Hi all,
Will I notice big gains if I go with a newer disk setup over the OEM disks? Is it a fairly simpel swap? I've got 17" wheels and the OEM units now look small. Thanks John
Two questions. What are you going to use the car for and will the brakes you have now lock up the tires you have. The reason for the questions are if you are going to use the car where you will be making several hard brakes in a row where there will be little or no time for them to cool then an upgrade it a must. Other wise if you can lock up the tires you have what will you gain from the up grade once the tires lock the brakes no longer matter.
Being able to lock up the tires doesnt mean the brakes are good. Four wheel drums could have poor modulation and a tendency to lock up, but that doesnt mean they're good.
13" brakes will make the largest improvement when braking hard at high speed or like Jester said, braking hard without cool down time. They wont suffer from fade nearly as fast and have more area to absorb/release heat. If you get 13" fronts, you can sell me your stock setup .
Being able to lock up the tires doesnt mean the brakes are good. Four wheel drums could have poor modulation and a tendency to lock up, but that doesnt mean they're good.
Agreed but the point I was trying to make is you don’t need 13” with 6 pistons per caliper to stop a 3K lb car once in a panic stop or at the red light. I think the bigger the better brake movement is not a good thing. I for one believe you can over brake a streetcar and that it is more dangerous than underbraking because you thing you have world class brakes and you over drive the car. JMHO
PS
And just for the record I’m talking disk here, drums can be dangerous and I am a big fan of a drum to disk conversion.
It will be used at the strip some. Currently is has a 400hp 390 but it has a stroker FE in its future, 500hp minimum. The car is not finished at this time but I have driven it approximatly 2,000 miles. I've never tried to slide the tires but I'm sure it wood. It currently has 20 year old pads on it. Its not going to be a road course car. I think with the larger rotors I would have a little more control though.
I'm not wanting to do it for looks only. I have had a lot of lookers and the first thing most say is are those discs original, they sure look small. The other thing I've been thinking is that I'm running on nearly forty year old roters. Thanks