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14 Bolt FF Rear Disk Conversion, Drivers Side Done!

AZ_Overdrive

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Finally had the courage to start the rear disk conversion and completed the driver's side this afternoon and I have a few thoughts...

1. I am not sure if there are different stud types for the 14 bolt FF ( mine came off of an 80' PU) but the studs don't seat into the countersunk recess of the new rotor (1975 3/4T from AutoZone). It appears the studs don't stick-out as far as they did with the 13" drums. There is still enough for the lug nuts to grab on to but not as much as before. The head of the studs is too large for the recess.

2. The Cadillac caliper works great! On my 89' Burb the driver's side parking brake cable connects to the caliper perfectly ( I mounted the "L" caliper on the driver's side like the Caddy and the p-brake goes perfectly under the axle to the caliper. Since the cable sat well below the axle with the drums I really don't think it will snag on anything. I need to fab some sort of "clamping" bracket for the cable though to get a little more "pull" from the cable as it won't quite hold the Burb (arm on the caliper moves about 60%).

3. The Chevette hose worked well. I used the banjo bolt for the Caddy caliper and all is well. I am not real keen on how I routed the hose to the hard line (snaked it over and in front of the axle so it would connect to the factory line without cutting. I may end up practicing my flaring skills in the future.

4. Bleeding the brakes was not a problem. Although I only did the driver's side (disk swap) this weekend. What I did was before removing the backing plate on the drums, I loosened the mounting bolts and cylinder connection on the drum. Then when I was ready to pull-off the backing plate I quickly took off the cylinder and reconnected it to the line so little fluid would be lost. Then I just tied it up with some bailing wire while I did the rest of the work. Bleeding only took about 5 minutes!

5. Probably the simplist part of the conversion was welding on the "custom" bracket to hold the flex line to the hard line. I am glad I bought a MIG welder last X-Mas!

6. Anyway that's about it. Although I am still not sure about the torque spec on the inner lock ring (hub). I don't think my Haynes manual gives specs for the FF.

I will be tackling the passenger side next weekend and hopefully it goes as well as the driver's side.

/forums/images/graemlins/burb.gif
 
awesome /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
I am putting the caddy's on my 14bff thats in the garage /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
Where did you get the arms and spring for the e-brake??
 
They were on the calipers. I pulled them off of the doner 78' Caddy myself (and the help of the junk yard guy). At this particular yard (it's been about a year since I was there) there were at least 5 other 76 - 78 Eldorado's there with the rears on them.

The calipers were in decent shape, seals, pins, all looked good so I didn't replace them with rebuilt ones. I am pretty sure they were $35.

I purchased the arms recommended on CK5 several years ago but didn't need to use them. I had to call that one company that handles GM's discontinued parts.

Oh, and one more thing. As stated, I did use the flexible line but, on the original Caddy, it was a hard line directly into the caliper. There was a large U bend in the line for what I am assuming is the 1/2 inch movement of the caliper during use/wear. Not a real practicle setup for a 4x4 but I though interesting anyway.
 
so you still have the extra set of arms?? wanna sell them?? /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
One more quick burb, um, I mean blurb.

Total brake fluid used for the one side was about an ounce, didn't loose much.

On the subject of master cylinders. Since I still have the passenger side to do I only gave the truck an around-the-block test drive to make sure nothing was leaking so we'll see how the rear brakes perform with the stock MC. However, I have the see-through plastic MC resivoir on my 89' 1/2 T and there is a small "slit" inbetween both resivoirs so if one gets low it takes from the other. So, my point is that I am interested to see how well the fluid level holds up during normal wear on the rears.

P.S. I need to locate those levers, I put them in a safe place and now I can't remember where! Since we can't advertise on this forum, send me an email. (UPDATED profile)
 
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I may end up practicing my flaring skills in the future.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is easy. I didn't even know such a flare tool existed until someone here told me about it. $23 later and I was flaring like a pro.
 
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