rear disc breaks for my 87 442

[tt442]

Now that I have my wheels and tires on order and being shipped Im thinking of my next step of this project. Just checking what is the easiest way to convert the rear brakes of my 87 442 to discs? What all will I need to make it work?

 

[nycutlass]

what rear do you have ? if its gm rear i can hook you up with a set of rebuildable caddy rear disk calipers with e-brake.there is a guy on ebay selling brakets for $100.00 to do the swap.then u will need rotors and manual proportioning valve for the rear line .

 

[FE3X CLONE]

http://www.flynbye.com/catalog/c7_p1.html

There ya go. And you get a more modern caliper design as well.

 

[axisg]

LS1 gets my vote. Parking brake is a little harder to set up but I never use mine anyways.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LS1-Rear ... ccessories

 

[dogsht]

I love upgrading these cars but food for thought. If 80% of our stoping power comes from the front wheels would you ever even be able to tell you made an improvement to the rear brakes? The improvement in like sized discs over drums is that with repeated hard use like in closed corse racing is that the disks don't suffer from brake as bad because they disapate heat better. So with one hard stop it would make almost no difference in changing the rear brakes to disks. I'm mean if you are going to track race it or just have money to burn yea. But if not maybe your upgrade dollars could be spent better elsewhere.

Front brakes on the other hand hell yes. Biggest you can fit/afford and an immediate and dramatic improvement. If you do that you need an adjustable proportioning valve for the rears and you can still do bang for the buck mods to the rears like stronger S-10 wheel cylinders that drop right in and useing both long soft shoes and if you have them or can pick good ones up cheap at a salvage yard etc aluminum drums, as they disapate heat better than the heavier steel ones.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Vern is right. A properly working rear drum brake is going to work just as well as a set of disc brakes in 90% of the kind of driving you may do.

As he said, where disc brakes come into play is their ability to fight brake fade and stay cooler during repeated stops.

Something else to keep in mind. Your brakes are only going to be as good as the tires you have. That goes both for the construction and the size. It doesn't matter how hard your calipers/pads can clamp down on the rotor if the tires don't have enough traction to use it.

 

[tt442]

Thanks guys for the comments! Honestly the car stops just fine as I only have the little 307 180hp. I want the disks bc I hate being able to see a ugly old drum sitting behind some brand new fresh alum wheels. Looks is the only real reason I want the disks. I know some will say if it aint broke don't fix it but if looks didnt matter we wouldnt work on our cars so much

 

[MR442]

I have read some S10 have the same type rear but with disc brakes . I'm checking into it . I want stock look when done .

Get set of Alum drums and have polished . To properly take care rims need to take them off and clean back could polish drums at same time .

Or get new Steel drums and paint body color . My car is all painted black under it with gold drums .

 

[85GPLef41]

I have read some S10 have the same type rear but with disc brakes . I'm checking into it . I want stock look when done .

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I thought the S10's with rear discs had the 4 bolt square flange compared to the G body 3 bolt flange? Does any of the rear factory disc brake upgrades have a functioning parking brake? I am trying to find a way to make the C5 rear brakes fully function on my 8.5. I talked to a dude from Kore3 a whike back and he stated that they were working on a bracket/kit that would allow the park brake to function. Told me they post it on the website but i haven't seen it. I may just go without and go with the Flynbye brackets.. 😀

 

[86 maroon gp 2+2]

mr442 is correct. I had painted my new drums after having to redo all the springs, shoes, etc with high temp engine paint. If the drum ever got to hot I wouldn't be worried thats what I think you should to as well, although I did paint mine a normal red just like all the hot rods hehe :lol: