I was wondering if anyone has done a full drum to disc conversion on a 69 Riviera using front and rear calipers from a C5 corvette and what's involved? I can get all 4 calipers for a good price I would just like to know what I would have to do to make them work? I read somewhere about using scarebird brackets for the front? I know you can bolt on 1988-97 camaro calipers with the plates to the buick rearend (GM 8.2 10 bolt) but I haven't found any info if the C5 calipers will bolt on?? Any help would be great thank you!
Oh and I have 18"×8" rims all way around so the C5 calipers and 11" rotors should clear. My 11" drums clear now.
Seems like your trail blazing. Buy the scare bird brackets for all 4 corners. There cheap enough and you can shim them as needed in case the disc offset is different. I used those brackets up front on my 70 and I am contemplating installing discs in the rear.
I will have to check into that thanks! I know I'll have to add a porportioning valve to the rear lines and probably one on the master cylinder as well as some line adapters of some kind.If you're looking to do a cheap swap go to your local scrap yard and pull a set of calipers and brackets from a 3rd gen camaro/firebird (1988-97) for around $50 buy new rotors pads a inline porportion valve and I think you'll have to configure something for the ebrake. I got the info from hotrod.com "Swap Your Drum Brakes with Budget GM Rear Disc Brakes" hope that helps you
If in fact your doing this to a '69 Riv. 1st. thing is your drums are 12" not 11". Anything for the 8.2 rear won't work on the rear in the Riv. as it's a 9 3/8ths. rear unless you changed it out.
I would like to do the full swap. Yeh I couldn't remember if it was 11"or12". My rear end is the stock 69 except the previous owner swapped out the 3.07 gears and carrier for the 3.08 gears and carrier. I thought the stock rear in a 69 Riv was a 8.2?? So if it's the 93/8 Can anyone tell me what/where I can get brackets from to mount the C5 rear calipers? I've read Yardley front conversion set up a few times but found nothing for the rear?
You have BIG GIANT 12" x 2 1/4" Brake Shoes on the Front, and BIG GIANT 12" x 2" Brake Shoes on the Rear; I presently have exactly 2 - Fronts & exactly 2 - Rears N.O.S. ++ Asbestos ++ Brake Shoes for this application..... with N.O.S. ++ Asbestos ++ you can stop on a nickel with this car --- and spend a WHOLE LOT LESS money.......... Unless you are using your car as a taxi cab in New York City, Why bother????? Really, WHY BOTHER???? If it is your "basic" Sunday Driver --- leave it alone, and enjoy life.................. Call me for the ++ Asbestos ++ Brake Shoes, and Life is Great.
Well honestly why does anyone do anything to their cars, because they want to. Why do guys put modern parts on/under classic cars???? Because they want old school looks with new safer/better technology. When you start adding HP you need the "better" braking system to slow you down. I myself drive my car on hwys, back roads, to work and back, on Sundays AND Saturdays drop my two girls off at school, date night with the wife etc. I feel that it is in my best interest to update my car to "todays" safety standards. I could do a front conversion only and leave the rear drums but I'm half way there already might as well do the rears to just be on the safe side. I appreciate your parts offer but I just put all new brake parts on last summer to get it out and enjoy it. Cheers!!
Except the problem with doing the rears is the research and the emergency brake! This is why I am slow to convert the rear. You mention safety and well some modern cars do have drum rear brakes. On the Riv the front is a slam dunk, and the car will stop hard with discs out front. No proportioning valve or other stuff, just hung the stuff on the spindles and bled the lines. I would not consider doing front and rear's a 50/50 deal. I consider them two separate projects.
I have the info and parts list to do the rear conversion with ebrake if you would like it? It was given to me by Mike at Scarebird. I agree some cars do have rear drums but most have disc all around and they have better stopping capabilities which in my opinion is safer car. As for you saying doing fronts and rears not a 50/50 deal I'm a bit confused?? A car has 4 brake drums and if you convert 2 of them would that not be half or 50?? On a side note with all "safety" aside all wheel disc looks pretty nice through the rims over disc/drum. Even though the front disc is probably adequate my personal prefferenc for aesthetics would be to have disc/disc the extra bit of safety is a bonus!
The labor for installing the front is very easy and greater bang for the buck, installing discs on the rear requires more labor and provides less effectiveness. So more like a 30% effort of a complete 4 corner swap for 70% increase in stopping efficiency when doing the fronts versus 30% gain in the rear with more $s and parts.
To each their own I guess! If you would like the parts list/numbers let me know or email Mike at Scarebird he'll set you up. Cheers!!
So you didn't have to install a new master or proportioning valve when you did the front disc conversation ???
You will probably need a inline adjustable proportioning valve plumbed somewhere in your line going to the rear drums. You can get them from summit.
Yeh I'm not sure how he did his but if you check out Yardleys page 1badriv.com he did a front conversion and had to plumb in a 10lb residual brake valve into the rear line it holds 10lbs in the lines at all times. He explains why he had to put one in. You can get those from summit as well. His ENTIRE page is a good read and full of info!
In my reading somewhere I read that I would not need one and the car stops fine. It has been several years later and all is well. I can't lock up the front but the rears will lockup if I stomp on the pedal.
While I can't find my original reading on the topic (which was big car specific - does NOT apply to A Bodies -A Bodies need the proportioning valve), I did make the observation that the front hard lines are smaller than the rear lines I believe this is part of the reason why this works well in my 70 Riviera. The different flow rates and volume of the lines with vehicle weight render the valve useless. Going back on my earlier statement, If I were to drive in reverse the opposite is true, I can lock up the fronts and the rears won't lockup. To me this is a well balanced system. Neither the front pad nor rear shoes show excessive wear. The only thing I would like is more fluid capacity in the reservoir because this is a drum brake MC, but this just means I need to be diligent checking fluid levels.
