I am currently working on a '70 Chevelle SS and would like to know if there is anyone with some experience with the expensive disc bake upgrades. I currently have stock discs in the front and stock drums in the rear. And also is it pointless to upgrade the front and not to convert the back to discs also. Thank You

It is nice to have disk brakes all around but if you are not racing then a disk front/drum rear is plenty safe. It is not that expensive to change the front's over and it can be done for less than $300.00 if you can hunt down a compatible set from a donor car. CPP at 1-800-522-5004 has front kits that are new starting at $499.00.

It is not that expensive to change the front's over and it can be done for less than $300.00 if you can hunt down a compatible set from a donor car. CPP at 1-800-522-5004 has front kits that are new starting at $499.00.
I think Redrum was thinking you didn't already have discs, or wanted to convert over to bigger factory discs... Not converting over to high-dollar brakes...

IMO, having disc brakes on the front is a good thing for an older car such as a Chevelle, but the type of system you choose will depend on your intended use of the vehicle...

High dollar braking systems look nice, and will stop the car better than the factory stuff, but then you also (usually) need bigger wheels and tires that also add to the cost...

If you are going to seriously race the car (autocross or roadrace), or drive really crazy on the street and maybe some mountain roads, then you might want to spend the money on the high dollar stuff...

Also, if you want the "look" that the big brakes/big wheels provides (so popular today), then they might be a good choice...

Also remember that the brakes also act with the suspension, wheels and tires... If you are planning on spending $$$ on big brakes, then you should also spend $$$ on a good suspension and quality tires...

If you are on a budget, but want a little more braking, and maybe some handling improvements to you, you can upgrade to the B-body Tall spindle and 12" brakes up front (and still use most 15" wheels).

Your stock discs should be fine for most spirited driving.

Rear discs are also a personal preferrence. There will be an improvement, but you need to look at YOUR intentions for the car...

Either etup should give you better braking, but your current setup should be fine for most street driving, and some light racing...

Personally, I do think its pointless to use a high dollar set on the front, but keep the rear drums...

I dont see any horrible repercussions in keeping the drums out back and doing a 1LE conversion up front (although as Tony points out going to BAER, I would just do all four corners and save the work later on , plus you would save on shipping getting it all at once). This is what I am doing until I can afford to go to 4 wheel BAER if I so decide. I am going to pull some 11 inch. drums from the yard, have them turned and then drilled / vented and then paint them. Then using Praisy Dyno Brake spring kit and hardware.

PS - I plan to drive the hell out of it once its done as I am on a full tilt budget oriented pro-touring mission. Going to use a hydroboost as well and I bet this sucker stops like a champ. Depending on my satisfaction level I may not even go to BAER or 4 wheel discs. With the vented drums and praise dyno brake hardware I am figuring I will be pretty damn close to 4 wheel discs anyway. With the drums drilled and vented I wont have to deal with the brake fade and water issues common in drum apps. Its oddball but I will get by alot cheaper for the time being and still have far better then stock braking.

Just my plan, another option and lowly .02

Tony answered the question pretty well. My 69 El Camino is going to be a full tilt protourer so it has serious suspension components to go along with its big tire & wheel combo. Right now,it has stock 11" disc brakes on the front and Baer 12" discs on the rear. It stops better than any A-body I've ever built and should be really something when I get the new 13" Baer's on the front.

My 69 El Camino is going to be a full tilt protourer so it has serious suspension components to go along with its big tire & wheel combo. Right now,it has stock 11" disc brakes on the front and Baer 12" discs on the rear. It stops better than any A-body I've ever built and should be really something when I get the new 13" Baer's on the front.
Ahhh, to have the money to go pro-touring... Now where can I hide the wife's body??? :D

My stock disc/drum with good pads worked great for what I consider "everyday" driving and situations, i.e. normal stopping with occaional panic stops. With the right pads, more than enough braking power is available when it comes to slowing rapidly from "legal" speeds, say 80 mph and below. However during some of my more "spirited" driving down windy roads or when trying to stop rapidly from speeds above 80mph, fade would set in bring an end to the fun. Since I often go barreling down twisty roads, I decided to upgrade from the stock setup.

If you do a lot of heavy repeated braking or want to be able to quickly stop from high speeds without fade, then yes, I feel an aftermarket setup is well worth the money. If all you do is drive normally and maybe occasionally "run it up" and then haul it back down to legal speeds maybe once or twice during a drive (i.e. not subjecting the brake system to repeated heavy use such as diving into corner after corner) then a stock setup is plenty up to the task given good pads.

However, even if you drive normally, it is very comforting to know you have brakes up to almost any task imagineable. I have reached the level of "stupid powerful" braking with my car. If I wanted to, I think I could have my seatbelts leave bruises. Wanna go into a heavy braking induced drift at 150mph? Not a problem. Don't ask how I found that out. Major pucker factor on that one. :eek:

Troy

I agree with the other's comments, and I've upgraded my SS to the praise dyno brake system. My main concern was stopping without fade and stopping as quickly as I had to without totally modifying the car. I have the same size rotors up front, and did not change to disks in back.

I haven't tested them yet for really heavy stopping power or fade - but overall the car definitely stops better than it used to. I'll wait until I get more miles on them to put them to a real test.

P.S. flushing all that old fluid out was a plus, and I installed new lines - based on the color and consistency of my old fluid, the insides of the old lines were likely shot. I'd hate to press hard on the binders only to have a line burst on me!

Originally posted by Gokou:
However, even if you drive normally, it is very comforting to know you have brakes up to almost any task imagineable. I have reached the level of "stupid powerful" braking with my car. If I wanted to, I think I could have my seatbelts leave bruises. Wanna go into a heavy braking induced drift at 150mph? Not a problem. Don't ask how I found that out. Major pucker factor on that one. :eek:
Troy
Couldn't have said it better,myself. Good brakes are like good guns;always better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them.
:D