[MNBob]

Glad to see you have you have been able to make the .5” shims and they fill the gap. The clearance measurement is a good idea; I will take it today for the 15x8 factory turbine wheels.

I am getting close to final assembly out of the car. When I do, I will snap a pic. Does anybody know the torque spec for bolts that hold the caliper brackets to the backing plates?

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by MNBob

Does anybody know the torque spec for bolts that hold the caliper brackets to the backing plates?

X2.

[MNBob]

I took a WAG on the torque of the backing plate to caliper bolts with 30 foot pounds. I just went by experience on the caliper pin bolts.

The inside of the factory turbine wheels is cone shaped. The inside diameter gets smaller from the wheel inside to the wheel outside. The minimum clearance is at the caliper bracket in the middle at 5/16”.

Here is a final pre-installation pic:

[David Jones]

Looks good.

I have everything I need to get mine put completely back together.The driver side mechanicals are bolted on. I have to do the passenger side (maybe tonight) and then I think I'll fill it with dope.....see what leaks.
I still have to cut and flare the brakeline to adapt in the flex line to the caliper. That means I'll be learning how to flare brake line. I'll use the trimmed off line to practice on.

[David Jones]

I came up with 52ft-lbs on the caliper mounting bracket to axle flange mounting bolts.
http://www.torkspec.com/torkspecmm.aspx?KI=83

[David Jones]

Got'er done.

[FrankieT/A]

Originally Posted by David Jones

This has been an interesting learning experience.
Having read up on this conversion I thought I might have a pretty good handle on what to expect. Nope. My experience with a rear end had ended at swapping brake shoes and changing dope. This slips somewhat beyond that. The whole C clip versus bolt in thing has added a twist to this mod also.
On my 8.5" Buick rear end with Moser bolt in axles I have had to use shims in 2 different locations. One shim of .25" is used between the S-10 Blazer axle bracket and the Buick axle mounting flange. This shim moves the caliper over to line up with the 2wd S-10 brake rotor. This shim came from S-10 Warehouse.
Also.....
The S-10 Blazer axle bracket/backing plate is approx .25" thicker than the drum brake backing plate was. That .25" and the previous .25" required a .50" shim between the axle retainer plate and the seal/bearing. I made this shim.

David, being that I use this same setup albeit with C clips, looking at your picture it looks like you have it shimmed too much. Your rotor should be located centered in the abutment bracket(gold in your pic). I just noticed in your pic the bolt is loose so it might just be cocked because it's loose. The rubber boot on the slide bolt looks to be fully extended.

[David Jones]

The bolts were loose. Maybe a little bit of camera angle too?
Both calipers are spot on.

[MNBob]

Thanks for the torque specs; that site has been added to my favorites. I was a little surprised by the figure for the banjo, because the caliper is aluminum there is about 7/16” thread engagement with the banjos I used.

I hooked it up to the master cylinder yesterday. There were 5 new flares and 2 new banjo connections and all leaked but one! This was the rear brake line that I had to cut off with a hack saw to get the old rubber hose off and then re-flare under the car. Fortunately, all the leaks but one solved with tightening. Some of the inverted flares had to be tightened almost to the limit of the flare nut wrench. For the other one, I had to remove the long line on the axle, cut it off and re-flare one end.

Hope you have better luck!

[David Jones]

Thanks. My first try at making a flare. They LOOKED good, if that counts. Bolting it back under the car may come tomorrow.

[FrankieT/A]

Originally Posted by David Jones

Thanks. My first try at making a flare. They LOOKED good, if that counts. Bolting it back under the car may come tomorrow.

Double flares right?

[David Jones]

Double. Used a Ridgid 345.

[David Jones]

Well.
Brakes work.
I have what feels like another round of bleeding to do. With one pump I get a pretty decent pedal. Hard on the brakes and the right front locks first so I may need some proportioning valve looking at. After driving a while there is heat from the rear brakes so they are working. Very pleased with the lack of leaks to this point. I made 2 flares after shortening axle tube brake lines. My first flares.

I have a hydraboost to install but will get the parking brakes hooked up first.

[David Jones]

I've bled the brakes again and honestly, the pedal feels about like it did with the drums. That's with about 15 miles use. We'll see if I feel the same with a few more miles. I've roughed in the parking brake cables and hope to see about those tomorrow. I'm going to try to solder swage buttons on myself. I believe it'll work and if it doesn't the only thing I'm out is a little solder, some flux and the bolt I used to make the buttons. I had all of it.

[MNBob]

Glad to hear you have it mostly done; mine is complete including moving parking brake cables off exhaust.

The pedal on mine is up higher than before and firm.

As an alternative to soldering, they also have aluminum cable connectors at the hardware store that are about the size of the buttons. You just put the cable(s) in them and smash them with a hammer. This might be another option.

I drilled a hole in the threaded rod, stuck the cable in it, and brazed it on.

[David Jones]

How does the parking brake cable length compare, new versus old?

I have my old outer cables and the Blazer inner cables ready to go under the car. I left a good bit extra on the inner cables, not knowing how the length might change. I'm ready to figure out the length and put the buttons on and if all goes well I should get the parking brakes hooked up this evening.

[MNBob]

I can't really answer your question about length because it is an entirely different routing.
I ordered the Blazer 102" cable for the right and an 84" for the left and just used them. Got rid of all the old hardware and cables. The left had to be cut down to about 35" though.

Here are a couple of pics:

[David Jones]

Yeah, waaaay different. I didn't realize how much.

Looks good under there Bob.

[David Jones]

The parking brakes now work......and it all looks like it belongs. My cable buttons worked. At least they are right now. Basically I took a 3/8" bolt, cut the threads off ( threw away) and made buttons out of the non threaded part. Same length as the factory buttons. I drilled a cable sized hole all the way through and drilled a 1/4" bowl about 2/3rds through it. I bent and twisted the strands of cable that would sit in the bowl and filled the whole thing with solder. It eventually ran out the cable strands at the bottom of the buttons.

[David Jones]

A couple of random things.
When installing the rear cables be aware that connecting the cable at the axle bracket and clipping it on the parking brake "hook" collapses the cable 1.5"s. That means it pushes 1.5" of cable out the other end of the sheathing. Allow for that when figuring the length of the inner cable before you swage a button on.
The clips that did anchor the front of the cable sheathing to the drum brake backing plate were a little to large in diameter to fit the Blazer axle brackets. I considered 2 options....either opening up the axle bracket hole some or grinding down the clip on the cable sheath. I ground down the clip on the cable sheath. I decided messing with the axle bracket wasn't a good idea.
I gravity bled my setup twice. Once right after installation and again after driving it a while. I used 1 small bottle of fluid. I bought 4. I'll save the other bottles for the hydraboost install down the road.

This was one of those things that if you have any idea about how a rear end works this mod would be no big deal. In my case, the second time around would go a lot faster. And probably about $75-100 cheaper.

Hopefully I can get the car out this evening and put a few miles on it, feel it out a bit.