[Crewdog7]

I own a 1972 Chevelle Malibu that has four wheel power drums. Does anyone have any recommendations on a Complete 11" or 12" front disc brake kit that will also fit 16" or 17" American Torque Thrust II wheels? I would also prefer 2 piston calipers or more.

[BluEyesIDFN]

Well, I don't look at the aftermarkets kits much - prices inflated too much...
But, the factory made all the parts you'll need for a really nice setup that'll work great and be easy to get brake pads and caliper rebuilds for down the line.

First, fitting 12" brakes even inside 16" rims should be easy. The factory put 12" rotors under 15" steel wheels.

Next, most people swap 11" front discs off a Nova/Chevelle/Camaro, etc with the front disc option. The brackets can be hard to find, but are available from the aftermarket. Some small modifications to the spindle are all that is nessacary, and it'll pretty muich bolt on.
But, if you look about the junkyards, Impalas and Bel-Airs back in the early 70's got 12" discs fit onto the two-piece spindles. Basically the same as the 11" discs, just a different caliper bracket. I presume the same mods to your spindle are nessacary, or just grab the whole setup out of the junkyard.
If you get all the parts yourself, this swap will cost a fraction of what the aftermarket wants for their kits. I'm doing this on my '65 Nova. Got the brackets from Classic Industries for $110/pair, rotors from Rock Auto for $100/pair, calipers from the junkyard for $24/pair, then another $25 for two caliper rebuild kits. I still have to finish modifying my spindles, and sort out the brake lines, but at worst I figure I'll have this done for under $300.

For the two piston calipers, check out a company called Stainless Steel Brakes, or SSBC. Thy sell two piston aluminum calipers that will bolt right in place of the stock GM fullsize calipers which the above swap uses and use the stock pads to boot. Saves 14# off the suspension as well. I'd reccomend getting their "super twin" calipers that have the largest pistons for more mechanical advantage, and the closest to the factory piston area.

To complete the details, you should also get a master cylinder for a car with front discs, and grab a proportioning valve out of a disc car to replace yours. I'm told the factory drum setup incorporated a check ball into the master to keep some pressure in the brake lines for faster brake engagement. Of course, this will cause discs to drag and wear out. The prop valve should only be a few bucks to free at a junkyard, and remanned masters are super-cheap.

[Olle]

Not to hi-jack the thread, but I did a brake swap on a -63 Nova a long time ago, using -69 Camaro brakes. All I had to do was to modify the lower control arms to accept a -69 Camaro ball joint (enlarged the hole, and had a friend turn a piece that I welded to the control arm). As far as I remember, the complete Camaro spindle bolted right up. Can't remember if I had to sleeve the bolts for the pitman arms, but I was able to use the Nova arms. I think the -65 Nova has the same type of suspension, so this might be an easier route to go.

[Deadcarny]

I put 12" discs on my 72. the cheapest way I found is to buy a 98+ 4th gen front brake set up and use it. you will have to manufacture or buy brackets to locate the Basket and Caliper out off the spindle, and have the spindle and hub cut to make it fit. it is all easy. basically, you could buy the brake kit for $150, buy the brackets for $60, then whatever the machine shop charges for the machine work (or if you can do it yourself), and whatever the Master cylidercost (mine was $58 for 4 wheel discs).
I already had the 4 wheel disc brakes off a 98+ 4th gen when I got the chevelle, so I chose this route. It was definately a lot cheaper than the other 'kits' out there.

[tmino]

I put the Baer serious sreet pakage on my 69 el camino. it fits my 16" torque thrust II perfect. the kit was $900 and came with all the necessary harware, calipers, drilled and slotted rotors as well as new master cylinder. the kit also bolts up to the stock drum spindle

[pdq67]

Please look up David Pozzi's great site that you get to through his sig. over at Team Camaro in the Brakes and Suspension section b/c I think he has a template posted that you can use to make a homemade bracket to mount the C4 stuff on the front of your cars too just like on our First Gen. cars

Plus, my "pdqCBB", 13" front set-up IS the cheapest there is to mount 13" disc's on forged spindle cars, IMHO!!!

BUT you gotta run a 17" rim as well as make the bracket!!

pdq67

[Deadcarny]

Originally Posted by pdq67

Plus, my "pdqCBB", 13" front set-up IS the cheapest there is to mount 13" disc's on forged spindle cars, IMHO!!!

Out of curiosity, what set up are you using? I was thinking of getting some 13" C5 Rotors and fabbing a bracket to move my caliper out to accomidate it (the c5 calipers and late 4th gen f bodies use the same caliper design). If you already have a template for this it would be wonderful!