well, my front disc. Brake conversion with power Brakes and new tubing went great. Now I'm thinking of doing a rear disc. conversion on my 71 GS. Why? Why Not ? On eBay you can get the correct mounting brackets for $89.00 + $10.00 freight. The seller says to use Camaro, Fire Bird rear rotors and Cadillac rear calipers with park brake. and hoses. any one do this or have a better way? Or a reason why not to ? Also changed to a power Disc. proportioning valve, will it have to be changed again ? Freakazoid
i'd say checkout www.scarebird.com they offer a very cool rear disk conversion uses caddy parts....good luck!!
Just be careful when the kits say they will clear 15" rims as I have found that some do not clear our buick rims. On some, the emergency brake mechanism did not clear. They would clear on most aftermarket rims though. I did the one that is on the Buickperformance.com web site that George posted and it fit perfectly after following the directions. The RightStuffdetaling.com has the correct kits too and at a great price if you tell them that you are my friends. Chad is the owners son. I stopped at a post office when I was delivering a couple of 70 Buicks, and we started talking and next thing I know he gave me a tour through the plant. Very helpful folks too. Doug is one of the crew and will answer all technical questions that you may have. He said the part number for the rear kit is AFXRD01 and it lists for $495., but we can get a better price through Chad. Just tell him I sent you. I decided to do the junkyard route instead of the buy it, install it and be done with it. This way I learned how the disc brake setup works and it cost me a $200. or so less. It did take me time to rebuild the brake cyclinders and reposition the backing plates, etc. but it was fun anyway.
RiCk Henderson,WEB SITE QUESTION Can't find { therightsfuffdetailing.com } is this the right web site ? Any one have more info on sites. Also on rear Disc. Brake conversion will front Disc power proportioning valve still work ? What year Camero Rotors and Cadillac Integral park Brake Calipers ? I can buy the brackets or manufacture my own, I have the Tools, knowledge and Steel, But I need to know about the 14" and 15" Ralley Wheel clearance. I later plan to go with 15" Ralley 10" wide, but I may for correct app. go with 14". You never cam tell but would rather not. Now I am currently using A great set Craiger style Weld wheels. Please see my pics. and give me your Ideas. Also a pic. of new front power disc conveasion. This will give you an idea of the look my car has. I like to keep some parts of the car original and do some mods. I've priced 1989 Camero rotors for $25.00 ea. and Reman 1989 Cadillac Calipers for $59.00 ea. Really want to show you all I can do this. So please help with confirmation of Ralley wheel clearance and correct rotors and calipers, also hoses to buy. Thank :Freakazoid
Freak, Can you add at least your first name to your signature line????? Anyways, Read this article http://www.buickperformance.com/rrdisc.htm That will show the nicest and best priced set-up I have found. You will also see how the caliper has enough clearance for 15" wheels. There is no way a 14" wheel will work. Be careful of what set-up you select....some use the Eldorado/Toronado/Riv from 79-85 rear rotors and brakes...those rotors will not fit over the the stock Buick axle flange.......so I went with TSM and he uses new Ford Explorer rotors redrilled for Buick wheel stud pattern. I would not pay $59 for the Eldorado calipers since most yards charge $10-15 each for them and the rebuild kit is $10 for both calipers.
George, Nice addition to the site! I like that setup. Some things that I found out is to be careful on selecting the junkyard parts. With the weather here in WA state the piston on the brake setup sometimes gets rusted and to replace it can cost more than the complete remanufactured unit. Thats on the cadillac calipers anyway.
Thanks Thanks for the help, George I think I have the signature in right . Guess I should of took the time to set it up. Thanks again.
Doesn't the master cylinder have to be changed when you go to rear disk? What would be a good replacement if it is needed?
No, if you use the 79-85 Eldorado/Toro/Riv rear calipers. Since they have such a small piston bore the volume required is almost the same as the wheel cylinders.
Decision made. I looked at the TSM kit and decided that this is the best way to go. Great Price and alot less work than trying to build your own brackets. George so there a difference on 1970 to71 distribution block or a combo/prop valve ? With rear disc brakes will there be a problem with correct front to rear brake pressure application ? Or does the same formula as the wheel cylinder to Caliper size apply?
There is difference between combo and a dist valve. Use the stock disc brake set-up and change to rear disc brakes and you should be fine. I spoke to Skip at TSM about this and he suggested with the Eldo rear calipers it would be fine.
Went TSM OK TSM kit is on the way, cant wait. be here next few days. no Calipers though. Ill handle that another way. Have friends at several salvage yards and many parts stores. Thanks all, and to George for the best vendor info.
I tried the rear disc brake setup on my 70 and never really liked it. I used the backing plates/calipers off a 78 Caddy along with the Firebird rotors. I didn't want to go back to the original setup so I went and found some 11 inch rear brake drum backing plates off a 77 Cutlass Salon and am very pleased with them. Since they are substantially larger than the 9.5 drums I was concerned that they would overpower the front disk brakes and I would have to get into the mess of changing the master cylinder and proportioning valve but that turned out to be a non issue. They were a simple bolt on and are a big improvement over the 9.5's Thumbs up from me :TU: .
calipers today. Went to a local U PULL IT, Salvage yard today and picked up the only 2 1983 Cadillac Elderado rear Calipers on the entire yard. No Buick Rivera or Olds Tor. to be found. They were $19.00 for the pair with the hardware. Real rusty but solid. Auto parts store has rebuild kits for $5.50 each. Will have them Sunday. I'll bead blast them and hope after disassembly their rebuildable. There are no signs of any previous leakage. I do need to lube and check the bleeders to see if they wont break off. Good cores if they do. Also compared to the pics. on the Buick retrofit page provided by George they appear to be the same. 3rd. pic from retro fit page. Looks the same to me.
who needs a parking $$ brake ? ya can even go cheaper with a typical circle track setup .a pair of rotors with hats , clamp on or weld on caliper brackets , with a choice of standard metric or full size calipers ,then the same brake line mess. alot cheaper say from speedway motors in lincoln nebraska or thru jr motorsports in ankeny iowa or midwest motorsporst in ames iowa they offer kits and replacement individal compontents including adjustable proportional valves http://www.jrmotorsports.com/product.cfm?productID=5320 http://www.speedwaymotors.com/SearchResults.aspx?keyword=brake+rear+kit&SDeptId=&SearchTitleDescr= and http://www.midwestmotorsportsinc.com/order_sub.php?id=97
TSM Kit is in,,,,, Cool,,,, Ok, Got the kit from TSM and it looks like what I was looking for. Some how I already had a set of GM Disc Pads which I had been holding on to that ended up being correct for the Cadillac Calipers {Freebee}. I Have $120.00 in the set of reman Calipers. Picked up a set of cores from a local U Pull It Salvage yard for $18.00. This saved me about $42.00 on the core charge. I was going to rebuild the core Calipers but one had a broken Integrel park brake internal shaft. So to save time went with the remans. Also had already purchased a OEM style tubing kit when I did the front Disc conversion. I plan on starting insallation over the Thanksgiving Holliday. Thanks George for hooking me up with TSM. And I will keep you all posted on the install. Here are a few pics of all the parts.
The pics and text I have on the site should be all you need in order to install the TSM kit. His instruction sheet is a little weak so let me know if the page I have is confusing.
Hold this thread. please Had a set back for ThanksGiving. But will be doing the disc conversion over X mass Holliday. I will post some pics of the install. Thought we could keep this Thread alive because of the large number of views. I would think there are many of other members considering the conversion. Thanks { Update, Started a few days ago. Posting some pics. soon }
