Re: front brake upgrade

by bracketchev1221 Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:06 pm

Anything you can do to keep the rear lower control arms parallel to each other is a giant help.

by driveit Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:31 pm

Just took a drive home on my lunch and back. I was running late on my way back and pushed it a little. Brakes are still getting hot up front. The back ones are definitely helping though.

by pila Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:55 pm

Sometimes brake hoses deteriorate internally, and restrict flow back into the system, or even in the braking direction. It's always a good idea to toss them if they are old.. Going to stainless braided stuff, makes the brakes a bit more responsive, since the rubber hoses do swell a tiny bit under pressure.
Your problem sure sounds like the calipers are not releasing enough after the brakes are released, and dragging on the rotors......

by driveit Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:59 pm

My pads up front are spent and my back breaks were not working at all until today. I need new front pads. and my rotors look like ripples on the water. The rubber lines are new up front not even a year old. I am slowly replacing all of the hard lines. I don't think they rubber hoses would have went bad in a year would it?

by Mcarlo77 Wed Sep 03, 2014 7:29 pm

If you've replaced the front brake hoses in the past year, those aren't your problem. I agree with Bill (Pila) that the next thing to check are your calipers. Any idea how old those are? Pull the calipers off the rotors and compress the pistons back into the bore. If they are really hard to compress, that's a good indicator they may need to be replaced. O'Reilly auto shows remanufactured calipers at less than $20/ea...so, if yours are old and crusty, it might behoove you to just go ahead and replace them anyway. As a last thought, it's always possible the effect of not having functional rear brakes caused the fronts to overheat and warp...causing them to wear abnormally.

by dynchel Wed Sep 03, 2014 7:36 pm

....if you get the calipers (a good idea) buy a can of vht caliper paint & paint them prior to install, you will be happy you did. Razz

by pila Wed Sep 03, 2014 10:17 pm

X2 on painting the calipers..... a couple or even three coats will last the longest.

New rotors will have the outer races for the front wheel bearings, so a new set of wheel bearings will mate best with the new races in new rotors.

by thatfnthing Wed Sep 03, 2014 10:58 pm

FWIW, I've had excellent results and durability from G2 caliper paint.

by brownbomber77 Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:53 am

I've got a set of Powerslot brand slotted rotors with NEW bearings and seals I'm not going to use. They sat on the car so they have surface rust on the rotor surface but not the inside that's caked with grease, of course. I'll even toss in a new set of Wagner ceramic pads... Smile

Call or text if ya want, or PM... 815-298-2912

by brownbomber77 Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:55 am

Oh, they've never been driven on..

by driveit Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:05 am

PM sent. I just tried to call as well, but I missed you.

by driveit Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:14 pm

If the price is right I may talk my wife into getting me those for Christmas.

by brownbomber77 Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:03 pm

PM sent, it's $300 worth of stuff with the pads, bearings, and rotors. With the exception of the rotors, that's Rockauto prices.

by brownbomber77 Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:13 pm

Make that $240 worth of parts....my bad, can't add. I also happen to have a blasted and painted 1 inch rear bar....and a set of control arms that are boxed and have polyurethane bushings in them....let's make a deal..haha

by oldz74 Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:53 am

when i upgraded the front brakes on my 74 cutlass, i used rotors/spindles from a b body, particularly a 77 delta 88. everything was a direct bolt on swap. only replaced the bearings and seals being the parts were salvage yard picks.

by pila Sat Oct 04, 2014 2:44 pm

I just re-read this thread, and the comments about Chinese crap ( front rotors ) reminded me that my '7 Elco project has the original front rotors from my '77 Elco, that I had to scrap. I had these old rotors turned, lots of metal left, and didn't have to buy the Chinese parts this time around.

by brownbomber77 Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:38 pm

Yeah that's what I have on mine...but since mine came from a 92 Roadmaster, I had to drill the rotors for the 4.75 bolt pattern...I'm kinda cheap if the factory stuff is still good.

by dynchel Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:46 pm

brownbomber77 wrote:Yeah that's what I have on mine...but since mine came from a 92 Roadmaster, I had to drill the rotors for the 4.75 bolt pattern...I'm kinda cheap if the factory stuff is still good.

Is there a noticeable difference when using the larger rotors? I mean can you notice a difference under normal driving conditions.

by brownbomber77 Sun Oct 05, 2014 2:30 pm

Yeah...my car's in pieces....haha The extra inch would probably help most in high speed stops, probably wouldn't notice much in normal city driving. I'm sure if I stomped the brakes at 100MPH, I would notice a difference between the stockers and rotors 1 inch larger like the b-bodies.

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