Projects Mid Life Crisis 62 Vette

I went for another drive this morning, it's sure quieter on the highway now...and really loves going 75-80.

But now I have to do something about the brakes. They've never worked very well, the old drums were worn quite a bit and not quite round. I got some new drums, they're not round either, and after turning them on two different lathes in town they're still not round.

I'm thinking I might bite the bullet and get some modern crap for it...like maybe 4 wheel Wilwoods or something.

Probably not the best HAMB move, but damn, this car would be nice to drive it if stopped well.

 

Might be an old wives tale but somewhere in the back of my mind I remember hearing that the older Vettes didn't stop all that well when new. Or not.

 

Same with the drum brakes on my Stude pickup. They are ok for regular around town driving, but I would be wary of stopping from a high speed, towing anything or going down a long grade. Spoiled I guess.

 

Front disc’s, I’m fine with that. Disc’s on all four corners, not a fan. But I don’t own a sports car.

 

The brakes on my 54 Chevy handled our steep hills here just fine and the only time my wife drove it she had to panic stop and hauled it down with ease. Stock front, Chevy A body 91/2x2 rears. ECI dual MC adaptor WITH their brass residuals. 1" 70 Chevy Dual drum MC

 

Yeah, the weird thing is that my 59 Chevy truck has pretty much identical brakes as the Vette, and it weighs 1000 lbs more, and has a big block, and I'm fine with the drum brakes on it.

Must be the sports car mentality? Like I said up front, I'm having a mid life crisis

 

Id go with the Wildwoods - at least on the front.

 

The rear brakes are acting up also, and with the weight balance of the car, they get a lot of load on them...

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/4469806-drum-brake-or-disc-brake-2.html

I wonder if there's an upgrade to a bigger better drum for front/rear?

***EDIT***
DZ to the rescue.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/3355077-big-brake-62-a.html

 

Contrary to some here "disc brakes are not a crime"!!!

 

Don't hate me Johnny but I have five vehicles and they all have four wheel discs.

 

Back in the day, that car probably had better brakes relatively speaking than most other cars on the road. That's no longer true, and if you want to drive it like it was intended to be driven (it is a sports car after all), they just won't be adequate anymore when pretty much everything out there has ABS brakes that can stop on the proverbial dime with any moron driving. Defensive driving helps, but that will only carry you so far....

 

Not so much a crime. More like a fashion statement at car meets is my point. They have their need as Jim stated and why I said sports car.

 

We have two new cars with 4 wheel disc, one older with with front discs (Plan II), and my truck and the Vette with drums all around. So I have some experience with different brake systems, in different applications.

The heavy duty drum brake option makes it pretty clear that the normal drum brakes were not up to the needs of spirited driving....they were a weakness in the car. And freeways were a new thing at the time.

 

I don’t see anything wrong with safety updates. Disc brakes and dual chamber master cylinders are both safety updates in my opinion. Purists will disagree, but for trailer queens stock would be fine. Like Steve said, everything now will stop much faster, they have to or they’d be running all over each other. Oh, wait, they still run all over each other. Giving yourself that little shorter stopping distance and quicker reaction might make the difference in getting stopped and rear ending the idiot in front of that stopped for the spotted horn tailed lizard in front of them!

I am still running the stock Lincoln drums up front and Fairlane drums in the rear on my car, but with a power boosted dual master cylinder. They stop the big heavy car fine, but I keep a good following distance and start braking early for lights and stop signs. I travel mostly two lane roads, I wouldn’t drive in a major city with mine. If I had to do that, I’d be hunting some discs myself.

 

Stop on the proverbial dime? I don’t think they can do that but they will help you to maintain control of the vehicle.

 

I had a 60 vette with stock drums, i rebuilt them and had no problems at all but i live in the flatlands. My 57 has had 4 wheel disc since the late 90’ i think. All auto parts store items, d52 front calipers and metric rears. They work great. So i could go either way based on my experience

 

Be done with it and go with discs for the front. Obliviously stay away from the cheap Chinese crap brake parts.

 

I think for fun you should convert it to mechanical brakes

 

The four wheel manual drum brakes on my Fairlane stopped it pretty well twice from 60mph.
The third time, they sure didn't!
But it's not a sports car, and I am fine with it.

 

That term " stop on a dime " pretty outdated now.
When is the last time any of us actually had a real dime in our pockets ?
For what use, there are no pay phones anymore, and no real modern day vending machines that require the use of a dime.
Just sayin.
That being said, I say go for it, put the Wilwoods on the front.
You wont regret it, after all, its a safety factor.

 

I can recall viewing pictures of Vette metallic shoes that were going onto the track.
They had air gaps in the linings maybe every inch and a half.
The effort was made, of course, to alleviate heat build-up, the short fall of drums.
In today's traffic, you pick slow lane or fast lane. ( Go go go,, or wait for guy in ftont to crash )
Mark, I could not even think of running one of your masterpieces up the 4 lane.
Happines can be just a cruise away. Or seeing the world shrink inro the rear view
Let me say HooRay for the H.A.M.B. and the giants that dwell here

 

If anyone starts looking at your Vette and crawls under then walks off shaking their head and mumbling “disc brakes…” , walk up closely to them and bump into them and spill your soda on their chest.
But I’m an odd duck I guess, I never worry about tailgaters, when I used my ‘59 Chevy PU as my main transportation in the Bay Area in the mid ‘90’s, I did 55/60. Never tried nor wanted to keep up with traffic, I knew it’s limitations. “Getting run over”? So what, I figure when I’m driving anything in traffic, I own the front end, whoever is behind me owns the the backend.
Yes, I am that asshole who drives the speed limit in front of you

 

Stops on a dime and gives you nine cents change!

 

There's nothing wrong with driving the speed limit. It's the asshole that drives 5 mph below the speed limit in the hammer lane that pisses me off!

 

Wilwood has a couple of front kits, not cheap but good.

https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/B...olet&model=Corvette&option=All&axle=Front+Kit

In hind sight, I should have grabbed one of their kits for my car. Mine came from an alliance vendor and I had to jump through a flaming hoop just to get the brackets in place.

 

I went ahead and ordered both ends, plus the lines and cables, we'll see what happens.

 

The purists will cringe!!

did you get rears with a parking brake? My car hasn’t had the parking brake since the 90’s, i’m in the process (slow) of correcting that. It sure is nice with a manual trans and a driveway with a little slope