I can tell you that Wilwood d52 calipers and the 15” Buick rally wheel don’t work well together. I was forced to run a larger diameter wheel.
I should’ve included this, but I’m going to be running an 18 inch wheel with the big brake kit. Minimum of 17” required for big brakes. How do you like the d52? Noticeable difference over drums?
Hi Yanchik, I haven't ordered them yet, but I've been looking long and hard at the Kore3 kits as well. Besides the price factor, I like that the brake components are fully DOT compliant. OEM stuff means that replacement parts should be pretty widely available too. I may be wrong, but my understanding is that very few of the Wilwood kits are DOT compliant. A few of the front calipers are but none of the rear systems - at least from what I've been able to find so far. Kore3 is a local company for me, since they are also from Oregon, so I like that aspect too.
I have the factory style 11" rotor and D52 disc brakes on the front of my 1965 Skylark. I was running the combination with EBC Red Stuff brake pads. I have the 154? disc brakes for the rear. Anyways the stopping power was so-so, nothing great. I decided to install the EBS Yellow Stuff brake pads with more gripping power. What a difference. The pads used can really make a difference. By the way I have a conversion to 13" rotors standing by, but I am now sure I will put them on. I have 17" wheels. Edit: Regarding the handling I put tubular a-arms on the front and a 1 5/16" tubular sway bar. Upgraded shocks all around. 1" sway bar for the rear with boxed in traction arms. Plus a few other goodies. The handling is great.
Sorry, what does DOT compliant meant? I tried searching it but couldnt find it online. Are Non- Compliant DOT brakes worse? And good luck with the Kore3 kit!
I went with the 4th gen F body brakes on the front, even used the booster and master cylinder from a 2002 Camaro. Parts are readily available and it is a huge upgrade and easy to service with the slip on rotors. Cheap too. Rotor Size: 12 inches Rotor Thickness: 1.25 inches -Caliper specs Piston size: 1.75 inch outer diameter Total pistons surface area: 9.62 square inches Material type: Cast Aluminum via gravity cast Have to run at least 16" wheels. I run 17s. For comparison, those specs are better than a C4 corvette brakes (non heavy duty) and comparable to a C5 corvette which has a little stronger calipers and .75" larger diameter rotors.
Russ, I have the same setup sitting in my basement waiting for me to get around to swapping it out. Really shouldn't take to long and I am looking forward to the improved braking. I know its all subjective but how does the pedal feel in it? I drove a 4th gen and boy did that pedal moved a long way before the brakes took up. I am going back and forth on whether to use the master and booster from the donor vehicle or trying to source a different master cylinder to get the pedal "feel" that I like. My preference is a pedal that takes moderate effort before lock-up without excessive pedal travel. Robert
Maybe mangling my terms here, perhaps ”SAE spec” is better. pistons protected with dust boots, etc. Components designed for the street, not just track duty
I bypassed the hassle of converting to disk brakes. I installed ceramic shoes from Muscle Car Brakes and LOVE these brakes. Stop as good as my Toyota Camery at any speed.
I'm no engineer and I'm sure pedal geometry and things like that play a role. I'm not smart enough to figure that stuff out so I just put it in and figure it out by trial and error. That said, I love the current pedal feel but if I had one thing to change it would be to make it a little less stiff but only a little. Based on mine and your preference I think you'll be very pleased with it. If I push mine 1/2 way to the floor it has the fronts close to being locked up but its progressive enough that it doesn't grab all at once.
Just to add comment. I have a 69 gs400 on going project. When it came time for the brakes I took in consideration using 15" wheels for drag racing and If I want that stock look. I went with Baer SS4+ calipers and rotors for a 69 Chevelle and added hydroboost from hydrotech. It worked out great. I can run any camshaft I want because it doesn't need vacuum from your motor to make your brakes work great. I'm running 15" wheels now but plan on running 18" in front and 19" back. Having smaller rotors I can run both size wheels. It's something to take into consideration also that huge brakes limits your choice of wheels. The pedal feel with hydroboost is great and stopping power is awesome. I would recommend adding Hydroboost to any build for street use and pro-touring wise. It cleans up the engine compartment as well gives you some extra clamping power. There are less expensive conversions you can do on a budget than I did but I'm sure the outcome would be the same.
Well, I consulted with Ramey at UMI and settled on the first step for suspension upgrades to the Skylark: new front upper control arms, 0.5 inch taller lower ball joints, 0.9 inch taller upper ball joints, 2” lowering springs all around, new sway bars front and rear. Planning to recondition the lower front arms and install poly bushings from Energy Suspension. Replacing the steering box with a Delphi 700 box from Borgeson, 12.7 to 1 ratio. Doing all the tie rod ends, center link and idler arm with new Moog parts - no sense using sloppy old worn parts with the cool new stuff! Not enough money right now for the rear arms, so just going to replace the old bushings with standard Moog parts. The rebuilt stock parts should work decently until I have time and money for the nice Roto-joint ones from UMI. The Borgeson box has already arrived and is about half installed. UMI goodies should arrive tomorrow. This will be a pretty ambitious job for an amateur like me, but looking forward to it, and losing that fingertip steering and floaty feeling!
I don't want to sacrifice ground clearance on my GS, due to running MT Headers. Does anyone think it's possible to maintain a close to stock height and still improve the handling characteristics of the 70-72?
UMI offers performance springs in stock height with the same linear rate as the lowering springs: 530# per inch front and 130# per inch rear. If you reach out to Ramey, he is extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
Ridetech makes a Street Grip kit that might be just what your looking for. It is a bit pricey but works great and has quality parts.
This is a bit old but the D52 calipers work better with SOME Buick Rallye Wheels than others. Some of the wheels appear to have a fatter weld bead than their brothers. A few min with a grinding wheel and you can dress the the bead down and be running your 15in wheels again in no time.
It took about 2 months of evenings and weekends, but the UMI parts are installed in my 72 Skylark. Initially left the adjustable rod ends of the upper control arms threaded all the way in, and reused the old shim packs from the stock upper control arms. Once the car was on the ground, it was clear just eyeballing it that there was WAY too much static negative camber. Ended up removing all the shims and threading the rod ends out to the recommended limit. The car needs one more trip to the alignment shop to check the final camber measurements and fine tune the toe-in. But everything is installed and the difference in control and cornering performance is pretty dramatic! Used 2" drop springs front and rear, and used 1/2" taller lower ball joints and 0.9" taller upper ball joints. so the car is effectively 2.5" lower in front and 2" lower in back. I like the look and have yet to scrape or bottom out, even on rough, bumpy roads.
