i would like to swap in some disc brakes on the front or rear of my 68 chevy, wondering if anyone knows if there is a newer model car at the junkyards that i can strip the parts off of. i know you can buy the kit from suppliers but im looking for the cheapest possible route. thanks guys

Unless you know of a yard that will almost give you every you need, you are better off buying new. I bought a compleat kit, spindels, drilled & slotted rotors, calipers, hoses, everything, for 229.00 with free shipping on Ebay. It all came drop shipped from CCP and looks good. Plus you have all new parts vers used junkyard parts that you have to clean and rebuild. He had 2" droped spindel kits for the same price if you wanted to go that route.

I went with Ground Up. Converted to power front discs. Replaced everything except the rear drums. New hard lines, flex hoses, master, booster, etc for @ 600.00. I'm in Hawaii, Shipping cost me my first born. Personally, I would never use used parts for brakes or steering components. You'll save money with used parts but you wont know what the parts went through throughout its life span.

The rear is cheap. I went the metric route and calipers were around $40(w/a core of some kind), Brakets were $20 and rotors were around $50. If you can't weld and have stock axles it will be a bit more, but thats what it cost me last year, from Napa. My front is actually off a 70's Nova, not counting spindles,brake lines or proportioning valve, it is about the same price, I thhink. If you use a certain Corvette Master cylinder, u don't even need a proportioning valve.

You have sinned using that word and Chevelle in the same sentence you should be severely punished. Theres probably more answers in the right forum. lol

look at Speedwaymotors
they have front disc kits for around $240, just make sure they work with the spindles you have.

I beg to differ about using junkyard parts, I did my disc brake swap from a 74 Camaro, It dropped the front end 1 inch and gave me better handling with negative camber. I did buy new calipers but those were like $15 each, and new pads @$25. The whole thing ran under 150. Yeah some time but I had a lot more time than money when I was doing the ground up on my Chevelle. I was able to get hoses made for under $15 (I knew someone). HOWEVER, had I known there was a complete kit for $250 I would have jumped on it. Take the kit for $250 if you can find it.

The word CHEAP & brakes do not belong together.

I got my front disc brakes off a 71 or 72 Monte Carlo. a friend of mine bought a parts car, I got the spindles, sheilds, calipers and rotors. Still running the same stuff today and it's stopping the car after 150+mph passes. It was really CHEAP, I bought him a six pack of Rolling Rock, and I drank 2 of them.


Leave the guy alone, he's not looking for cheap as in badly made china parts, he's looking for cheap as in affordable stock type parts.

You do not need to pay alot for good braking.

I have a question here.. I was thinking about going with wilwood brakes, but if I can save some $ to get the car back on the street, I can always do brakes next year.

Currently I have power disc on my chevelle. What is the difference in some of the brakes, liek the ones you pulled off the monte? Are they just drum brakes?

Thanks

I looked at this route a year ago, and decided to just buy a conversion kit. That let me keep my original spindles if I ever want to make it original again.

It also gave me all new stuff, that fit and works together. I never did find a complete setup in any salvage yard, and the effort to get the proper master cylinder, proportioning valve, brackets and such was more than I wanted to experiment with.

It can be done, but it will take luck in finding a donor, and many more trips to the parts store than I wanted to have.

That speedway motor kit sounds cheap !
I did a 69 and used stock drum spindles ground down to accept fatory caliper brackets...... very easy to do.
There was a thread with part #'s listed in the brake conversion section.
you can get rotors, loaded calipers and lines from local store.got caliper brackets and bolt from ground up. The current stud at top of the drum backing plate gets replaced

Currently I have power disc on my chevelle. What is the difference in some of the brakes, liek the ones you pulled off the monte? Are they just drum brakes?

Thanks


No they were disc brakes. The 72 Monte are the same disc brakes offered on the Chevelle. The setup I use were on a car with power brakes but my Chevelle is manual brakes.

Any GM midsize car from that time period is a canidate as are other later models as someone mentioned taking 74 Nova disc brakes.

thanks calculated risk, that was exactly the answer i was looking for. i drive my chevelle every day. i dont like buying new unless i have to. and that goes for my cars too. time to find a 72 monte

any 69 to 72 GM A-Body car can be a donor for disc brakes if you have drums now. I got mine from a 71 Grand Prix

The word CHEAP & brakes do not belong together.

No doubt. For the life of me, I can't figure out why anyone would cheap out on brake parts. :confused:

Anyone considering using Chinese made spindles needs to do a search on ball joint failures & the suspected cause. :eek: :sad:

68-72 thats what i was thinking, good to know. i have alot of friends in the auto salvage business and i get stuff like that for next to nothing, i just have to find it and pull it myself. thanks for the help, this site rocks

Looking to upgrade my '68 Chevelle's front brakes to disks. :confused:Ground Up has a front disc conversion kit for $595, including drilled and slotted rotors and a 9" or 11" booster. Does anyone have any experience with this product? Also, should I go with the 9" or 11" booster?
Thanks, Jim

any 69 to 72 GM A-Body car can be a donor for disc brakes if you have drums now. I got mine from a 71 Grand Prix
I got my entire front disk brakes assembly with booster from a 70 GTO at a junk yard for $75. That was awhile back.

The rear is cheap. I went the metric route and calipers were around $40(w/a core of some kind), Brakets were $20 and rotors were around $50. If you can't weld and have stock axles it will be a bit more, but thats what it cost me last year, from Napa. My front is actually off a 70's Nova, not counting spindles,brake lines or proportioning valve, it is about the same price, I thhink. If you use a certain Corvette Master cylinder, u don't even need a proportioning valve.

I ended up using a 1998-99 jeep cherokee front rotor on the rear setup and redrilled it to a 5 on 4 3/4 pattern. Cost me $80 but the deeper offset was well worth it. Rear disc for under $150 = AWESOME