[Mike S]

I will be upgrading my drum brakes over the winter. I was wondering who is the best for ease of installation and performance. Wilwood, US brakes, Strange or Aerospace. Do they all weigh the same? How much weight saveings will there be, going from 4 drums to 4 disks? This is for my 67 GTO racecar. 3200lbs.
Thanks Mike S

[Mike S]

I will be upgrading my drum brakes over the winter. I was wondering who is the best for ease of installation and performance. Wilwood, US brakes, Strange or Aerospace. Do they all weigh the same? How much weight saveings will there be, going from 4 drums to 4 disks? This is for my 67 GTO racecar. 3200lbs.
Thanks Mike S

[RH152]

least amount of problems would b e strange products used many sets at work no problems compared to other brands and great quality product

[TA454]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mike S:
How much weight saveings will there be,
Thanks Mike S <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Mike the entire disk kit (rotors,hats,brackets,and calipers/pads ) for the rear does not weigh much more than one of your stock drums.
Also consider it is not only static weight being removed it is unsprung rotating mass. which yields even bigger benefits.
By the way i have wilwood on the rear of mine Very easy to install

[Mr. P-Body]

Avoid Aerospace. Major prolems, litigation ensues...

[KGTO]

I was told that Willwood makes a bolt on kit for drum brake cars that uses the same spindle. It is supposed to be easy to install and I heard that Willwoods kits are lighter. I was going to look into this for mine this winter also.

[Ron]

They do. I'm about do that very thing for my '65 GTO. 1968 drum spindles, convert to discs using Willwood's kit.

It's not a bolt on as some fabrication and cutting is required. You can look at instruction sheets on their web site.

Great web site and full of information.

[Bill Meyer]

I have the Wilwood heavy duty kit on the front of my '71 GT37 racecar. The installation was fairly staightforward. I used the stock front drum spindles. The only issue was: One of the attaching special tappered bolts was the wrong diameter. After talking to Wilwood tech, the correct fix was to "tap" the too small hole to the next larger size. This scared me, but after some patience, everything worked out just fine. I have had them for two seasons now, and they work very well.
Points of interest: My car weighs 3600 and goes about 133 mph in the 1/4. NO problem stopping at any track I've been to. I only did the fronts, previously manual drums, I did nothing with the master cylinder or proportioning valve and it worked out O.K. I do not have any kind of line lock and am able to hold the burnout box with the Wilwood fronts, the backs are backed way off (no drag at all).
My weight savings were not that great, as I had 4 aluminum drums -- Hope this helps, - Bill -

[Mike S]

Thanks everybody. I am leaning to Willwood. Next question, what flex line did you use? For disks or drums?
I think I'm going to go with the medium duty kit front and rear. My car should weigh 3100lbs with me. I just put fiberglass fenders on and a custom aluminum rad. support but didn't get a chance to weigh it after. The car did a best of 10.23 and a best mph of 134. Looking to go 10.0's.
Thanks Mike S

[TA454]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mike S:
Next question, what flex line did you use? For disks or drums?

Thanks Mike S <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

For the rear line you can use the stock flex line . You will need to bend up some new hard line and pick up a female inverted flare to male 1/8-27 TPI adapter.
As for the front brakes go to your local hydraulic shop and get some #4 braided hose assemblys made with a male 1/8-27 fitting one end and a female inverted flare the length you need. you can also check into speed shops that cater to the dirt track guys they always have hose assemblys premade. In fact if you figure out what length you need the motorsports expo at Fort Washington Pa next month will have what you need as far as the hoses.

[John Bailey (GTOKID)]

MrP??? Most of the poor heads up racers use aerospace breaks my bird stopps from 147 (3380lbs) and I never pulled my chute...Maybe you put yours on wrong....Lamb is the best, but they are not cheap.

[tiacguy]

Mr-p-body would you care to let us in on the problems with Areospace brakes Ive been running them for years without any issues as Im sure are a lot of other people.In my opinion there one of the best working affordable brakes systems out there.

[bad69bird]

Aerospace is on all four corners of my bird.

[GOAT8U2]

Here is a link to a write up I did for my GN using the Aerospace Brakes. It has pictures and the weight of their components.

I sure hope there are not any major issues with these brakes as they are on my GN and GTO. And for the price they are hard to beat.

www.t6p.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4682

[tempest455]

Bill, when you said that you did nothing with the master cylinder, are using the stock unit for a drum/drum system?

I am planning a Wilwood purchase soon and would love to use the stock master cylinder if possible.

[77TA]

ANyone see or use thes calipers ?
http://www.wilwood.com/Products/Cali...-GM3/index.asp

Light and direct bolt on. I wonder how a stock rotor and these calipers would compare in braking power to the four piston systems offered in the kits ?

[Skip Fix]

Alot of the circle track classes use these why th 1.25 rotor width. the 1.0 is closer to stock
I think the later F bodies and B bodies use a 2 15/16 piston so a little bigger. Pressure exerted over piston sq in= clamping pressure. Pad size also helps on brake. I think the 4 piston Dynalites in most Wilwood kits have a msaller than stock pad. All fine for a drag car.They do have some other calipers that use a larger pad.

[Bill Meyer]

Tempest 455 - My '71 was a 4 drum - non power brake car. I simply put on the front Wilwood heavy duty kit, and used the existing M.C. and the existing rear drums and everything worked just fine. I figured that I would have to change something or use some kind of proportion valve, but to me, the brakes and M.C. work fine just as is. - Bill -- Good luck!!

[77TA]

I was doing some looking on this mainly for rear Disk and it looks like the Wilwood kit with its 12.19 Rotor will not work with Stock 15" Snowflake wheels. IT requires 7" clearance from the center of the axle to the rim at .625 from the flange. I know at the flange there is only about 6.5 or 13" across. I kinda hope I'm wrong on this. I will remeasure to be sure but it does not look good.

[77TA]

Noit will not fit. I measure about 13.5" inside on my Ws6 Snowflakes at about 5/8" from the flange so the wilwood kit will not work with these rims.