Standard disclaimer (for all that will read) – This worked for me. Make damn sure your brakes work and have no leaks before hitting the streets. If you screw something up you might not have brakes which means no stopping and I will not be held accountable for your mistakes.
Tim’s budget 4 wheel disc brake conversion for a 67 Camaro with 4 wheel drums.
Front ~ 69 Camaro
Parts list
* = new parts from Schucks Auto Parts unless noted, check
prices at partsamerica.com Checkers, Schucks and Kragan as they will match the
internet price and have a 5% price beat guarantee, so shop around. I know this
because I have been working at Schucks for 10 years in April 06. I shopped
around and was able to find some prices better than my employee discount with
this guarantee and from partsamerica.com.
*69 Camaro rotors
*69 Calipers
*69 Pads
*69 brake hoses (disc brake)
*Banjo bolts (make sure they are drilled correctly…don’t ask)
*New seals
*69 Camaro single piston caliper brackets (bought on EBAY cheap)
*Two upper caliper bracket bolts 5/8” x 18 (bought from Fastenal)
Re-used my original bearings (very low miles)
67 Drum brake spindles
Note: For the drum brake spindle the top mounting boss needs to be milled down .610” by a machine shop. You can use/get disc brake spindles and these will not need to be modified to accept the caliper bracket but can be expensive.
Assembly is straightforward. Calipers will be mounted to the rear with the bleeder straight up.
I was careful not to disturb the position of the steering arm to the tie rod ends during disassembly. If you don’t twist the tie rods in the sleeves you should not have to re-align the front end unless of course you are re-doing them. This is a good time to check your ball joints and your tie rod ends. I did not remove my front springs or shocks. If you place a jack under the lower control arm you will have enough weight to keep the spring in place. Place a jackstand under the control arm so you can remove the jack to do the other side. After jacking the other side, put a jackstand under the other side too. You may need a ball joint fork to remove the spindle from the control arms. If you do, you will most likely need to replace the ball joints.
Once you have your spindle machined, re-attach to the upper and lower control arms. Install your caliper bracket. 5/8 x 18 bolt will go on top. The original bolt is 5/8"x18x ¾. You will not find it at Lowe’s or Home Depot because it is a big bolt with fine thread. This is an odd size. Ricks First Generation, Year One and Classic Industries want to sell these bolts for $16 and then charge $12 for shipping and handling. I paid $2.73 for two 1" long zinc coated bolts at Fastenal. I used my bench grinder to shave them down enough to not bottom out in the hole with the bracket mounted. I had more than enough threads in the mounting hole without cutting more into the spindle.
For the bottom of the spindle, the bracket will attach to the rear. Brackets should be marked left and right. I re-used the mounting hardware from the drum brake backing plate to the spindle, through to the steering arm. I did not use a disc brake backing plate. I don’t drive my car unless it has 0% chance of rain.
Grease up your wheel bearings and place them in the rotor/hub assembly. Don’t forget to get a new seal. I was able to re-use my bearings but the seal is usually destroyed when you removed it from the drum brake hub assembly. I don’t recommend you reuse your old bearings but mine were installed not to long ago and I was confident they were still good. Don’t forget to clean off the rotor with a good brake-cleaner.
Install your pads in the caliper and install on your bracket over the rotor. I know most of you know how to do this but some don’t.
I used my existing brake lines I installed a few years ago, they still look new. I kept the same location for connection to the brake hose. For a car originally optioned with disc brakes the hose connects to the hard line in a different location than the side of the frame like my 67. I put a slight twist in the hose to ensure no rubbing on the tire or frame. If your hose comes in contact with tire at any time you will have a brake failure at some time.
Rear ~ 84 Olds Toronado
Donor cars are plentiful. These cars all have 10 1/2 inch rear disc and 5 on 4 3/4 bolt pattern.
80-85 Cadillac
79-85 Cadillac Eldorado, Olds Toronado and Buick
I don’t believe rear disc brakes were a standard option on these cars but I found my donor car at a local pull and save wrecking yard (you pull it yourself). I had a choice from 5-6 other donor cars all Cadillacs. The Toronado already had the tires off making it even easier. Almost all the Cadillacs had the hubcaps still on…..problem comes up if you do not have the lock key for the Cadillac hubcaps, they are a PITA to get off without the key. These disc brake setups are readily available.
