A cheap rear disc brake conversion??? Opinions please.

Rear discs..??

ya baby...

:TU:

 

prolly not cheap tho...

This is a BAER kit, and went on well, other than the funky parking brake stuff, which we eliminated. I was not impressed with that, they wanted to me to mount the caliper down at about the 5'oclock position.. ya.. I don't think so..

Not sure on the cost for this kit, as it was sent to me by the customer for installation.

Prolly will work ok tho..

By the way, Inline tube has a 4 wheel disc proportioning valve. Goes right in place of the stock one.

This kit also came with a the master cylinder, you have to change to a 4 wheel disc one.

 

Well, that Baer kit looks like the 96 Camaro rear disc set-up in the local yard less drilled/slotted rotors. Hmmm, I bet the Baer kit was $500-600.

Darn, JW, you need to get better security in that building! Looks like someone broke in and stole the rear qtr panel from that car pictured just below your last rear disc brake pic! Sheesh, people will steal anything! :laugh:

 

:laugh:

Nah.. that's Cole's 55K mile 70 455 ragtop..

We are just "letting it breath" for a little while. Look for that car, along with the one pictured, and three other frame offs, at the BPG nats next Summer.

And a GSX or two..

Gonna have to get a big tent to house these babies in..

......... speaking of that.. Lunch is over.. back to work..

JW

 

Wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands.....only 3 frame offs and a GSX or two?????? Hmmmm, I think you need some more cars in the shop with winter soon upon you, you won't have anything else to do besides work on Buicks! :laugh: :TU:

 

That does look like a great setup. I just did my 60-0 testing with my car. I'll post a new thread on it, but my runs were 159,162,165,168, and 174. Wow, what a smell after that last run. Phew!! We'll see what new rotors, pads, and braided lines does.

 

Oh.. that's not everything here.. got a little time? I will tell ya..




Trace's convertible has a couple weeks left of assembly, then I am off to visit your fine state.. done with the hurricanes I hope?.. Got to pick up his 70 trip blk STG 1 rag.. he decided to keep it, and do a correct, concourse resto.. or in other words, spend some serious money on that one.. 80-100 K neighborhood... that's a mid 05 Start date, completion in late 06 or Spring 07. Big job.. it needs everything, but is a numbers car, and a loaded one at that.

Ken Krisher has a 72 in here, that the motor will go in shortly.. that deal is nearly done.. dyno that one late this week, or early next week, and then in the car, with just a bit of extra work, then it's down the road.

A nice 72 Skylark out of Arkansas, here for a level 1 motor and level 2 VP trans, with some extra work.. in process now, if all goes well that's a late '04 finish date.

Henry's 70 Stg 1 4 Speed HT is well on it's way, with the frame in paint, and many many parts blasted and prepped. Motor in the machine shop, body on the rotissierrie now. On target for the typical 18 month finish time for a complete.

Late Spring-early summer 05 finish.



Larry's 71 STG 1 HT is partialy done, with the body painted, frame mostly done, motor built ect.. I just have to take the pieces and get the details right, and put it all together. We took the first step on that one over the weekend, with parts going out for misc work, ordering stuff ect, after spending several days sorting and cataloging all his parts.

That car is slated for Spring 05 finish.

Cole's will be getting quarters, trunk floor, and all the goodies.. His motor is machined, just sitting here waiting for me to get the car caught up to it.

That's a Summer 05 finish. Cole will be helping a lot on this one.


QQ 70 GSX out of the windy city, here for quarters, doors, trunk floor, and that ever so fun GSX paint job. Mid size project with some extras.
Summer '05 on that one.

10 10 GSX here from AZ.. Mike Tomaszewski's car. The usual quarters, trunk floor deal. Not a bad car, just needs to be put together right, and the details handled. Mike building the motor, I will do his trans and rear, and then get it off the frame for a chassis resto, and then put it all together.

Fall '05, or maybe around the BPG nats, depends on how things go.

And the ever present 455 builds.. just prepped 3 of them for machining last week, and talking to a couple folks on motors.

Not to be confused with dash resto's, my BPG duties, a few T-400 builds, well you get the picture. So no, I won't be accepting any more cars till next summer..

Breaktime is over, back to the grindstone.

JW

 

Ok, I started the article on the rear disc brake set-up.

www.buickperformance.com/rrdisc.htm

I dropped the rear at the rear axle rebuilder for posi installation, bearing
and seal replacement. Should get it back on Wed or Thur and hope to have the rear disc brakes done during the weekend. :TU:

 

Hey JW, sounds like you finally have something to do! :laugh: :laugh:

Nice to hear the windy city owner sent you his car.....darn, I have to start charging for all of my referals. Drats, that has got to add up to at least one beer!

I thought Mike's GSX was owned by Sam Davis and was primo???? Did he buy another??? Is Mike afraid of sheetmetal work???? LOL !

Ok, now back to the subject matter!

This is a slick kit by TSM. Got the rear back from the rear axle builder....all new bearings, seals, crush sleeve, installation of 3.08 gears and GM posi unit.

Everything went together per instructions included with the kit. Since I have ample 80-5 Seville, Toronado, Riv, Eldorado models in the local salvage yards, I did not have to buy rebuilt calipers. The ones I removed were in excellent condition and just needed some paint. I had to buy new pads at Autozone for $20, semi-metallic. Autozone does sell them as complete rebuilds w/pads for $145/pr plus core. I did not ask what the core charge was on the pair. I can supply you with decent cores if needed. You can just get a seal kit and be on your way.

The only item requiring some "skill" will be to weld the hose brackets to the axle tubes. I will have to shorten the new rear brake lines (cut and reflare) to make a nice installation. Once I get the car back from the paint shop, I will install the rear in the car and see what "problems" I encounter installing the factory e-brake set-up since I orderd e-brake cable adapters for this installation.

As for a total amount, looking at $340 including shipping plus $20 for the pads, so not too bad for less than $400 to have a complete, new rear disc brake set-up. I have seen the other kits and most are twice that amount.

I will update the article on the site soon. Here are a couple pics of the set-up. I test fit a 15" rallye wheel and there is about 1/2" of clearance so this is a good set-up.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Here is the rim clearance pic!

 

Nice looking setup George. And at half the price of most sets makes it a sweet deal.
Thanks for putting the time into this endeavor. :TU:

 

easy rear disc's

i had installed rear discs on my 67 (8.2 with bolt-in axles. if ya got c-clips , i'd do a c-clip eliminator kit) that i circle tracked a few years ago , just get some rotors( circle track rotors ,wilwood makes two widths .810 , which there are thse piston spacers and a 1.25 wide)get a pair of hats that have 4 3/4 bolt pattern ,get some clamp on caliper brackets , or if ya want the weld ons .i ran metric calipers . installing the proportional valve is the hardest part and to mount the brake line tabs and run the hoses . everything is available from any circle track supplier . thats if youre not worried about a parking brake. cheap, easy and very strong and smart. everyone from speedway to jr. motorsports and midwest motorsports can set ya up.. i hope this gives ya an idea . it works every saturday night all over the country it will work for you.

 

Yep, plenty to do..

Thanks for the referal bud.. he didn't mention it.. Brew is on me next time we get together.

Mike did pick up another GSX, and we are gonna pretty it up for him.

Looks like a decent brake setup there, let us know how it works out.

JW

PS... a rag on your jackstand keeps from screwing up your new paint.. been there, done that..