Hi all, I'd like to do both a brake upgrade and some suspension upgrades this summer but do it on a budget. I don't have a ton of money to throw at this, but if I'm taking on the brakes I want to take on the suspension at the same time. Some details: The car is a 72 Skylark with a '70 455. It's still on the same suspension from the 350 that came in it along with the brakes. Drums on all four corners and airshocks on the back (they leak). I'm not sure what kind of budget is necessary for this so I'm open to hearing what people say, it's possible I can only do one of the two things but if I do one it'll be brakes and if I can only do brakes I still want the suspension side sort of figured into the brake side so I'm not replacing something when I do the suspension. The car is strictly a summer driver and doesn't goto the track or do any racing. I don't need fully adjustable anything here. Thanks!
When I was modifying my Father-In-Law's '70 Skylark, I used the old-school "Tall Spindle" brake conversion using Treasure Yard (inexpensive) parts from any '70 1/2-82 "F-body", 73--77 "A-body", 75--79 "X-body", or '77-96 "B-body". There's two sizes, almost all of them used 11" front rotors, a few got 12" rotors and special steering knuckles (spindles) to match the larger rotors. There's also two sizes of lug-stud bolt circles, 4 3/4 and 5". You want the 4 3/4" circle. If you did this right--selecting components that are all still usable--your entire parts bill could be $300. I got parts from a donor vehicle that had usable brake pads, calipers, rotors and bearings, usable upper ball joints, usable outer tie rod ends, and a disc/drum combination valve and master cylinder. I had to buy grease seals and several cotter pins, pack the bearings, lower ball joints, some brake tubing, and new front brake hoses. I bent my own brake tubing to match the Combo valve. If I'd been thinking straight, I'd have grabbed a thicker front sway bar while I was looking for donor vehicles for the brake conversion. The same bar fits from '64 on up, using the same donor vehicles I've listed. Parts are readily available for everything except the lower ball joints which are "special". You need ball joints and outer tie rod ends to fit the stud taper of the donor vehicle. The tie rod ends need to have thread sizes that fit your existing tie rod adjuster sleeves--as I recall there's two choices. The upper ball joints bolt right in to your existing control arms, but the lowers have to be chucked in a lathe and turned down at the housing where it presses into the lower control arm. I think they remove .100 or .110. There was a time that a couple of suppliers sold lower ball joints already modified; they may still be available but I haven't looked for them in years. Hand your machinist the two new ball joints to be cut down, and one of the original ball joints for him to measure. Easy. Point being, you probably need ball joints and outer tie rod ends anyway--you just get them with from the donor vehicle, or buy them for the donor vehicle instead of the stock items for your vehicle. The "tall spindle" conversion raises the angle of the upper control arm. Reduces body lean through geometry instead of spring-rate. Also lowers the vehicle about 1/2" if I remember right. Very nice. There are three downsides to this very inexpensive conversion: 1. Clearance between upper control arm/control arm shaft and the engine may be very tight. You'll need a heap of alignment shims OR aftermarket control arms. 2. The vehicle turn radius is increased somewhat. Most folks won't notice it unless they do a lot of U-turns. 3. Some folks complain about "bump steer"; and if this were a racing vehicle I'd use some other brake conversion. On the street, in normal driving--or even limited "spirited" driving, it's a non-issue. DO NOT buy aftermarket steering knuckles (spindles) to perform this conversion. The companies selling the aftermarket knuckles were not performing proper QA on the Communist-sourced castings. Guys have broken ball joint studs because the Chinese don't machine the ball joint tapers properly. Lucky folks didn't get killed by this Communist Crap. It's VERY recommended to change the control arm bushings while you have the front-end disassembled for the brake upgrade. I use Polyurethane bushings because they're firmer, AND they're easier to change for a Do-It-Yourselfer (No special tools, no hydraulic press needed--just a propane torch and some emery cloth and Scotchbrite pads.) You can re-use the original front springs, but I suggest firmer and shorter replacement springs. Depending on where the ride-height ends up, you may also need to have the headlights aimed. All that's left is to assure that the drag link, idler arm, inner tie rod ends and sway bar bushings/end links are still in good condition--replace or upgrade as needed. Have a competent alignment shop perform a thrust-angle alignment, and tell them they're gonna need a lot of alignment shims if you keep the stock control arms. A Jeep Grand Cherokee steering box is a wonderful upgrade, but that's another story and doesn't have to be done with the rest of the suspension/brake upgrade.
If you just want better braking, a swap from a front disk brake 71-72 GM A-body is a slam dunk easy swap and all the parts are readily available if you need to replace something down the road.
I used the ebay kits, disc, and tubular susp kits, all bolt together, no issues at all, simply unbolt old, clean the frame & paint it, then assemble everything. no chasing parts, trying to make stuff fit, or modifying. I bought dropped dropped spindles, so I used stock springs, alignment was easy to set,
I was looking at this kit: https://www.opgi.com/skylark/1972/brake-systems/disc-brakes/G240378/ And for suspension, something like this: http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_254_278 Either the stage 1 or stage 1.5 kit likely. Any thoughts on either of these?
On second thought, the C5 conversion seems great... https://www.ebay.com/p/C-5-Corvette-13-Disc-Brake-Kit-a-F-X-Tall-Spindles/1925047473 Do they offer a rear setup? I can’t find it. Any catch to these?
be aware of larger disc rotor diameter, as larger, means you must have a larger rim dia also. your 15in rims will not clear C5 rotors
Yea... that was what I noticed after thinking about it as well. In the end I'd like to replace the wheels as well as they aren't really my favorites. But... this needs to be done in stages rather than all at once. To get the car drivable again I need brakes that aren't going to kill me... wheels, while it would be nice to replace, aren't vital to getting the car driving again. So, looks like I'll be going with their front/rear brake kit, that alone should be a massive improvement over the drums it has now. What are people's thoughts on CPP's tubular control arms and such? Any experience with their coil over systems? Looks like I could redo much of the brakes and suspension for around $2k and not have to screw around with finding parts and piecing something together. There's value in saving time and sanity on that.
Sounds like you have more budget than alot of us are accustomed to using,..which is always a good thing. If so I agree you get more bang for the buck with the CPP stuff and I would trust their product more than them Ebay arms, I mean control arms are no place to "save a buck" one breaks at 70mph you gonna have a bug big problem ha.
Ah, my apologies. I have a budget for the whole thing of around ~$2000. My opinion is very much don't cut costs on things that are safety related. In fact, that's why the brakes are being converted to disc over drum, for safety reasons. Current drums just don't cut it. I have a few things I need to do to get this car back on the road, this is the bigger part of it (gas tank leaks when there's pressure, I think a hose may need to be replaced by the tank. brakes, suspension because air shocks are trash, and the battery tray needs to be repaired), but safety isn't one I like the idea of skimping on. Anyway, bonus points for components that can be replaced a little over time as well. I may do the coil over swap next year and just deal with the terrible air shocks for one more year.
