Okay. I've had my Chevelle for about a month now, and I am still looking to replace the front drum brakes with power disc brakes. The main problem is the parts (finding them).
Here's my setup:
- 1969 Chevelle
- Tire:
195-75R14 Tires
26" wide (diameter across rims)
- Wheel Wells:
31" wide (diameter across rims)
18" deep (from outside to towards the engine)
4" tall (above the current tire (which makes them 30" tall))
Now I have a list of brakes that will fit this setup (via a post like
http://www.chevelles.com/forum/Archives/Archive-000002/HTML/20000212-7-000964.html), but even these setups are kind of hard to find up here.
Here's a couple of questions that I have about this whole ordeal (these questions are quite varied, so please bear with the hopping around):
1) I've read somewhere that you can simply machine 3/4" of metal off of the old spindle (where it used to originally hold the drum setup), so that it can fit the caliper mounting bracket for the new disc brakes..thus saving the need to buy new disc-brake-ready spindles. Is this correct? Has anyone tried this? Is there any information (i.e. a website with pictures) out there of this being done successfully?
2) I seem to have a weird setup for my front end. I went to a car show this weekend, and checked out all the Chevelles' tires (the owners must of thought I was mad, when all I would look at on these awesome cars was the wheel info). It seems that everyone runs 15" rims. Would it be easier to fit disc brakes onto a 15" rim? Would this mean that I would be able to fit the 12" rotors off a say a B-body (like an Impala), on a 15" rim, instead of only being limited to the 10.75" rotors that are standard Chevelle size (thus increasing the list of available donor cars)? If I run a taller rim, then I would need a smaller aspect ratio on the tire (i.e. less than 75) so it would still fit in the wheel well...what size tires do you guys with 15" wheels run?
3) Assuming that the 12" B-body rotors would fit onto a 15" rim (skip this question if the answer to the last question in #2 is no), would taller spindles be needed to accomidate the larger rotor size... I'm thinking that taller spindles would still be needed, since the caliper would sit higher (more above the ground) on a taller disc and the mounting brackets couldn't be mounted on the standard Chevelle spindle (since the hole on the spindle would be lower than the bracket and not line up). If standard Chevelle spindles wouldn't cut it, I know that I can use taller spindles with my A-frames (i.e. with one of the Hotchkis/others ball joint kits), but would another option be to replace the entire A-frames/spring/front-end from a car that has the taller spindle setup (like an Impala or a Firebird)?
4) The main problem I'm having with this whole setup is one part. Assuming I can use my original spindles (i.e. doing what was mentioned in #1), then we can get all of the other parts for 14" rims, except for the caliper mounting brackets. These are all included in the conversion kits, but those cost like $900US, which translates to around $1800CDN after all is said and done. No parts stores carry them, because they are not a part that wears out. I can buy the spinles seperately from Master Power Brakes for about $200US ($400CDN), but even with that, it would approach about $1000CDN for the complete setup. Since this is the only part I need, could I pick these off of any 64-72 midsize Chevy that has 14" rims (and thus the same size rotor as mine would have)? What about newer cars, would their caliper brackets be the same? Or alternatively, does anyone know any parts dealers that would sell these brackets in Canada (I would save a lot on shipping, exchange, and duty)?
Thanks for any information. I'm just really kinda confused about what direction I should be taking. Schools about to start again for me, and I won't have lots of extra money, so I'd like to get this done as cheap as possible...that's why I'm trying to do all my research ahead of time and go for the best setup. Thanks for reading, as I tend to sort of babble on. Any responses would be great (even if you know an answer to one of the questions).
- Matt
'69 Chevelle
[This message has been edited by Matt73 (edited 08-13-2001).]
