Unfortunately, no J-body car ever came from the factory with rear disc brakes. However, there are numerous aftermarket kits on the market for this purpose. Stainless Steel Brake Corporation (SSBC) and Baer both sell conversion kits, as do aftermarket sites like RSM Racing, High Rev Motorsports, J-Body Performance, Mantapart, etc. Mantapart offers a 10.5” rear disc brake conversion. Unfortunately, it is not meant for street use as it eliminates the ABS sensors and e-brake (which is too bad, because it would be a good match for the stock front brakes).
Most of these kits use parts from other cars, usually the F-body (Camaro/Firebird) and Y-body (Corvette) platforms. The J-body uses a smaller bolt pattern, so the rotors are usually drilled with both patterns in order to fit. These kits all include one key piece of hardware - an adapter plate which bolts to the J-body axle and makes it possible to bolt-on the rear discs from another car.
Several people have successfully duplicated the adapter plates used in the conversion kits, for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to save money by putting together their own kit.
The only downside to these conversion kits, is that the rear discs are all 12" in diameter; 2 inches larger than the front brakes. If you don't upgrade the front brakes to 12" or 13" rotors as well, it may look mis-matched. Upgrade kits are also available for the front.
Why not just swap a rear disc setup from another car?
Sure, just remember the key to the whole conversion is the adapter plate. Pretty much any rear disc brake setup would work, provided that you could fabricate a plate to bolt it onto the J-body rear axle, and adapt the brake and e-brake lines to work. Most aftermarket kits either re-use the factory e-brake cable, or come with new cables.
Several companies have already done the research to make this swap possible, but if you want to 'reinvent the brake swap' be sure to post your results in the Brake forum ;)
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| Created: |
02-13-2005 |
| Modified: |
02-13-2005 |
| Rating: |
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