Disc brake conversion

[hrlyfxdl]

Hello all, hope everyone is doing good. I have a question about a brake conversion and couldn't source an answer on here.

I'm going to be changing over my front drum brakes on my Camaro to disc. I've sourced most of the original parts I'll need to do this (to keep it looking as authentic as I can), but when it comes to the rotor....are there any pros or cons to staying with the 2 piece OEM style rotor in the conversion (other than authenticity) versus installing a 1 piece rotor for the 4 piston calipers? Finding the 2 piece is rather tough to do, but they are available, but was just wondering from experience if there is any advantage of one over the other (again, other than authenticity and maybe the 1 piece is more readily available these days). Thanks for any input you can offer.

Shane

[cook_dw]

If you aren’t worried about the car being 100% original correct (cause if you were you’d keep it drum) then go with a 1 piece rotor.

[69Z28-RS]

Apparently he wants to do the brake upgrade with 'original' '69 Disk Brake parts (or at least original appearing parts), so his question really is:    Are the one piece rotors noticeably different from originals, or are they inferior in any way?

He wants to upgrade his braking capability of the car without using 'visibly aftermarket parts'.   If I were in his shoes, I'd be doing the same thing.

[Stingr69]

No, there is no difference.  I actually have 1 of each on the front of my car.

[cook_dw]

Apparently he wants to do the brake upgrade with 'original' '69 Disk Brake parts (or at least original appearing parts), so his question really is:    Are the one piece rotors noticeably different from originals, or are they inferior in any way?

He wants to upgrade his braking capability of the car without using 'visibly aftermarket parts'.   If I were in his shoes, I'd be doing the same thing.

Wont be "original" if he uses 69 DISK BRAKE PARTS on a 68.. 


As I said go with the 1 piece cause at the end of the day the price difference isn't worth it unless your car was originally a disc brake car and you wanted to do a "correct" restoration..   Is that better for you Gary?

[Petes L48]

Way back in the day, the one piece type had to be machined a little to not hit the lip of 4 piston calipers.  This was back in the mid 80s.  I imagine they've come a long way since then.  When I did my resto a couple years ago, I used the hubs from the original 2-piece rotors, mated to discs from reproductions, with no issues.  But as everyone has said, for your application you can just go with the one piece.           

[69Z28-RS]

Apparently he wants to do the brake upgrade with 'original' '69 Disk Brake parts (or at least original appearing parts), so his question really is:    Are the one piece rotors noticeably different from originals, or are they inferior in any way?

He wants to upgrade his braking capability of the car without using 'visibly aftermarket parts'.   If I were in his shoes, I'd be doing the same thing.

Wont be "original" if he uses 69 DISK BRAKE PARTS on a 68.. 


As I said go with the 1 piece cause at the end of the day the price difference isn't worth it unless your car was originally a disc brake car and you wanted to do a "correct" restoration..   Is that better for you Gary?

No it won't be a correct 'restoration' regardless, since his car didn't come with disk brakes.  But I can appreciate wanting to stay with period correct GM parts! 

Note:  Many '67-68 owners with factory (four piston) disk brakes choose to convert to '69 disk brakes purely due to their simplicity and maintenance!

[hrlyfxdl]

All, thanks for the input. That has really helped. I'm just inexperienced in nuances of these types of conversions, thus the question.

I gave up on originality as far as a pure restoration a long time ago. My car is supposedly a 1968 SS 350, but without docs I can't prove that and the engine is long gone (although I still check the orphans page every single day LOL). You all helped me when I first bought it to decipher some of the indicators of a SS, but again I would never stand on that fact as I can really prove it. But I appreciate the look and engineering/design of how the Camaro was built, thus why I want to have the best of both worlds: better stopping capability as I'd like this car to be a daily driver, but true to how this car "would" have been built if it had disc brakes from the factory.

I've sourced the correct parts where I can, probably from a lot of you guys, date and period correct, from the booster, master, valves down to the backing plates, spindles, brackets. I can buy aftermarket 2 piece rotors, but they are import. I can get the 1 piece rotors that are USA made, and that's what I'd prefer, but just wanted to make sure I wasn't causing issues from a 2 piece to a 1 piece design. I'm still going to buy aftermarket hoses, bolts and brackets that I can't get from used parts sellers. But overall 99%, it will have the same appearance as if it had disc brakes from the factory. I'll keep all the original drum components, just in case some day....

