63 - Disc Brakes?

[Lyle Hayer]

Hello All,
I've had fun restoring my coupe this past year. I'd like to improve some performance and safety. If the 327 250hp and powerglide gets pulled and packed away in the garage, is there an application for a 4 wheel disc brake system that meets NCRS standards. I'm not crazy about deviating from original restoration, but I'd like to make this fine gem more of a daily driver.
Thankx
Lyle

[Joe L.]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes?

Lyle-----

There's certainly no application of a 4 wheel disc brake system that will meet NCRS standards for a 1963 Corvette. Also, to make this conversion requires the addition/deletion of a LOT of parts on the car. Although I love disc brakes, I don't think that it's worth it from a cost or originality standpoint. You can achieve very good brake performance with a properly maintained drum brake system; likley, far better performance potential than you're ever going to need.

[Tracy C.]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes?

Agree with Joe,

Unless you plan to autocross your 63, Drum brakes will do a fine job.

Most folks don't really run these cars to there full potential after investing the time and money to restore them. It really takes a lot of repeated/hard braking to experience "brake fade" associated with the drum brakes.

However, you can convert if you want using availible used or aftermarket parts. There are some experts on this board who can help if you really want the details.

After all. it's your project and your money
tc

[Dave Suesz]

I get this question a lot...

From collector car owners who want the car to "stop better". 90% of the time it turns out what they really want, without knowing it, is power boost. We are now so used to the power boost most cars have we think something is wrong when we have to press the pedal hard. I agree with the above- unless your "daily drive" is something out of a Hollywood movie.

[Patrick H.]

Re: I get this question a lot...

My 71 has manual brakes with power steering, and my 72 has power brakes with manual steering.

Just my $0.02, but if I had to choose one I'd choose power steering to power brakes. I like the feel of the manual brakes much more than I like manual steering, especially around town. But I'd agree that we've gotten used to the power options.

My 70 Cutlass has both PS and PB with rear drums. No performance problem with those.

Patrick

[Loren L.]

What are you going to use the car for - Le Mans?

If you drive the car anywhere near the way a normal person would, the brakes will be as adequate in 2003 as they were in 1963. This does NOT include the observation that if you exceed 2500 miles per year in the car, it will be amazing.

[mike cobine]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes - what you asked for

The conversion is not approved by NCRS because NCRS doesn't approve of anything. They provide judging events that judge to what is supposed to be original.

So any change from original loses points in the judging. Reading further means you have have walked away from restoration.

However, if you don't care, disc brakes can be installed with some ease and some difficulty.

Front:
Easy. Simply buy a front suspension from a '65 to '82 and install it on yours. You need at least the spindles with caliper mounts and calipers. You can probably get it all used at a swap meet cheaper than finding separate parts.

Rear: Easy and hard. The trailing arms and brakes from a '65 to '82 are needed, however, the frames of those cars were indented to give room for the calipers. Teh '63 was not. The suspension stop was moved inward about two inches.

If you keep the rear jacked up somewhat, you can probably suffer the lack of clearance, however, you still need to cut the suspension stop off the frame and move it inward.

Brake system:
If you get both front and rear, then you should buy the corresponding year master cylinder ('75 suspension, '75 MC) although probably any will work. You may have to fool around with proportioning valve settings.

If you do only front discs and leave the rear drums (common practice), you will need the dual master cylinder and an adjustable proportioning valve to get braking set right so you aren't locking the rears or the fronts or try to switch ends each time you stop.

You will need to split the brake lines at the junction block so as to have two lines to feed front and rear separately.

Advice? Forget it.

OR

Find a good deal on a rolling chassis for a '65 to '73. Late '68 up will have rear kick up diagonal braces that will need to be cut out.

Then lift your body up, roll your original chassis into storage with the original engine and transmission, then roll the donor chassis with your engine and transmission upgrades underneath the body.

Frames after '73 have the supports for the rubber rear bumper and so need to be modified to allow bolting your regular steel bumpers up again.

OR

Sell your coupe and find a '65 to '67 which already has disc brakes.

[Lyle Hayer]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes - what you asked for

Thankx to all. I think I'll stay original.

[Bruce Boatner]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes?

Lyle,

I was worried about the disc vs. drum issue when I bought by 1964 coupe, which I now use as a daily driver. My worries were completely unfounded. I have been VERY pleased with the braking performance of the drum brakes. In fact, the pedal effort and braking action are actually better than my wife's new Volkswagen with 4 wheel discs. My car does happen to have power brakes. I imagine it would be a heck of lot easier and cheaper to convert to power brakes vs. disc. Maybe you could explore the power option as an alternative to butchering up your car (at least not nearly as much). Based on my own experience, you would be crazy to spend the time and money needed to convert to disc, not to mention the value you would lose on your car.

[mike cobine]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes? Cheaper?

Probably not cheaper. With PB boosters going for around $400 and the PB master cylinder going close to and over $300, you have a bundle in that. You could buy the calipers, spindles, and trailing arms used cheaper.

However, the booster and MC are a lot less work to install.

[mike cobine]

Re: 63 - Disc Brakes - change shoes

If you are not getting the stopping power you want, you can change shoes. It could be your shoes are so old that they don't have the grip anymore due to grease, rust, or whatever. A new set of shoes could restore the stopping you desire.

Rust acts like a lubricant. If your drums are rusty, you have to clean them and have bare steel. The shoes could be rusty, and you could sand them lightly to remove it. This will change your braking considerably.

You could also switch to a semi-metallic shoe material. However, the Corvettes with the original sintered metallic linings had a tendency to be not street friendly when cold although excellent when hot. So if you are hard driving twisty mountain roads, you would like them. If you just cruising around flat city streets, you would hate them.

You can also check for various organic compounds like Ferodo, Hawk, Performance Friction, and others produce. They will increase stopping considerably.

You could even have your shoes relined with Carbon-Kevlar linings at several high performance shops.