These are the parts that make up one side of the new brake setup. The braided steel line is optional; you can use your old rubber lines if they are in good shape. We opted for the good stuff since the rubber ones were cracked and worn and these are so slick looking! |
The first step is to remove the old drum assembly. If possible, try soaking all the bolts with a rust remover a day before you begin the work. It will make things a lot easier and possibly save a few bloody knuckles and some swearing. I know your neighbors will appreciate it! |
After removing the drum, you need to remove the cotter pin, nut, and washer so you can get to the hub assembly. Save the nut and washer, as they will be needed later. |
Here is where the rust remover will be appreciated; this bolt, along with the two below the spindle, holds the backing plate to the spindle. After you get done cussing at them, remove the backing plate and set it in the swap meet pile. |
This is what you will be left with after getting all the old drum stuff off. If necessary, take a wire brush to the mounting surfaces to clean off the rust. |
The caliper-mounting bracket will be the first of the new parts to be installed. At this point do not use any thread locker (Loctite), as you should do a trial fit before finalizing anything, as some shims may be required to properly locate the caliper over the rotor. (If all else fails, read the instructions.) |
After packing the new bearings with high-quality disc-brake grease, insert them in the new hubs. |
Here the billet hub is being mated with its new rotor. Be sure to use a thread-locking compound here. The machine work on these pieces is really beautiful. |
The new hub and rotor assembly is installed and ready to have the washer and nut reinstalled, along with a new cotter pin. |
These are fixed calipers, not floating like most OEM pieces, and will sometimes require shims to center the caliper over the rotor. The shims are included with the Aerospace kit. Once you have gotten the calipers shimmed where they should be, go back and apply thread locker to all the fasteners. |
The brake pads are held in place by a single locating pin which makes swapping in new pads a simple matter of pulling the pin, replacing the pads, and reinstalling the pin. This procedure only takes a couple minutes at most! |
Thats it! Bolt on the wheels, follow the instructions about pad break-in and you are ready to roll. In some applications, depending on your wheels offset, a spacer may be required to clear the calipers. |
In addition to the incredible stopping power, we removed 30 pounds of excess baggage from the nose of the car. |
The brakes have been on the car for more than a year and they have worked flawlessly. |
With a shot of nitrous on tap, we're sure glad to have some new discs up front for the far end of the strip. |
If you are like a lot of hot rodders, you probably spend a large percentage of your time and money wringing out that last bit of precious horsepower, that last tenth of a second in e.t., or the elusive top speed number at the track. They rarely give a whole lot of consideration to bringing a hot rod to a screeching haltits like the old saying, only after you get it to go do you worry about stopping it.
That was case with the 69 Nova used in the cover story, "Budget Beater Streeter" for the April 1999 issue of Hot Rod. At the time, this Chevy was capable of running in the high tens at 122 m.p.h., way quicker than the engineers for the original brake system ever had in mind. To be fair, even though stopping distances with the factory-installed drum brakes were not the best, they werent terrifying either; but with a nitrous installation looming in the not-too-distant future, some concerns arose about the increased m.p.h. the car would be seeing.
After looking around at the available options, we decided to go the aftermarket disc brake route; specifically the billet caliper equipment from Aerospace components. Aerospace makes some really top-quality products; brakes, water pumps, fuel pumps and other items for high-performance and racing applications. The item selected here is a four-piston, heavy-duty brake kit for 68-72 Novas and early Camaro and Firebird applications. It is intended specifically to replace drum brakes on these cars. If you are upgrading from a stock disc brake application, check the companys catalog for the kit you require.
These kits are really well designed and quite simple to install. This was a first-time install for me and it was completed in a single afternoon without any problems. Follow along as we show how you too can shorten your stopping distances as well as shed some extra weight from the front of your car, which was also part of the reason for going with this aftermarket package. Anything to rid some excess heft from your ride to chase that elusive e.t. number.