These brakes went on a 75 Nova 8.5” rear end I have in my 67 Camaro.
Everything was taken from the donor car except the rotors
Parts list
Caliper brackets
Caliper and all hardware
2 Drivers side emergency brake cables
I pulled one from one of the Cadillacs
*Rotors
10 longer than stock wheel studs (Dorman # 610-259.1)
Caliper brackets – The mounting holes will need to be closed up. I had a friend with a wire feed welder weld these 4 holes closed. I re-drilled the 4 mounting holes on a drill press to match the backing plate mounts on the axle housing for the 8.5” rear I have from a 75 Nova that I installed in my Camaro. I think the flange is the same on the 8.2 ten bolt and the 12 bolt axle. Either way, drill for the rear end you have. I used the drum backing plate as a template and used a piece of cardboard behind the plate and spray painted the mounting hole pattern on to the cardboard. Drill slightly larger than 3/8". Cleaned them up with sandblaster and painted semi gloss black. Think about this before you drill. The mounting location bolt holes are not symmetrical. Both calipers for the 67 should be mounted to the rear, (requires left and right calipers) brackets will be drilled opposite each other. The brackets are symmetrical once the bolt holes are welded closed so it does not mater which one is drilled for which side, just make sure they are a mirror image i.e. exact opposites.
I am not sure if this will work for the 68-9, I am not sure if you will have enough room to mount both calipers to the rear.
My theory for the 68-9, you have
staggered shocks, the brackets should be drilled the same because the left side
will require the caliper to be mounted towards the front and you will need two
right side calipers so you can keep the bleed valve on the caliper at the top.
You can't bleed the air out of the system if the bleeder is at the bottom.
Calipers - (from the Olds) these looked to be in good condition with no leaks. I just cleaned them up and painted them with a cast iron colored spray for that cast look. I used my existing lines I just put on the Nova rear a few months ago. I did not use a hose to the calipers as others have done. I had enough of the hard line to put a u-shaped bend prior to mounting location on the caliper for caliper movement.
Rotors - Bought at Schucks (84 Olds Toronado same as the other donor cars)
You will need to pull the axles. This is pretty easy. Ask if you have never done this before. In a nutshell, remove all your drum brake equipment. Remove the differential cover. Unbolt the pinion shaft retaining bolt in the differential; let the pinion shaft slide out and remove the c-clips on the ends of the axles. Pull your axles out. Be careful not to damage any of the splines on the axle end.
If you are using a stock length wheel stud you will need to replace them with longer studs. Dorman part # 610-259.1 worked great for me. Remove the wheel studs with a quick whack of a heavy hammer. You are not trying to damage anything, just knock them out. To install the longer studs you should use a press. There are other ways to do this but this is what I felt comfortable with.
The wheel flange (where tire mounts) needs to be turned down by a machine shop, just enough to fit into the rear rotor. It’s not much.
You will have to have the axles out to mount the caliper brackets. I re-used the hardware from the drum brake plate to axle housing flange. Re-install axles and fill the differential housing with gear lube.
Place the rotor over the axle flange and put two or three lug nuts on it to keep it tight to the flange. Mount your caliper assembly (bleeders go up). It’s almost like a standard brake job. Almost because when you push the piston back into the caliper you can not use a C-clamp. Use a caliper piston press. This fits into the caliper where the brake pads would normally be. You will have to remove the emergency brake lever. One nut and it should come right off. As you screw the press in, it re-sets the piston by using the other inner side of the caliper as its resistance. As you push the piston in you will have to turn the e-brake extension towards the rear as it would be mounted. This is where the e-brake lever attaches too. The calipers are opposites and the e-brake ratchets to the front on both sides as it is mounted. When I mocked-up this system on the rear end it did not need any spacers to move the bracket out. It was a perfect fit in terms of spacing. The caliper assembly does move in and out when it is mounted to the bracket.
Once the caliper is mounted to the bracket and over the rotor, attach your brake lines.
