pappy
02-08-2004, 01:06 PM
Hey ,
New to this board, but in reading the past posts, I might have some info. for anyone wanting to put disc brakes on a 50's buick.
I'm working on a 55 Special and decided, as many have, that the brakes left something to be desired.
Not wanting to sub frame the car, I decided to fabricate a caliper mounting bracket and adapt a later model disc brake to the front.
After some trial and error, and parts research, I made a bracket that adapts a later model caliper and rotor (available at NAPA) to the existing spindle.
There is some modest machining to be done, but nothing terrible.
I have driven the car, although a limited distance, and the brakes seem to work great. I did put in a new power booster and master cylinder (original mounting place, just had to make a new bracket to accept the booster, extend the plunger rod, add a proportioning and check valves, etc.).
Car is having the body work done as we speak, and I was going to wait to see how extended road miles affected the brake setup this summer before passing on this info., in case something fails !
But after seeing some discussion about this , I thought I'd let you know that it can be done with a modest amount of work.
If successful, I have thought about marketing the bracket and kit
but I need to know if the spindle size and bolt arrangement is the same on a number of years, or only the 55 ?
Any ideas on what years the spindle remained the same ?
You can PM me if you like.
Pappy
New to this board, but in reading the past posts, I might have some info. for anyone wanting to put disc brakes on a 50's buick.
I'm working on a 55 Special and decided, as many have, that the brakes left something to be desired.
Not wanting to sub frame the car, I decided to fabricate a caliper mounting bracket and adapt a later model disc brake to the front.
After some trial and error, and parts research, I made a bracket that adapts a later model caliper and rotor (available at NAPA) to the existing spindle.
There is some modest machining to be done, but nothing terrible.
I have driven the car, although a limited distance, and the brakes seem to work great. I did put in a new power booster and master cylinder (original mounting place, just had to make a new bracket to accept the booster, extend the plunger rod, add a proportioning and check valves, etc.).
Car is having the body work done as we speak, and I was going to wait to see how extended road miles affected the brake setup this summer before passing on this info., in case something fails !
But after seeing some discussion about this , I thought I'd let you know that it can be done with a modest amount of work.
If successful, I have thought about marketing the bracket and kit
but I need to know if the spindle size and bolt arrangement is the same on a number of years, or only the 55 ?
Any ideas on what years the spindle remained the same ?
You can PM me if you like.
Pappy