I'm installing a Wilwood front brake kit on a 1970 Skylark with front drum spindles. I found that the upper bracket mount is supplied with a 5/8 bolt but the spindle is tapped for 1/2". I called Wilwood and they told me they never heard of that.......Which I had a hard time believing. They told me to find Nova or Camero spindles or have mine drilled and tapped for 5/8". Has anybody else run into this problem? Seems like the more you pay for stuff, the more fricking around it takes to install it..................I sent the spindles off the machine shop. Dave
Hi Dave, I believe Rick Martinez had the same problem. I think we just drilled and tapped it larger. Rick do you rememberwhat we did?
Wilwood That's what you need to do. Drill out and tap for 5/8. I had to do the same on my car. Wilwood knows exactly whats up, it seems that they just don't care! I had many issues with their setup, but they were of no help whatsoever!! I personaly will never purchase another Wilwood brake setup. The quality looked nice, but no factory support after the sale will force me to purchase another brand next time. There are many good brake manufacturers out there, but the price does reflect the quality. This is not a good place to cut any corners. Next time I will buck up and pay the price!! Steve
I had the same issue. I used Strange brakes. Apparently some drum spindles came from GM with 5/8" holes on top. The tech guy at Strange said he just put their brakes on his '69 Chevelle and he did NOT have to drill his. The spindles I used came from a '70 Olds Cutlass. I had to drill and tap the spindles to 5/8". Not a big deal, just make sure everythings straight. BTW, Strange brakes are great. Excellent quality, fit, and finish. The tech guys are good, too. I have heard bad things in the past about Aerospace and Wilwood. Strange cost a little more, but are worth it. If you have some extra money, I've heard Mark Williams brakes are real nice and Lamb is about the best, but both of those are big $$$. Have fun.
Anytime you get into "race parts" expect to fabricate a little at least....... And if anyone is thinking of Aerospace......Go ram your head into a wall,You'll get more satisfaction than with their customer support. I guess the $$$$$$$ I spent with them wasn't enough to remedy the problems I had with the warped rotors I rec'd. :af:
Mark williams and Lamb My skylark has Mark Williams stuff on both ends . Heres the thing though ---they dont make brakes. Wildwood makes them for them with MW specifications. Maybe MW just has better specs. They do have better tech support though. Ive dealt with Aerospace ---what tech support? Bolting new stuff on old stuff always requires some work. My race car has Lamb stuff by the way . Carbon fibre rotors on all corners. (yes rotors). Car stops from just shy of 200mph without fade or any issues. I can lock them up if I get too agressive though.When they get hot they tend to get twitchy quick. BUT a new set of rotors and pads(both wear out)--just shy of 3k. George in DC
I bolted mine directly on with no midifications. However I am using the disc brake spindle. Probably easier to drill and tap, then to find and change the spindles.
Yep your right John. I was a babbling stumble bum when I saw that, and John came to my rescue :laugh: drilled out the holes and that was it. Brakes work fine. Thanks again John
I don't remember having that problem with the Wilwood's and drum spindles, but I wasn't overly impressed with them, for a 3800# car, in fact they sucked... what REALLY sucked was my experience with Aerospace, those people are space cadets, with brake systems for tonka toys. Absolute junk. I went off the end of 3 tracks, and gave the crap away... if you want to hurt yourself, but good, buy Aerospace brakes. JH
The spindles from my '70 sportwagon had the 1/2" bolt in the top, and I really didn't want to wait until next week to put the brakes on. A friend of mine had the front half of a chevelle chassis laying around so we looked at it and the spindles had the 5/8' bolts in it, so I used them instead. I wonder why chevy used 5/8" bolts instead of 1/2"? o No:
happens all the time ,go to a good machine shop supply house and they will probably have the bolt you need,if you dont want to drill them out we used to have that problem all the time with willwood kits ,esp on camaros they used to say same thing get new spindle than i found out they had the other bolt in stock,we just did a nova and it had both bolts in kit :jd: i guess it just depends how they feel that day bob
How did you guys set up the brake lines? I'm going use a master cylinder for 69 vette with manaul disc's remove the stock proprotioning valve and use a adjustable one on the rear brakes and also a 10psi residual valve on the rear drums. The front brakes after the line lock on the front put a tee in the line and go to both front brakes does that sound right???
I just bought the same set-up. I don't know why you need a residual valve if the master cylinder is higher than brake set-up. o No: Randy
Well wilwod said that the rear brake springs will lower the pedel with the 10 psi valve the pedel will be right at the top.. sounds good right?
the pedal wont drop a 1/2 " from your drum setup and thats if you had all the brakes adjusted perfect,everyone we do with a Chrysler master,willwood prop valve,4 piston calipers the pedal dont move an inch, esp if rod is adjusted so there only a little play to master and rear brakes adjusted . :laugh: bob
I sent an email off to Wilwood and here is their reply and my original message. As you can see from their reply, they don't plan on changing anything to avoid/alert future customer of this problem.........so buyer beware: > Sorry David; Wilwood does not actually list having a kit for the '70 Buick > GS. That is why the kit may not have had the instructions listing the bolt > change you need. The kit, if I am correct in assuming it to be the part > #140-2285-B, does fit quite a few GM spindles with certain modifications > needed. We try to please but there are times when somebody is doing an > install on a vehicle which we did not actually have in shop to write all of > the steps needed. > Sam To: <customerreply@wilwood.com> > Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 8:42 AM > Subject: Wilwood Brake installation on a 1970 Buick Skylark GS with Drum > Brakes > > > > Greetings, > > > > I contacted Rick at your Technical Assistance yesterday to ask about a > > problem installing one of your kits on the model car listed above. The > > problem is this: > > > > The kit supplies a 5/8 bolt for mounting the caliper bracket to the > spindle > > at the upper position. The drum brake spindle on most A body Buicks (and > > many other GM A bodies) is 1/2". > > > > Rick told me he never heard of the problem. Well maybe so, but there are > > many other dissatified customers who have had the exact same problem. I > > sent my spindles out to drilled and retapped, but you really ought to fix > > the problem with a revision to the kit or the instructions alerting the > > installer that this modification might be required. > > > > I'm sure your could design a special fastener to overcome this problem and > > it didn't tke me long to find other Wilwood customers who have experienced > > the same problem. I know, I wasn't too thrilled with the answer I got, and > > I WILL consider kits from Mark Williams or Strange Engineering for my > next > > purchase.......and I install quite a few kits for fellow racers. > > > > Take a look at the link below:
A m/c made for rear drum brakes often has the residual valve built in, so you don't have to add an external one. Even the factory jobs use a residual for drum brakes. I agree on the discs though, you don't need one unless the m/c sits lower than the brakes.