Anyway, thanks everyone for the input and help, makes me feel better going in the 1 piece rotor direction. Stay safe, S

[cook_dw]

Ran across these while doing my craigslist search if there are of interest.  You can buy the rotors from Camaro Central IIRC but you will have 2 piece hubs.

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/pts/d/west-mifflin-z28-piece-rotors/7449975249.html

[Petes L48]

The rotors only, for the 2-piece hubs, show as discontinued on their site:

https://www.camarocentral.com/1967_1969_Camaro_Front_Disc_Brake_Rotor_for_2_Pc_p/brc-634.htm

[cook_dw]

Well that's no good..  I guess its been a few years since I checked on them.

[z28z11]

Heartbeat has the 2 piece assembly in stock for about $170.00 (imported, all grey cast iron, but pretty darn close). You could use them, or bolt the rotors up to the original nodular iron GM hubs if you have a set. At least that gives you the appearance with the functionality -

Regards,
Steve

[hrlyfxdl]

Ran across these while doing my craigslist search if there are of interest.  You can buy the rotors from Camaro Central IIRC but you will have 2 piece hubs.

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/pts/d/west-mifflin-z28-piece-rotors/7449975249.html

Thank you for the lead, I'll give them a call today and see about the hubs, probably ask them to just buy the hubs and forgo the rotors since I'd be replacing them anyway. Appreciate the help, I'll post pics once I'm done.

[x66 714]

Neither piece is serviced separately....Joe

[GMAD_Van Nuys]

I would recommend buying a new one-piece rotor as someone can't tell if your car has a two-piece rotor unless they put their fingers inside the slots in the wheel rim (just performed the check).  Although I've bought rebuilt master cylinders and power brake boosters, I wouldn't buy used rotors unless I could inspect them in person to measure the rotor thickness and condition of the bearing races. 

[uscrichter]

I just went through this situation yesterday when I went to the brake shop to have my '69 rotors turned, but they where to thin to turn, so I went to NAPA to find a good replacement and they only had the single piece rotor vs. the two piece, when we compared it with my original rotor it was dimensionally identical and would have worked fine, but I want to keep everything as original as possible without sacrificing safety and ultimately ordered the two piece unites from HBC, when it comes to judging, safety trumps originality and if you decide to mate a original hub with a new rotor may require balancing, doesn't seem worth the effort IMP.

[hrlyfxdl]

On my continued quest here, can anyone confirm or deny that on 67/68 Camaros with disc brakes up front, that the pins that held the brake pads in at the top were originally steel color, or gold zinc plating color? I see the gold colored ones on different aftermarket websites, but I've ordered a couple different sets and they come steel colored (with a round head actually, so not sure that's even correct as the picture on their sites are actually flat head.

Maybe a picture of an original set possibly? Thanks

[hrlyfxdl]

Well, never got any feedback on the disc brake pad pins, and what the originals looked like (steel vs. zinc plated), so if someone has a picture or information on those please post.

But here are the two disc brake set ups I put together from all assorted OEM parts I was able to obtain, and repop calipers and one piece rotor (chose this route of USA made steel 1 piece versus the 2 piece import steel which I've read at times can be problematic). I wanted to post some pics of how these are assembled for anyone in the future looking for that information (I had a hard time finding some good pics of the entire units assembled). Thanks

[x66 714]

Are you not concerned about the original style rotor?....Joe

[hrlyfxdl]

Hi Joe,
No, on the rotor issue I went with the One Piece (mainly for ease of replacement and it being USA steel versus finding the 2 piece rotor, which all I could find was import steel in these and have read that can be problematic, someone commented on that earlier exact issue they were having). There was a bit of discussion around that and my choice ended up being the one piece rotor.  Thanks

[GMAD_Van Nuys]

Ed Meyer had 2-piece rotors rotors made for the 1969 BOSS 429 as they unique for the car as the spindles were changed in 1970.  Ed also had 2-piece rotors made for the 1969 BOSS 302 and Shelby Mustangs, with 2-piece rotors also available that could be used on 1970 Mustangs.  These rotors were quite reason in price and were available from National Parts Depot and other parts outlets, but sold out some years ago:

http://www.boss302.com/smf/index.php?topic=72122.0

[David K]

I just put on the one piece rotor with the single piston caliper version —-1969 version due to to simplicity. Stopping my 6 banger is not much different than a V8.