Hey guys, was wondering if anyone has done the front disc brake conversion (stock spindles) on a 63 Riv. My questions are, is it worth it? Do i need a different master cylinder? And how much better does the car stop? I'm considering buying the kit from Jamco, because it includes the rotors, calipers, lines, bearings, seals, etc. The reasons i want to do this is i've had some experience with brake fading in a friends chevy c10, i know disc brakes stop better but i hear many good things about Finned aluminum Buick drums, i want a more modern set up since i live in the chicago burbs, plus they would look sweet through my AR 5 spokes. any feedback is appreciated.:TU:
Disc brakes do not necessarily stop better then a good set of drums. The major advantage of discs is resistance to fade. If you make repeated rapid stops from high speed, discs have a clear advantage - otherwise no. You will need metering and proportioning valves - and you might as well add a pressure differential valve. Probably some existing combination valve (combines all three) can be adapted to your system. Normally a disc/drum system master cylinder has a larger reservoir for the disc portion of the hydraulic system.
I think the factory setup is pretty stout. Those finned aluminum drums are MASSIVE!!! The work required to convert to discs wouldn't be worth the miniscule increase in brake performance. If you make sure your factory system is up to snuff (new dual reservoir master, new shoes, have the drums turned, etc) I think you'll be more than satisfied.
The drum brakes do fine on my Roadmaster. From my house I've got a pretty steep down hill grade all the way to the first traffic light . Driving the Roadmaster I feel just as confident, as I do in my '03 Dodge or my '04 Lincoln going down that hill...
Your best bet would be to source a master/booster combo. I got one for a '67 Wildcat. I think our cars share the same booster, and don't work properly with the later master since the master cylinder piston is actually part of the booster push rod.
Correct. Should be the same as a '67 Riv, or any fullsize '67 for that matter. It's a reman'd unit from Cardone. Part number 50-1104. I got mine from Oreilly's, although I had to search around quite a bit at first. Nobody (Napa, Autozone, Oreilly, Advance) had them in stock, and couldn't even order them from Cardone. Got lucky one day and Oreilly's managed to find one in their warehouse. If you take a look in the past threads I've started, there's a pretty good one about all that's involved in switching to a dual reservoir master. Not exactly plug and play, but certainly not rocket science either.
Thanks Andy, i'm probably gonna do this with the drums and see how i like it. I'm a very hard driver, whether it be racing, drifting, burnouts, highway. I dont wanna drive a fast car if i cant stop when its 98 degrees here in a typical Chicago summer day on my way to a car show or messing around on the streets. When those brakes faded on my buddies C10 when i thought it was gonna be the death of us, someone else, or the death of my license. I'd rather not have that experience again. Another problem i have, is the drums dont fit in the aftermarket rims i boughtou::af:. So i dont know what i i'm gonna do for that. I did the math, its gonna be about another 4000 before i have the car running, on the road and legal. I live in Cook County IL, so you can imagine the bull****. High gas prices, taxes, registration fee's, etc. But all i think about is getting this big, beautiful beast on the road.:TU:
You may consider this guy: http://www.scarebird.com/index.php?id=1 He may be able to accommodate even though he doesn't list the '63 specifically.
For what its worth, I beat the hell out of my '62, probably more than I should! The only time the brakes have ever let me down was when I lost the brakes with the factory single reservoir master. Talk about a pucker factor! What kind of wheels did you go with? What size and backspacing? I'm running small 1/4in spacers so my slot mags clear. They're 15x7 with 3.5in of backspacing. Another option is to have the drums machined to reduce the size of the fins. I totally understand where your coming from. I'm 21, and have more or less been building mine since I was 16. I finally considered it to be more or less finished, but we all know how that goes. :laugh:
I got American Racing c100's with 4.00 inch back spacing. i'm probably gonna have to get them machined, or use a die grinder. I love those wheels and want them on the car.
Funny story, when we drove from southeast Indiana to Minnesota (near the North Dakota line), to get my '61, the plan was to use the car caddy we brought along to bring the car back to Indiana. I took along a couple of good tires mounted on rims from my '91 Chevy Caprice wagon. They had the correct bolt pattern and they were 15" GM rims, so I never gave it another thought. Lesson learned. Had to stop at the only place we could find, a semi-truck repair center. They didn't have a tire changer so they used very large hammers and pry bars to change the tires over. Cost me $30, but it really wasn't bad for all the labor they performed. By the way, we went through Chicago on the way out and paid the tolls, but decided to avoid the tolls coming back. Wouldn't ya know it was right around rush hour! What a mess, but an experience I'll never forget.
