Ok all you early A body members, time to show off your knowledge.. Have a customer's mint period correct 66 GS hot rod in the shop. Fred Catlin built 455 TH 400 conversion in a 59K beautiful one owner car.. What options are there for disc brake upgrade.. are the 69-72 spindles compatable with the earlier suspension geometry and hard parts? I believe they may be, but figured I would ask. Reason I ask is that I have these parts available, and I am doing a bunch of other rather minor work on the car, and after driving it, it sure would be nice if it had disc brakes. Already planning a dual master cylinder upgrade, and splitting the front/rear brake system.. and would like to add disc brakes without breaking the budget here.. So big buck brake kits are not in the picture. Any input from you 66/67 guys is appreciated. JW
Jim i have a 69-72 disc brake conversion on my 66. as far as spindles and hardware go it is a bolt on conversion. the only real tough thing is the brake lines all need to be redone. I bought the proportioning valve kit from The right stuff and bent up my own lines from there.
Another option is to use the Scarebird kit. It uses the original 66 spindles, and I believe fits the early 14" Buick rally wheel.(?) Some of the caliper brackets on the other kits will hit the 14" wheel.....from what I've read. 64-66 front-to-rear brake line is 3/16" diameter. They went to 1/4" in 67 with the dual master cylinder. Got pics of that 66?:Brow:
as for spindels you can cut that boss on the ones you have and there the same as 69-72s the rest of the parts can be bought at any parts store
64-72 a-bodies, also 67-69 camaro and firebird, and 68-74 nova, venture, apollo and omegas are all interchangeable. as posted here....http://v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=139926. -Josh
Jim I am doing one with the Scarebird kit on a 66 442 now . It uses a 10.5 rotor and is very easy. I am going to change to a dual MC and that will require some mods of the proportioning valve or so I am told. John
My disc set-up came from a '71 chevelle wagon. I got the prop valve from the donor car and ordered the m/c for the same car. The first brake line kit I got didn't fit at all but the second one from Inline Tube worked great. Also, if memory serves me correctly, you'll need the the rod for the dual master as the standard one is too short. I was told to get the banjo brackets from the donor car to fit the disc brake hoses but they didn't work with the factory holes in the frame. Instead of drilling new holes in the frame I cut and modified the brackets which worked but led me to my next discovery. This swap moves the brake assembly outward and in doing so makes the rubber hoses a tad short. They fit but I didn't like how tight they were pulled at full lock so I ordered braided stainless lines from inline tube. They come in longer lengths and allow the use of the original banjo brackets. Its kinda exciting to actually be able to give Jim Weise some info for a change!:TU:
BTW, I really had to resist the urge to say "just use the search funtion as there's plenty of info to be found ect. ect.". :laugh: :grin: :beers2:
