Looking for opinions on brakes

[Frasers73]

I am currently working on the engine and figured it may be a good idea to re-do the brakes before I test it out.

I have no idea how effective the 4 wheel drum system is going to be. Having bought the car not running, I have never driven it!

I'm debating whether to re-do the existing drum system or do the disk brake conversion.

How does your stock brake system work for you?

Has anyone here done the disk brake conversion?

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated!

Regards,
Jon

[bobss396]

Novas come with 9.5" drum brakes, which are pretty good for normal driving around as a grocery getter. If you want to go for discs, find a salvage yard that has older cars and swap in a Nova disc brake setup. Other cars have them like Olds Omegas, Pontiac Venturas, Buick Apollos. The years 68-74 should all bolt right in, the chassis changed in 75 and may not be a direct swap. The aftermarket conversion kits are pricy but will also do the job.

Bob

[Frasers73]

Thanks Bob,

I was hoping to save some $ and leave it as a drum set-up until I get into some power upgrades.

I just didn't want to assume the stock equipment was adequate and go screaming through a light or stop sign and write off a rebuilt 350 or 396 that I just installed.

thanks,
Jon

[AlmostStock]

If you rebuild the stock system properly you will be fine. These cars stopped good when they came from the factory. If you want discs, an all new kit is the way to go, but as Bob pointed out, it won't be cheap. As far as using a junk yard donor car, good luck finding one. Even if you do, the parts will probably be spent. You'd be better off to just rebuild the 4x drum system in my opinion. Make sure to get new rubber brake lines. I've seen where the original factory clamp on them was crimped on too tight, causing a restriction... and making the car to pull to one side.

[Blue Bowtie]

I used to have 4-drum systems on '60s cars that never stopped even half as well as a disc/drum setup. I had a '67 Firebird that just about wouldn't stop after 3-4 runs due to heat fade, even after about 10-15 minutes between runs. I would adjust, clean, and reline them frequently, and they just couldn't take the heat and loading. Stops from about 120 get very interesting with 11/9" drums, even power assisted. I can't imagine a Nova would be any better. I had a '67 Plymouth that had even smaller brakes, and less stopping power. I converted my '68 Mustang to front discs and it made a world of difference, and that's a lot lighter vehicle.

You can probably run the drums for a while, but don't be surprised if they aren't at all what you are accustomed to - Even compared to factory disc/drum setups.

[Frasers73]

So far I have only owned cars with 4 wheel disc brakes. I was only considering replacing all 4 drums. I was overlooking the obvious: front disc, rear drum - option. Thank you for pointing that out Blue Bowtie!

As my plan is to put in a higher Hp motor, I think I'll rebuild the rear drums and do a disc conversion for the front. Using old junk yard parts kind of scares me and it is hard enough to find time to work on the car, nevermind find the parts in a junk yard, then work on the car as well.

Has anybody installed an aftermarket disc brake conversion kit? If so what company manufactured it?

Thanks,
Jon

[MrPbody]

We've put "Master Power" systems on both A- and F-bodies. The F-body (early) version is the same for the X-body (Nova). Excellent stuff.

Jim

[bobss396]

I had a Lincoln Mark VII rear under a '70 Nova which gave me discs all around. It had all the stopping power that I ever needed. But not something that you can do easily at home. A decent speed or fab shop should be able to handle it.

Bob

[450HP]

I had a 65 Impala 2-door harptop once running a 400HP 350, 2 speed powerglide,
& drum brakes...

Let's just say that I'll never go with all drums again!

Luckily, my Nova already came equipped with front disc brakes (it's also one of only
4677 made in 74 with a factory four speed! ).

Not sure which models had them, but I read in a mag about swapping out the steel
drums for lighter weight aluminum drums.

The aluminum drums are a little bit larger than the steel drums, however, the article was
only mentioning replacing the rear drums on cars with front discs to lighten the car up
a little bit.

Scott

[SilentNinja]

Well i do know something about brakes......exspecialy on a 1973 nova...if you go drum rebuild them and buy new drums...at least on the front....since it is a old car and you said you are going to "test it out" then i would also replace the calipers and shoes also, IF they are leaking....when i changed my shoes and i noticed mine were leaking but didn't do anything about it...then going about 60 and was slowing down and my left side locked up on me....yeah the brake fluid leaked down into it and it just locked up....but now i fixed all of it and they are pretty Decent brakes for 33 years of age and it will stop you(complete rebuild of brakes cost me 12$ for the calipers, 12$ for the complete Left and right front shoes, and 30$ a piece for the new drums...)...even if you have disk...it's not abs and will still lock up on you if you really need to stop...oh and don't forget to bleed the brakes...heh...i made that mistake also....

[bobss396]

Your Nova should stop reliably with all new drums, shoes and guts. I used to do brake jobs all day everyday for years. There are two types of drums for the Novas, one is plain on the outside, the other is finned, which adds surface area and takes away heat a lot faster.

I would upgrade customers for those if we had to replace drums, I think the allowance in size was only .090. Every brake job got the wheel cylinders rebuilt or new ones, a complete hardware kit and everything was taken apart, cleaned and lubed with high heat brake lube.

Make sure you lube the star adjuster, just a wipe of lube is fine. Hit anywhere that there is a metal to metal contact, those raised portions on the backing plate where the brake shoes rub, the top anchor where the radius of the shoe web sits.

Bob

[NOVA71]

Drums all around worked good on mine, but the disc/drum is far superior. I switched mine over a few years back. The only used part (and most important) is the spindle, which I got from a 67-69 Camaro. It's an easy swap to do. All the other brake parts I bought new from the local parts shops pretty cheap. I got new calipers, pads, flex lines, wheel bearings, and upper and lower ball joints (you don't really need the ball joints, but I replaced them since I had it all apart anyway). This cost me less than half the cost of an aftermarket kit and everything is new + new balljoints, with the only used part being the spindles. Now I was lucky because I had power drums, so I didn't need a new booster. If yours isn't power drums, you'd have to factor in the cost of the new booster as well.

[pat73 nova]

ive worked on many drum brake systems if adjusted properly they work fine if your gonna be doing lot of street fighting invest the time and money and do the change over to front disc remember it does take longer to stop ?