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1966 Chevy C20

In my 79 I have manual brakes and disks up front. I was a little hesitant about the whole set up but realized that once I swapped out my warped rotors, non existent brake pads and bled them, and tossed in new wheel bearings... It's actually not all that bad really. I'm going to do the power swap only because I already have the master and booster sitting here.. if you want me snap any photos of my master to see if it's the same one you have or anything else lemme know. Might just need a different prop valve?
 
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imiceman44 said:
I don't want you to like my post, :doah:how did it stop with that setup?
Click to expand...

Well if by the time I had written my response, there wasn't 10 new posts, maybe I'd be able to catch up. We move slow up here
 
Not sure if this is any help as to the master cylinder question

IMG_20200420_164554.jpg IMG_20200420_164540.jpg

Oh yea and another reason I'm ditching this one is it doesn't seem to ever stop leaking
...

Although the oil is preserving my frame underneath quite well
 
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My courier owl isn't that fast with updates. He's old, cut us some slack.
 
I would like to remind y'all that this is C20, 3/4 ton, correct?
This could possibly play into parts swapping and what is required for manual brakes with disc front. But maybe not??
And when a swapped my old '68 C10 to discs from a '72, I had to swap the tie rod out to the '72 as the ends were a different size. And the brake hoses were a different size thread, but that was easy to fix, even though the truck hoses weren't the fix.
My thought is that GM changed the tie rod ends to improve, and made the hoses different ends when they went to disc.

I only remember seeing 1/2 ton stuff with manual disc brakes.

Was '67 the first year of the dual reservoir master cylinder?
 
6872xtc said:
I would like to remind y'all that this is C20, 3/4 ton, correct?
Click to expand...
That statement and the picture of @bix master cylinder makes me almost embarrassed to post a picture of the master cylinder in the 66.

20200421_081642.jpg

Cute little guy, right? The brakes do work reasonably well; you just have to pay more attention. I notice it more when people pull out in front of me and I think if only they knew I don't have modern brakes. Makes you realize how much we rely on modern equipment.

Based on the comparison to @bix master cylinder, I probably would need to change it. Also thinking about the volume of the fluid in a caliper versus a wheel cylinder.

IMG_20200420_164540.jpg

I don't plan on the Eaton axle staying in. It makes some bad noises at certain speeds and load conditions. I haven't found anyone selling rebuilds parts for them. There's some chance the noise I hear is coming from the transmission, but even if the rear axle is fine, the gearing is just too low. I have the 465 w/Overdrive I got from @Capt Ron but even overdrive isn't going to help as much as I'd like.

Anyway, I say all that because the rear axle will probably get swapped out for a Dana 60 or 14 bolt and putting rear discs on one of those would be much easier.

I was doing some searching about swapping parts in the front and the big difference between the 66 and later year trucks is the lower control arm. On the 66 it's kind of a flat bar instead of a round bar on the newer stuff.

20200421_084012.jpg

Some people have swapped over entire front suspension assemblies from 80's 3/4 tons. The holes in the frame mostly line up; the one build I read the guy had to drill 4 of 14 holes.

Either way, going to front discs is going to be an investment of labor and cost. I did find 1 kit that would swap in 8 lug parts and didn't include a master cylinder and booster but it's not cheap.

SWBK--8D7187C20_1000W.jpg

This is when I begin questioning if it's worth the cost and labor to do it.
 
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@bix, looking at the color of the firewall in both our trucks, the colors are pretty close to the same.
 
Here's an example of the rust coming thru the primer.

2020-04-21 08.17.36.jpg

2020-04-21 08.17.47.jpg
 
mrk5 said:
That statement and the picture of @bix master cylinder makes me almost embarrassed to post a picture of the master cylinder in the 66.

View attachment 337077

Cute little guy, right? The brakes do work reasonably well; you just have to pay more attention. I notice it more when people pull out in front of me and I think if only they knew I don't have modern brakes. Makes you realize how much we rely on modern equipment.

Based on the comparison to @bix master cylinder, I probably would need to change it. Also thinking about the volume of the fluid in a caliper versus a wheel cylinder.

View attachment 337078

I don't plan on the Eaton axle staying in. It makes some bad noises at certain speeds and load conditions. I haven't found anyone selling rebuilds parts for them. There's some chance the noise I hear is coming from the transmission, but even if the rear axle is fine, the gearing is just too low. I have the 465 w/Overdrive I got from @Capt Ron but even overdrive isn't going to help as much as I'd like.

Anyway, I say all that because the rear axle will probably get swapped out for a Dana 60 or 14 bolt and putting rear discs on one of those would be much easier.

I was doing some searching about swapping parts in the front and the big difference between the 66 and later year trucks is the lower control arm. On the 66 it's kind of a flat bar instead of a round bar on the newer stuff.

View attachment 337080

Some people have swapped over entire front suspension assemblies from 80's 3/4 tons. The holes in the frame mostly line up; the one build I read the guy had to drill 4 of 14 holes.

Either way, going to front discs is going to be an investment of labor and cost. I did find 1 kit that would swap in 8 lug parts and didn't include a master cylinder and booster but it's not cheap.

View attachment 337086

This is when I begin questioning if it's worth the cost and labor to do it.
Click to expand...
What about buying a gmt400 frame and body swapping it? Might be easier in the long run.
Gmt400 because no wants those trucks.
They are cheap and better then square body.
The Fab level in custom body mounts wouldn't be that different. Then you could get everything for the EFI tank, for a nice driver.
 
But that changes the driving experience. That's why I want to keep the manual brakes and steering. The main reason for looking at discs is laziness. I know I won't want to mess with the drum brakes because they are a pain.

I hope you're not trying to apply logic and common sense to my project here. :rotfl: :doah:
 
If you plan on swapping the rear axle, I would go for one out of the GMT800, (I believe) . Get one from behind a 6.0 and have the discs already. There are ways around the panhard rod being hooked to the differential area. You put a longer one on with a bracket mounted to the axle tube. The newer acke will have the better park brake vs the one in the caliper.
If the frame width is correct, I would go for the swap to the '73 and up front suspension.
:waytogo:
 
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