[Will]

Mac, I think I answered your brake question in another forum, but just in case I didn't...

I don't know the entire year range that you need spindles from, but I do know for sure that any B-body from '77 to '86 that originally came with 12" rotors will work. The 12" rotors were optional on cars with heavy duty suspension or towing options, and they came on many wagons. A mid '80s full-size wagon is probably your best bet. The spindles are a direct interchange with your current spindles, nothing fancy about installing them.

Next issue is the rotors. The B-bodies with 12" brakes used a 5x5 bolt pattern with 1/2" studs as compared to your 5x4.75" bolt pattern and 7/16 studs. The best thing to do is order up a new set of brake rotors for the mid '80s 1LE optioned Z28 or TA. These rotors will go right onto the big car spindles and even use the same wheelbearings. The only issue with them is that they're setup to take metric studs. You may be able to find SAE studs with a knurl that is close enough to the same size to work, or you might just use metric lugnuts on your front wheels.

This setup gives you larger front brake rotors while retaining the stock appearance and caliper that you desire. If you want to get fancy, you can order up a set of VB&P "sport" rotors that have aluminum hubs and slotted, cryo'd, and heat treated rotors. To that you could add a set of Wilwood GMIII aluminum calipers.

As to your paint question, there is no book I know of that describes the correct factory finish for the parts you're concerned with. Many of them, such as the gas tank, swaybar brackets, hood hinges, etc. were plated using various processes, not painted. For example, the swaybar brackets were probably silver cad, the gas tank was zinc coated, and the hood hinges were a dark grayish to black colored phosphate coating.

The brake power booster was finished with zinc dichromate that is kind of a gold color with red and greenish highlights. There are a couple places out there that can rebuild your power booster and replate it for a pretty reasonable price. Power Brake Service in Portland, OR did mine and it looks and functions like new.

The brake master cylinder was left as bare cast iron from the factory, so painting it with a cast-iron paint is a good way to go to keep it from rusting.

Good luck with your restoration. You can probably get most of the info you need by asking specific questions here on this BBS.

-Will