Has anyone upgraded their 10/12 bolt rear ends to Wilwood Heavy Duty Rear Disc Brakes? Pro's or con's? What fittings, brake lines and hoses, adapters, etc did you use? Thanks for the input!! Tom Rix
Tom, Jim Gibson has them I think, on his 12 bolt in his 67'. I will steer him this way for ya. Only issue I have heard is that the can rust tight after a wash job, and no emergancy brake provisions. I will help him this direction.............
Hey Tom, I have the Mark Williams heavy duty stuff on my 12 bolt ( which is the Wildwood rebadged) .I have Lamb ends but that only changes the caliper brackets. I have the street version but I did have to fabricate a bracket for the e brake cables. This was also one of he last sets with the separate brake puck for the emegency brake. So -- one mechanical caliper and one hydraulic caliper each side. Now the kit comes with a set of internal brake shoes that grab the inside of the rotor like a brake drum. I am told a braket has to be fabbed for that system also. I used aftermarket cables from Lokar. They have a kit specific for the MW/Wildwood set up but again does not include any bracket to keep the cable housing stationary at the rearend. I fabbed brake lines for the rear but that was straightforward. My Skylark stops extremly well. I have an adjustable prop valve and I have the brakes just on the edge of locking up in the rear as advised by a road race buddy. I have used pretty much all of the aftermarket manufacturers products for either my projects or customer stuff and I would have to say that I am the most happy with the Wildwood product for fit finish and quality. I hope this helps. George in DC
brakes I have the four piston ventilated disks on the rear of the race car. All I can say is: 3600 pounds, 145 mph, one foot on the pedal with fair pressure and you're stopped by the first turn-off on most tracks. (Not even close with the drums on the rear :jd: ) Talk to Wilwood about your set-up, mine is installed (plumbed) unlike anything you might imagine. It's real simple and makes perfect sense when they explain it, which I could, but, you will be miles ahead listening to them explain it. Whomever you decide to buy from, use their tech staff to help. They know a whole lot more about brakes than most. As far as fittings, they should be able to set you up with most of what you need. Jim
Jim I would venture a guess that your brake line to the rear goes to one wheel,Then a "T" with hard line to the other side and braided from the frame to the calipers? That's how mine is........Can't stand the brake lines running/attached along the housing........
brake lines Gary: That is how I have it, but, that's not exactly what I meant. The guys at Wilwood had me run the lines "backward" to the master cylinder (rear brakes to the front and front to rear) and put the proportioning valve in the front brakes to reduce the front brake pressure even more. In essence this gives the bigger rear tires more braking than the front. Not perfect, but, WOW what a difference in confidence I have in the brakes! Jim
Jim what master cylinder do you run is 1 1/16 bore size. I have wilwoods on all 4 corners. I have alot of frontbrake but no rear. I have a stock GM 70 Manual disk brake mastercylinder. I took out the stock Residual brake vavle it was putting alot of drag on the front brakes when i went to disc in the back. i couldnt turn the front wheels very eazy on the lift in the air by hand no problem when i had drums in the back when i went to disc i couldnt so i removied the residual vavle. So if i flip the brake lines on the mastercylinder i will get more rear braking. and then put a proportioning vavle to decrease more pressure of the front brakes. How do you think % wise it is setup 30% front 70% rear. Thanks Jim or what does John always say Later Jim Bowe
Percentage Yeah, Jeff: That is pretty much the deal. The master cylinders are set up to provide a bigger percentage of pressure to the front brakes (initially anyway, I don't know that it stays that way?? hydraulics and all). But, with the proportioning valve in the front it will lower the pressure and make the rears work harder. Good luck, call me if you have questions. Jim PS I think it's 1-1/16"
Jeff, How did you take out the stock residual brake valve. Please explain. I have Wilwood fronts and drum rears. My fronts have ALWAYS had a lot of drag. Thanks.
hi tom, i have 4pistion willwoods ,with e brake on rear,all around on my skylark with a strange master[now the strange is backwards from the willwood master in that the frt is the frt and the back is the back,willwood is opposite frt is rear and back is frt] and willwood prop valve,and line lock i used stock lines in rear they went right on with fittings 3/8 pipe to 5/16ths brake line in frt i get adapter from steel line at braket to braided line,really shouldnt be a problem just if you get ebrake kit you need rear cables from lockar ,everthing else is in kit :3gears: bob
Did you guys try the 1 1/8 bore master cylinders from the 60's corvettes? You can also try the big bore master's from the 60's land yachts and they will do the trick as far as giving you more response with less pedal pressure and more fluid volume. They all were duel well. mikey
