Improving 2nd gen brakes

[G20BlazerTA]

While i've got the whole front clip,front brakes and suspension stripped down i'm thinking I might as well improve the brakes a bit. I know there are aftermarket packages that you can fit but they're a bit out of my budget at mo.
Had been thinking of fitting the GM B body full size front brake spindles that come with 12 inch discs. Found a list of suitable donor vehicles for the spindles online,seems it's a common upgrade in US. Spindles are supposed to be a straight swap(same size upper and lower wishbone balljoints)and if you use the 12 inch 1LE discs from an 88-92 Camaro you keep the same wheel stud pattern and I think use the same wheel bearings if the spindle donor vehicle is 79 or later. 2nd gen calipers bolt straight onto the new spindles and as these only move out half an inch should still fit inside 15 inch wheels ok.
Will do some more research on this upgrade but wondered if anyone else has already done this ?

A quicker cheaper upgrade I found was to replace the standard D52 size front disc pads with D614 disc pads which as you can see from the photo use the same size metal backing plates but have a much larger surface area of braking material

Might try a set of these on my 79 to see what difference they make.
Again,has anybody else already used these on a 2nd gen or any other yank that uses the same size front disc pad ?

[liveseywhu]

i dont see what difference a bigger disc/rotor will make if you still use the original clipers, part of the bigger rotor will have no pad touching it ?
the bigger D164 pads sound ok but these still work on the original rotors

[G20BlazerTA]

I wondered the same re the 12 inch rotors and same 2nd gen calipers mate but it must make a difference or a lot of 2nd gen owners in the states wouldn't do this swap on their cars would they ? Also,I think GM fitted the 12 inch rotors to the heavier Station Wagon models but kept the smaller 11 inch rotors on some of the B body saloon cars

[SUPERCHARGEDGTA]

bigger rotor/disc gives greater leverage for the caliper so improves braking

[carterdj]

Have you tried the bigger pads yet ? I am interested in these options too, as the brakes on my 77 are not the best. Are the pads on a 77 & 79 the same ?

[Rocky]

We are doing a conversion at the moment to run corvette calipers and rotors.

[4v8s]

what the C3 4 pot calipers?

their quite problematic.

personally I find the brakes on my '77 pretty good. but then compared to all round non assisted drums on my mustang, anythings good!

[G20BlazerTA]

bigger rotor/disc gives greater leverage for the caliper so improves braking

Bigger disc gives larger swept area even with same 2nd gen calipers,prob slightly better brake cooling and less fade too.
Slight increase in unsprung weight though.
Seems a lot of the B - body cars also had 11inch front discs and the 12inch discs were mainly put on the station wagons and heavy duty cars,ie,models that needed better brakes.

Link to one of the webpages i've been looking at - http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182800
This page has other links on it too.

Have you tried the bigger pads yet ? I am interested in these options too, as the brakes on my 77 are not the best. Are the pads on a 77 & 79 the same ?

Not tried the bigger pads yet,might pick some up this week if shop has them - seems these bigger pads come in two thicknesses,we need the thinner of the two as the thicker ones wont fit in our calipers even with the piston fully retracted.
All 2nd gens use same size front pads as far as I know,as do a lot of other yanks.

We are doing a conversion at the moment to run corvette calipers and rotors.

Does the Corvette conversion you are doing fit inside standard 2nd gen 15inch wheels ?

[Rocky]

The conversion Im doing at the moment will not fit inside a 15" wheel but there are others available.

[G20BlazerTA]

While i've got the whole front clip,front brakes and suspension stripped down i'm thinking I might as well improve the brakes a bit. I know there are aftermarket packages that you can fit but they're a bit out of my budget at mo.
Had been thinking of fitting the GM B body full size front brake spindles that come with 12 inch discs. Found a list of suitable donor vehicles for the spindles online,seems it's a common upgrade in US. Spindles are supposed to be a straight swap(same size upper and lower wishbone balljoints)and if you use the 12 inch 1LE discs from an 88-92 Camaro you keep the same wheel stud pattern and I think use the same wheel bearings if the spindle donor vehicle is 79 or later. 2nd gen calipers bolt straight onto the new spindles and as these only move out half an inch should still fit inside 15 inch wheels ok.
Will do some more research on this upgrade but wondered if anyone else has already done this ?

A quicker cheaper upgrade I found was to replace the standard D52 size front disc pads with D614 disc pads which as you can see from the photo use the same size metal backing plates but have a much larger surface area of braking material

Might try a set of these on my 79 to see what difference they make.
Again,has anybody else already used these on a 2nd gen or any other yank that uses the same size front disc pad ?

Got a set of the Powerstop 1995 Chevy Impala 614 pads via Rock Auto the other day to use in place of the standard D52 pads that came with their pad and rotor kit.
Just test fitted them in calipers and they are fit the same as the standard pads(no modification needed) but have more brake lining surface area so should improve stopping power a bit.
Here's a pic showing difference between the two sets of pads.
http://s1244.photobucket.com/user/Blaze ... d.jpg.html

I reckon there must be an extra 10% or so increase in lining surface area in contact with rotor.

[bhm1712]

The brakes on my second gen feel ok but I would love more stopping power. Might do a disc conversion at the rear one day, but those larger pads do look like they will potentially increase the stopping power if just slightly. Have you tested them yet?

[G20BlazerTA]

The brakes on my second gen feel ok but I would love more stopping power. Might do a disc conversion at the rear one day, but those larger pads do look like they will potentially increase the stopping power if just slightly. Have you tested them yet?

No mate. I fitted the larger surface area D 614 pads to Bullnose but am a long way off testing them on that.
As I then had a spare set of the Powerstop standard size D52 ceramic pads I fitted those in place of the semi metallic pads on my 79 TA and noticed an improvement. So I guess the larger D614 pads should improve brakes a bit more but don't know for sure

[bhm1712]

Ok.

Ideally id like to go for a larger rotor on the front, drilled and grooved as well as vented, with some double pot callipers as a minimum, with a pair of 12 inch rotors at the rear with standard single pot callipers. That should nicely do my engines power... but at the same time, theres so many things i want to do to improve mine i just cant spend all my spare cash on it! as much as id love to, i would end up sleeping in the shed. Problem is i dont have a shed anymore.

[bhm1712]

Interesting to note that AutoPontiac are now offering front disc conversions to SSBC twin pot callipers that fit under 15" wheels and also rear disc conversions for Drum brake rear axles. Photos can be found on the Autopontiac facebook page for those of you who partake in the facebook.

http://www.autopontiac.co.uk