[V8Vairs] rear disc brake setups

[The13Bats at aol.com]

The car is a mid engineering chassis with kit car body and  corvair tranny 
with chevy v8 that in time will be swapped for a buick  v6
If I said I will be doing anything with the car besides  driving cruising and 
showing I would be posing,
This is not a racer and will never even see hard pushing on  the street much 
less ever even get on a track...I am lame but  honest.
You have that complete camaro set up that interests  me but you have heard 
its too small for this application,
Would it brake "as good" as the stock corvair drums that are  on there, in 
other words is it too small to make it a race upgrade but if a  person just 
likes discs over drums would it fit that bill?
If so how much you need for it and what all does it come  with?
 
Thanks
P.
 
In a message dated 12/21/2008 7:16:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
Sethracer at aol.com writes:



In a message dated 12/21/2008 2:50:09 PM Pacific Standard  Time,  
The13Bats at aol.com writes:

I am  sure this is a  novice question 101 but what is the best  way to add 
rear   
discs to the vair?
Many thanks
P.





"Best" is  quite relative. (Just ask my relatives!) First you should  
determine  the usage for the car. If you will be really racing the car, then  
the  rear 
brakes should be converted as a part of the complete braking   system. In 
that 
case the rear design will depend on the  front disks  you will be using and 
the 
tire/wheel combination. If the car is   almost entirely a street car - then 
you have to determine why you want to  switch  to discs on the rear at all. 
But 
if you will be doing some  high speed driving -  on the track or on the 
street 
(!) than a  conversion is workable. If you want to  retain a parking brake, 
then  
the easiest way is to go with a caliper that also  provides a  mechanically 
actuated clamping force. The Cadillac/Old/Buick H-body   will do this - but 
has a 
reputation for finicky adjustment and operation.  (And a  bi*ch to bleed!)  
Both Clarks and Corvair underground  sell a rear disk  brake conversion kit 
using, I believe, the GM  Cadillac caliper. SSBC  makes an aftermarket 
replacement 
that is a  bolt in replacement, at  least it bolts right onto to the Cadillac 
 
bracket after you have modified  the bracket's hole pattern to match  the 
trailing arm bolt pattern. A reasonable  easy job. The 93-97  Camaro (Z28 and 
Y87 
option) uses a smaller combo rear  caliper.  According to a reliable source, 
they 
are too small for the rear of  the  Corvair. The Camaro has a lot less weight 
on 
the rear brakes -  especially when  hard braking! If you want to try it, I 
have a  complete, never-used,  setup. The Cad caliper and the SSBC 
replacement  
both match the 1" thick  10.5" diameter rotor which is the easiest to  match 
to 
the Corvair. The most  common one supplied is the S10 truck  4WD front. I use 
these all around on  my car. A couple of mods must  be done to use these 
rotors. 
Both the front and  rear Corvair wheel  hubs flanges are slightly too large 
to 
fit into the  rotor. The front  is fairly easy, but the rear hub carriers 
have 
to be  disassembled to  cut the OD down. In addition the small shoulder that 
centers the   drum has to be removed, front and rear. The SSBC front "GM 
Metric"  
replacement  caliper will also fit into the Cadillac Caliper bracket.  Of 
course, those  do not have a parking brake. That is what I am  running on my 
race 
car. Fronts  and rear are the same, lefts are  rights are mirror images. I am 
working on a  secondary method for a  parking brake. SSBC sells a small spot 
brake 
for  mechanical  application. I am working on adding that to the Cadillac 
caliper   bracket. It should work with the stock parking brake lever. Note - 
It will  
not  be an "Emergency" brake! Just for parking. Any specific  questions, just 
 
ask. 

Seth   Emerson


 
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