the brakes are finally done
 

after a royal pain in the back side I'm finally done. :whoo:
My car came with 4 wheel manual drum brakes and now it has power disk all the way around. I put willwood's 12.19" Dynalite Big Brakes front and Dynalite Pro Series Rear Parking Brakes on my 67 Firebird. I had problems at every part of the install but it all worked out in the end.
Problems:
1) The first picture shows how far I made it before the problems started. As you can see I only got one bolt in. When I went to put in the 2nd bolt is when I found out the willwood forgot one important step in the instructions. It top hole in the spindle has to be stepped up from a 1/2" bolt to a 5/8". So I had to drill out the hole and cut new threads. That made me a little nervous to say the least. All I could think was if I screw this up where am I going to find a new spindle.
2) When I moved to the rear brakes I found that the offset from the axle flange to the caliper bracket was wrong and when I put the rotor on it hit the bracket. So I had to take it apart and shim the bracket out .007" to clear the rotor.
3) When I went to hook up the new parking brake cables I found out that I needed to buy a new front cable that runs from the pedal to the adjustment bolt under the car. But I was able to work around that. The new cable comes with a cable clamp block the treads onto the adjustment bolt of the new forward cable. I just drilled out the block to fit over the old bolt and used jam nuts to hold it in place. Problem solved.
4) Pluming the new master cylinder was just time consuming to get it so it looked good. I got that together and was finally able to bleed the brakes.
5) When all was done I went to put the front wheels back on and found out that the studs on the new spindles were 1/2" where my old ones were 7/16". So now I had to go buy new lug nuts.
6) When I started thinking about it I went and looked at the rears and found out the rotors were drill up for 1/2" studs. So I had to pull the rear brakes and axles back off and drill up the holes to fit new bigger studs. Back to the auto parts store for more lug nuts. :doh:
The first drive:
I now get to take the car out and drive it. First thing I have to do is bed the brake pads. So I pull out of the driveway and hit the brakes. I hear this god awful grind followed by a loud clunk. After a few more hard stops that all went away. Now I can lock up the brakes but the rear end wants to pass the front end. So now I have to adjust the proportioning valve. After a few sideways stops and more adjusting I got it done. Now all I have to do is get use to power brakes............ :drive:
The brakes still make a little noise when I stop but I haven't driven it much yet. After a more trips I think that will all go away.

all back together and clean

Looks great. Nice choice for rims too. How do you like those PONTIAC valve covers? I was thinking about getting a set of those.

Thanks. The covers are great and if you need tall one they have spacers for them. I got mine from http://www.bopengineering.com/

Oh sure now you tell me. :doh:

very nice!

thank you

If you dont mine me asking, whats a ball park figure for that conversion without power booster and master? I have 4 wheel drums and looking for options. Looks nice and lighter too.

I got them though a group perchase here http://www.gpsuperstore.com/forum/ and they were about $1800 after shipping charges. He includes new e-brake cables, proportioning valve and braided lines for the fronts if they are needed at no charge. I think it took about two weeks to get once I placed my order.

Unfortunately, it sounds like standard procedure for upgrading most things, but they sure look nice.

Now, you will need some sticky rubber to take advantage of all that braking ability.

Serge, check out Kore3.com for lower cost upgrades. I really like Wilwood, but it's too much for me.

I finally got my rear rotors opened up to fit over the axle flange, so hopefully I am off to HarryK's dyno in a few weeks.

Thanks
I got the tires taken care of last month. So far they seem pretty good but I haven't really gotten on it hard. yet...

Very nicely done. Where did you source the master cylinder and booster? Any chance you know what product model numbers you used? I'm doing a very similar project.


Thanks!

Thanks
I got everything from Jegs. Here is a copy of my order form. You will need an adjustable proportioning but I don't have a number for that. The stage control I put on just because I though I would use it but never hooked it up. I figured one of these days I may want a line lock so while I had the system apart it was the best time to add it.

Huge help!

Thanks friend.

You’re welcome. Happy to help when I can.

The Wilwood master cylinder is part of the front disc brake kit I am getting from Quick Performance, so I need to either find a brake booster that is compatible or see if I can buy a combo Wilwood mc/brake booster that can replace the factory power drum mc/booster. Also I want an 8" diameter booster instead of the 9" so I have a little room between the booster and the valve cover.