset with GM wheel bolt pattern. Either way your spending more money... Sorry. I am sure you could hack it together to work but you might as well ditch the parking brake parts cause they will be hanging out of the backside of the rotor. Maybe they might have a deeper rotor by a 1/4" offset and you would be good. Still stuck with a set or rotors. Jim
Another problem are the BOP bearings that need to be preloaded and you will need to make a custom shim to go into the hole so the plates can push on them and keep them stable. Wilwood brakes are nice looking BUT a pain in the butt to convert to anything but what they were built for.
Ford NEW Torino style ends are pretty popular and you should not have a problem unloading them on any drag race / racing junk.com site as long as you are reasonable on the price.
That is what I was afraid of..My other option is to buy a bolt in 9 inch rear for a GM A body and utilize the rear brakes. That is probably the route I will head in, and then sell off the 3.42 71 rear end I have currently to cover the costs..This way I could justify having a couple center sections done and could swap the gears between both cars.
Ok... All that for brakes...lol. MAke certain you BUY good 9" third members not stock castings. .. I personally am not a 9" fan... But you do what you got to do.
Well I have 2 Strange center sections and 2 Nodular Ford ones. My backhalf car has a narrowed 9 inch with 35 spline axles so I actually wont be losing out much I have the 3.90 rear you built me as well as the 3.42 and a 3.08 rear..It's allot easier to replace the center section than to swap out complete rears..
That is why everyone Buys the Fords... It is the same example of Small Block Chevy engines... Cheap to build and parts everywhere because it all interchanges well. Do the strange centers and dump the stock Ford 'N' thirds get your money out of them to build the real parts. (strange aftermarket ) Jim
