1974 Camaro Z28 Disc Brake Install - Stopping the POS

We ditched the Camaro's rear drums in favor of SSBC's Standard Rear Disc Brake kits. We ordered the system with front-matching Turbo Slotted rotors, and also had the calipers (cast-iron units with a single 45mm piston and built-in mechanical parking brake) powdercoated red. Though the rear install was certainly more involved that the front job, it was still pretty easy. Everything we needed was in the kit, and it bolted right on. The most difficult part was pulling the axles to remove the drum backing plates. We're also gonna have to do a little improvisation to get our parking brakes hooked up--not an unusual situation with aftermarket rear disc conversions. Outside of that, the rear installation went very smoothly.

The job took a day, with CHP Publisher Ed Zinke turning wrenches and yours truly snapping photos. In fact, the brakes themselves took less than a day--as you'll see below, we replaced most of the old Camaro's brake lines with new stainless lines from PST, and that took a chunk of time (well-spent time, mind you). It also leads us into our next POS project, which will be rebuilding both the front and rear suspension with a host of PST components. For now, however, we've got a car that we're certain will stop on a dime, and be sure that we'll be putting the POS Camaro's new brake systems to the test.

7. After sliding a spacer...        read full caption 7. After sliding a spacer onto each of the four bolts (arrows), the caliper mounting straps can be installed. The longer strap goes on the bottom, and note that the ends of the straps point in towards each other. The corresponding nuts should be placed on each bolt, but don't torque then down just yet.	8. With the caliper mounting...        read full caption 8. With the caliper mounting plate in place, EZ slid the rear axle back into the housing prior to mounting up one of SSBC's sharp Turbo Slotted rotors. After spraying the disc with brake cleaner and wiping it down, he used a lug nut to hold it in place.	9. EZ then set on the right-side...        read full caption 9. EZ then set on the right-side caliper. The mounting straps were left loose so that we could align the holes on the caliper with those in the straps. Once everything is properly lined up, the caliper mounting bolts are torqued to 80-100 lb-ft; the strap mounting bolts get 65-70 lb-ft.
10. And just like that, we...        read full caption 10. And just like that, we had our passenger side caliper mounted. Note that the caliper is mounted toward the rear, opposite the shock absorber. Also note that the bleeder valve is up at the top of the caliper, while the parking brake lever faces down.	11. The driver-side brake...        read full caption 11. The driver-side brake goes together much like the passenger side ... only reversed. The mounting bracket faces toward the rear of the car, the splash shield opening and caliper mounting straps face forward, and the caliper mounts toward the front of the car, again opposite the shock absorber. On a side note, it's gonna take a little finagling to hook up our new in-caliper parking brakes, so we tied the POS' original cables up and out of the way for now.	12a-b. With both axles back...        read full caption 12a-b. With both axles back in the differential, EZ buttoned up the cover and refilled it with gear oil. He then turned his attention toward our new SSBC rear brake lines. After pulling off the original hard lines, he used the supplied banjo bolts and copper washers to attach short flex hoses to the calipers. After sizing up the new steel line, EZ used a tubing bender to make a neat 90-degree bend in the end of the line and connected it to the flex hose. The remainder of the new steel line was then routed along the axle, held in place with the original clips.
	13. Rather than cutting both...        read full caption 13. Rather than cutting both steel lines, EZ installed the driver-side line (just like the passenger side) and ran the hose to our new T-fitting, supplied by PST. This small amount of overlap would have to go.	14a-b. EZ cut off the offending...        read full caption 14a-b. EZ cut off the offending portion and quickly created a new double-flared end to hook up to our new T-fitting.
	15. The rear brake-line setup...        read full caption 15. The rear brake-line setup is very sano; note that we also added a new PST braided stainless frame line to further enhance our disc system's stopping potential.	16. On the subject of brake...        read full caption 16. On the subject of brake lines, PST sent just about every line we needed to re-plumb the braking system in the POS. EZ, feeling ambitious and sensing opportunity with the engine out of the car, jumped in and started replacing them.
17. It's not a pretty sight,...        read full caption 17. It's not a pretty sight, but that's our POS Camaro--most of it, anyway. Note the new lines at the master cylinder and the proportioning valve beneath it. We also replaced the cross-frame line (arrow); try that with the engine in the car! Granted, we'll need to change the master cylinder and prop valve to take full advantage of the rear discs, but at least we've got fresh lines in place and at the ready.	18. We then turned our attention...        read full caption 18. We then turned our attention to the front binders, where we'd chosen to install SSBC's Quick Change two-piston caliper and stock-size Turbo Slotted rotors. Removing the original calipers required removing the Allen-head caliper mounting bolts.	19. We made quick work of...        read full caption 19. We made quick work of the original caliper and rotor. It was a mess back there, so we decided to do a little clean up before proceeding...