1st and 2nd Gen Riv Disc Brake Swap

Discussion in 'The whoa and the sway.' started by Yardley, Feb 28, 2017.

  1. Yardley

    Yardley Club Jackass

    OK. Several years ago I bolted on an available aftermarket disc brake setup to my 1969 Riviera. At the time the maker/seller of the brackets claimed that it wasn't necessary to swap to the disc master cylinder, but I immediately had very poor braking. So I swapped in the disc master cylinder. It helped, but the brakes were still barely adequate. I plumbed in a 10 pound residual valve and a front hold0off valve and drove for several years. Braking was just barely adequate. Last winter out of frustration I checked the front brakes real good and noticed that the pads were wearing more on one end than the other, like the calipers weren't aligned. So I bought a replacement set of brackets. I noticed that the maker had redesigned the bracket from the first one I had bought years before. The redesign helped, but the braking was still barely adequate.

    The kit I had purchased used a one-piece caliper mounting bracket and late model calipers. In my opinion it is a mismatch to our master cylinder and who-knows-what-else.

    At the time I had the option to buy a set of brackets from a gent in Australia named Tony Gentilcore. I passed on them because there was a little bit of machining that had to be done to make the brackets fit the spindles and the rotors to fit as well. So This winter I started looking at Tony's setup again. He has since changed his setup to use standard Riviera rotors and 1
    '71 and later calipers. The machining needed to the spindles is strictly for clearancing purposes and is very minimal. I had a shop do the work but any capable mechanic can do it with a die grinder if they take their time. As you can see in the photos, Tony's bracket is a 2 piece bracket which fits infinitely better and keeps the caliper square to the rotor.

    I am here to report that Tony's setup is as good as any disc brake car I've driven from the muscle car era. I have a high pedal and the thing stops like a champ! Kudos to Tony. Here is his website: http://www.mako.com.au.

    IMG_3229.JPG IMG_3227.JPG IMG_3223.JPG
     

Share This Page