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Thread: Power Disc Brakes for a 57

  1. #1
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    Power Disc Brakes for a 57

    Hi everyone.

    I searched back more than a year and didn't see anything about this. What is the latest and greatest in power disc brakes and upgraded master cylinder for a 57 Bel Air? If there's a lengthy discussion on this somewhere just point me to it and I'll grab some cookies and start reading.

    My car is a 4 door sedan, which means nothing to the brakes, V8 automatic. Factory power steering. Right now it has the original drums up front. Last year someone gave me some new parts that included taper bearings and said that makes a big difference [in I don't remember what]. I've decided I want to do power discs. Just because.

    Is there a kit that takes care of everything all at once, ie a kit that has the disc brakes, master, booster, etc? Best place to get all this? Will there be clearance problems with the power steering?

    The car is not a show car. I'm not looking for a correct look, as long as everything is tidy I'll be fine. I want ease of driving, ease of maintenance, reliable.

    Thanks everyone.
    Mike
    1957 Bel Air

  2. #2
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    I prefer the kits with D52 calipers, not a fan of small metric calipers.

  3. #3
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    Many, many kits out there. The basic disc brake upgrade would be caliper brackets, rotors, and calipers. The rotors and calipers should be the replacement parts for a 69-72 Chevelle. Those are the calipers markm mentioned, there are others that use the Malibu/S10 calipers, they are smaller, stay away from them. For a booster, get a kit that uses an 8" dual diaphragm booster - stay away from 7" boosters.

  4. #4
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    Note that to upgrade to the brakes recommended by Mark/Rick for your '57, you'll also have to upgrade your wheels to probably a 15" wheel (or possibly the wider 14" used on some disk brake Chevys in the late sixties; either way your wheel covers become wall hangings...

    The ONLY advantage to the smaller metric parts is that there are a couple of kits based on them which do allow your original wheels (and thus wheel covers) to be retained.

    Note that converting to the metric disk brake systems will improve your braking over the original drums, but the smaller rotors and retaining the narrow wheels/tires do limit the improvement possible.
    Last edited by BamaNomad; 02-22-2021 at 06:10 PM.

  5. #5
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    Thanks guys. I've been looking around but haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. It must be out there, lots of people have done this.
    Mike
    1957 Bel Air

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