I turned the brass brake line attachment fitting to allow me to use my original brake lines. I had to grind the lip off this attachment fitting on my bench grinder so it would sit flush. Realize that you will probably have to have the caliper sitting in front of you to understand what the heck I am talking about. This attachment uses a banjo bolt to mount to the caliper. Put a u-bend on any hard lines prior to the caliper to allow the caliper to move. This is how the Toronado was set up. Some conversions use a standard brake hose from the hard line. I do not have any of that information.
To adjust the parking brake provision on the caliper, turn the e-brake extension in a forward direction until it will not move any more. Force is not needed but make sure it is tight and re-install the lever and lock it in place with the nut. You should be able to feel the resistance increase as the lever is pulled forward. The lever should stop moving forward well before it hits the front stop and should rest easily on the back stop when it is at rest. If the lever moves easily all the way to the front stop then you will have to tighten up the nut more than you had it.
Hydraulics ~ I used a power brake configuration
Parts list
*Brake Booster is a standard 69 Z28 application I bought from Schucks. It is a
remanufactured Bendix unit.
*Master cylinder is a remanufactured unit for a 69 Corvette with power brakes I bought at Schucks. This master cylinder is also listed by Raybestos to be a replacement part for the Camaro, I think possibly for the JL8 setup in 69?
This MC/Booster combo works as the rods used on both cars are the same. This is very important. Different length rod requirements between the booster and the MC may mean no brakes!!
*Adjustable proportioning valve.
I used the original brake distribution block for my manual 4 wheel drum 67 Camaro.
NOTE: If you already have front disc brakes and are converting from the rear drums, I think you will need the disc/disc MC from the Corvette, adjustable proportioning valve for the rear brakes and must remove the square valve from under the drivers side floorboards attached to the subframe if you have one.
To take the manual brake master cylinder out of the car I had to remove the clutch pedal assembly. The pin for the master cylinder rod is up into the mounting bracket for the brake pedal and had to be dropped for removal. This assembly just slides out of the mounting bracket towards the left, watch your plastic bushings. Replace if needed. By sliding this out it dropped the brake pedal so I could remove the pin holding the rod for the MC. I am not sure about an automatic transmission car. The manual MC is mounted flush/straight against the firewall, the power brake booster will sit at an angle. You will have two clevis attachment holes on the brake pedal assembly. The upper is for a manual brake car and the lower is for a power assist car. The hole for the power assist was smaller in diameter than the hole for the manual and had to be drilled out a little so the pin would go through. I am not sure what the difference is for the clevis in a manual brake car and one that has power assist.
Install the booster. With the manual setup converted to power, the brake pedal will sit lower. I defeated this by using a piece of ready rod (bolt with no ends…) screwed into the clevis, flush with the exit hole , and then about a ¾” or 1” barrel nut (long nut, I had to grind a little off) screwed halfway on to the ready rod, flush against the other side of the clevis, and then the rod from the booster screwed into the barrel nut. This brought the brake pedal up even with my clutch pedal. Will it matter on an automatic trans car?
Remember the booster is at an angle and you want the rod to go into the booster straight so use the lower hole. You will need to find a boot for the end of the booster where it comes through the firewall. I used one from a newer car; it did not fit properly but serves the purpose of keeping contaminants out of the booster.
Make sure to bench bleed the Master Cylinder in a level position. You can not bench bleed it in the car. You will not be able to get all the air out with the angle it mounts at. I have heard of people jacking the back end of the car up until the MC was level. I don’t recommend that. They would have had to jack the back of the car up way to much for me to be comfortable with jumping in and out checking for bubbles.
Once the MC is mounted to the booster I used the original
bracket for the distribution block. I had enough line from my manual brake
setup to connect to the block. `I am using an adjustable proportioning valve
just aft of the rear brake line outlet. The one I have is from SSBC and bought
locally at a High Performance parts place for $47. The fittings supplied with
the valve are 3/16 (pipe fitting to brake fitting) and are a different size
than the rear brake lines I have. The line out for the rear on the dist. block
is ¼”. You can either get two adapters to go from the female 3/16 on the valve
or get the right fitting to go into the valve and attach to the ¼” line. I got
new fittings for the valve and an 8” long ¼” brake line from
You will also need to remove the square valve attached to the sub-frame under the driver’s seat. If you do not remove this valve I read that it will not allow the pressure to bleed off of the rear brakes to disengage the caliper. I wasn’t going to burn up a set of brakes and rotors to find out if this was true.
