I picked up my front disk brakes off a 70 and now I’m onto the rear disk brakes on 68.
I have been doing some research on the different rear brake combinations and some require a little machining of the caliper or making a special bracket than others. I’m running 15” by 8” rims on the rear.

(1)What set-up is the most straight forward to convert my rear drums to disks brakes and still maintain a parking brake?

I know I could buy new, but it seem like I could save myself little money by picking up a used set from the junkyard and rebuilding them. I have seen some people selling pre-made brackets that seem to make this job easy and a bolt up solution.

(2)What do you guys think about going this route?

(3)What bracket manufacture would you guys recommend using?

(4) What would be an estimate of what it will cost me to do the rear conversion?


Thanks in advance for the help.
ddoud

I used the custom made brackets. I bought them from "tlowe" on this site for about $75.

With them I used:
80 camaro REAR rotors
85 camaro FRONT calipers
85 camaro FRONT brake hoses
68 corvette NON-POWER 4-wheel disc master cyl
Willwood adjustable Proportioning valve

I think I had about $350 total in the whole setup. For a little extra you can use caddy seville rear calipers which have E-brake. My car has an Auto, so I just got the camaro fronts.

I'm in the middle of a rear disc swap also. I got the rear disc set-up off of a 1982 Toronado (I think 79-85 Toronado, Rivera, Eldorado will work). I had to machine the axle flange down to 5.8" to fit inside and rotor,and drill new holes in the caliper mounting bracket. It mounts up nice and it looks like the parking brakes will work. I got most of the info searching here. I plan on getting the corvette master cylinder for 4 wheel disc brakes and a proportioning valve for the rear. I know some are trying 98+ s-10 rear disks, but I couldn't find any. Hope this helps
Steve

For under $600 you can buy a ready to bolt on kit that makes use of early '80's Caddy parts and includes special made brackets (requiring no mods to the axle housing) and parking brake cables! Contact Hinshaw Chevelles in North Carolina, talk to James. The only thing the kit does not include are the hard lines (use your existing lines) and a proportioning valve which you can buy lots of places, I got one from Speedway Motors for $33 and it's the same one Wilwood sells for much more.

BTW, this kit nets 11 inch rear discs, same as the stock front 69-72 discs. Since the fronts do most of the work anyway, having these large discs in back would allow for future front disc size upgrades without also having to upgrade the rear size at the same time.

Here's what they look like installed (I haven't installed the axles and rotors yet):

http://www.geocities.com/tudorwagon1965/chassispage.html

how about the rear disc brakes off a newer 2wd S10- like a 2002 Xtreme or something?
you can piece an all new setup together for maybe $500.

Take a look at my webpage for ideas on the rear discs.

The caddy rear disc system isn't the greatest due to the e-brake mechanism (really just a power screw design) as with age it can sieze up and is how the pistons actually adjust themselves (unlike your front brake calipers which self adjusts). Plus the calipers are very expensive even in rebuilt condition.

There are systems out there for cheap...you just have to know the GM parts bin!

Good luck,
Joe

Originally posted by 72SSAbody:
Take a look at my webpage for ideas on the rear discs.

The caddy rear disc system isn't the greatest due to the e-brake mechanism (really just a power screw design) as with age it can sieze up and is how the pistons actually adjust themselves (unlike your front brake calipers which self adjusts). Plus the calipers are very expensive even in rebuilt condition.

There are systems out there for cheap...you just have to know the GM parts bin!

Good luck,
Joe My '85 Toyota MR2 uses a similar rear caliper. After nearly 20 years and 252,000 miles I've only had one problem with the rear calipers (they are the originals) in that the parking brake cables seized up and had to be replaced. The calipers themselves have always worked fine.

Do you know if anyone makes a Caddy-style caliper that is self adjusting thus avoiding it's supposed one weak point?

here is what i did.
http://home.comcast.net/~petelohr/einstyn1/einstyn-08.htm