the car is back on the road

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 05:44 PM

after a royal pain in the back side I'm finally done.
My car came with 4 wheel manual drum brakes and now it has power disk all the way around. I put willwood's 12.19" Dynalite Big Brakes front and Dynalite Pro Series Rear Parking Brakes on my 67 Firebird. I had problems at every part of the install but it all worked out in the end.
Problems:
1) The first picture shows how far I made it before the problems started. As you can see I only got one bolt in. When I went to put in the 2nd bolt is when I found out the willwood forgot one important step in the instructions. It top hole in the spindle has to be stepped up from a 1/2" bolt to a 5/8". So I had to drill out the hole and cut new threads. That made me a little nervous to say the least. All I could think was if I screw this up where am I going to find a new spindle.
2) When I moved to the rear brakes I found that the offset from the axle flange to the caliper bracket was wrong and when I put the rotor on it hit the bracket. So I had to take it apart and shim the bracket out .007" to clear the rotor.
3) When I went to hook up the new parking brake cables I found out that I needed to buy a new front cable that runs from the pedal to the adjustment bolt under the car. But I was able to work around that. The new cable comes with a cable clamp block the treads onto the adjustment bolt of the new forward cable. I just drilled out the block to fit over the old bolt and used jam nuts to hold it in place. Problem solved.
4) Pluming the new master cylinder was just time consuming to get it so it looked good. I got that together and was finally able to bleed the brakes.
5) When all was done I went to put the front wheels back on and found out that the studs on the new spindles were 1/2" where my old ones were 7/16". So now I had to go buy new lug nuts.
6) When I started thinking about it I went and looked at the rears and found out the rotors were drill up for 1/2" studs. So I had to pull the rear brakes and axles back off and drill up the holes to fit new bigger studs. Back to the auto parts store for more lug nuts.
The first drive:
I now get to take the car out and drive it. First thing I have to do is bed the brake pads. So I pull out of the driveway and hit the brakes. I hear this god awful grind followed by a loud clunk. After a few more hard stops that all went away. Now I can lock up the brakes but the rear end wants to pass the front end. So now I have to adjust the proportioning valve. After a few sideways stops and more adjusting I got it done. Now all I have to do is get use to power brakes............
The brakes still make a little noise when I stop but I haven't driven it much yet. After a more trips I think that will all go away.

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 05:46 PM

the three piece spindles/rotors all together and safety wired

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 05:47 PM

rear internal parking brake

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 05:47 PM

fronts together

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 05:48 PM

rears

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 05:48 PM

all back together and clean

**05BusaLe** · 03-07-2007, 06:15 PM

Very nice ride

and

to you for the much needed brake upgrade!

**BlondeOnaBusa** · 03-07-2007, 06:18 PM

God thats beautiful!

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 06:20 PM

<div>
(05BusaLe @ Mar. 07 2007,19:15)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Very nice ride *

*and *

*to you for the much needed brake upgrade!</div>
thanks. Yeah the drum brakes were way outdated.

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 06:20 PM

<div>
(BlondeOnaBusa @ Mar. 07 2007,19:18)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">God thats beautiful!</div>
Thank you

**heavybusa** · 03-07-2007, 06:32 PM

Very nice

**jwcfbd** · 03-07-2007, 06:38 PM

<div>
(heavybusa @ Mar. 07 2007,19:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Very nice *

</div>
thank you

**Somebody1010** · 03-07-2007, 08:28 PM

i was so close to buying a 69ss camaro a while back

**BA BUSA** · 03-07-2007, 08:35 PM

Sweet...now ya can stop on a dime and make change

**LCB** · 03-07-2007, 09:43 PM

Going slower would work too.... Just kidding - I miss my muscle cars. I had a '69 442 with discs all around. That baby sure could dance!

**jwcfbd** · 03-08-2007, 01:22 PM

thanks guys. going slower would help but where's the fun in that. I made a hard run between lights but it turned red before I got there. The old brakes would have slowed me down but these brought me to a fast and complete stop before the hold line.

Much better then the old setup.

**Bigbody** · 03-08-2007, 01:31 PM

much better looking also. awesome car

**jwcfbd** · 03-08-2007, 01:45 PM

<div>
(Bigbody @ Mar. 08 2007,14:31)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">much better looking also. *awesome car</div>
thanks

Thread: the car is back on the road

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