E-Brake cables ~
I used two left side cables, one from the donor car and one off of a Cadillac that was right next to it. I cut the cable where they put the ball on the forward end of the cable. I removed the cable from the sheathing. Then I measured the sheathing out under my Camaro with the caliper end in the cable bracket on the caliper. You will want to cut the sheathing with enough that when it sits in the forward cable bracket. You should have a bend in the sheathing such that the cable housing is trying to straighten itself out through the mounting tabs. Cutting this sheathing is pretty tough on a hack saw. I used my bench grinder. I pulled/twisted the end of the sheathing I had cut off and hammered it on to the end of the one I cut. I put the sheathing in a vice and used a deep socket over the fitting and hammered it on to the sheathing. This worked great although the fitting did split. If this worries you just put a hose clamp around it. The fittings will still fit tight and will not fall off when it’s installed in the cable hold brackets. Then I slid the cable back up through the sheathing. I did this for both sides. 68-9 will probably be a little different because of the staggered calipers. Install the cable back into the mounting tabs on the calipers, put the e-brake return springs back on and connect the cable to the e-brake lever on the caliper. Then run the cable into the mounting tabs located on the rear frame rails. If you cut the sheathing right, it will have a bend that will force itself into the tab. I did not lock it down at the tab yet and may not. Run the cables up to where the stock stuff was. Go through the bracket and adjuster from the front brake cable. The drivers side cable from the caliper goes through the little bracket that is screwed on to the front cable. This is your tension adjuster for the e-brake system. The passenger side cable comes up from the caliper to the bracket that is held in place with the rod that comes from the passenger side of the subframe. Then both cables cross under the driveshaft and exhaust. Pull the cables tight by hand between the rod and the adjustment bracket and use a couple of cable locks to lock the cables together. I found these cable locks (for lack of a better name right now) at a hardware store and they are used to lock two cables together. They are a split bolt with a nut on the end. Slide both ends of the cable through the split bolt and tighten with the nut. I used two of these. Do not pull the cables so tight that the cable is actuating the brakes but just enough to allow you to adjust with the adjuster. Cut off the extra cable only after you have made your adjustments. Once you cut, that’s it you can’t make the cable longer if you screw it up. I had the adjustment nut on the rod on the front brake cable about a ½ inch up on the adjustment rod and pulled the cables together and locked them tight. By time the adjustment nut was about ¾ the way up the rod I had emergency brakes when I set the e-brake lever.
Bleed your lines and calipers of air and any old fluid. Flush them until the fluid is clear. Start at the left rear, right rear, right front and finally the left front.
Test your brakes and adjust the e brakes as needed. Adjust the proportioning valve per the manufacturer recommendations. SSBC recommends setting the valve at half and increasing and decreasing to achieve equal stopping by the front and the rear.
I think this about sums it up for my install. My car feels like it stops in half the distance if not better than my drum brakes.
Note: I had tossed around the idea to use the bigger brakes from a 77 Cadillac Fleetwood (with disc brake rear). The calipers would work but the rotors would have to be changed out for a set from a 78-80 Trans Am with the WS6 package (rear disc brakes). The rotors are the same dimensions but the T/A has a 5 on 4 ¾ lug pattern instead of the Cadillac’s 5 on 5. I think the problem is that you would have a very big piston diameter with the calipers on this setup. You might not get the brake bias you need for the Camaro because of the size but may be able to adjust with an adjustable proportioning valve.
Here are some other sites that brake conversions are talked about. I recommend visiting each of these sites and educate yourself on basic brake setup before attempting to convert.
http://www.pozziracing.com/first_gen_suspension.htm
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/6765/page11.html
http://www.geocities.com/torkerscamaro/torker.html
http://buickperformance.com/reardisc.htm
http://www.allchevynova.com/nova/discbrake.html
http://www.oldsmobility.com/discbrakes.htm