12 Bolt brakes? best manual brake setup?

[71LS1Vega]

is there a guide to what rear brakes i need to purchase? i have a 67-69 camaro SS 12 bolt that is narrowed and had c-clip eliminators. im not sure if they are stock style c-clips eliminators or not but is there any way i can find out what i need to get. i see they have rear disc setups online for 12 bolts but im not sure if they would work for my rear.

Also i do not have any room to put a brake booster on my car so i have to work with what i have. i plan on a full large front and rear disc setup and i want to also upgrade my master cylinder which im not sure if i need to. but i know my brakes were terrible, very terrible last year so i need to upgrade!

[stage169]

I'm guessing the c clip eliminator fits inside the brakes just inside the axle flange? Sorry I've never seen a kit installed but I think the first step would be to figure out your housing end bolt pattern. It maybe as simple as the 67-69 Camaro brakes. After you figure out your housing end then you can start checking on brakes. Maybe someone else who knows more will chime in.

My understanding is there is not much braking pressure difference between a power brake or manual. Of course it takes more pedal pressure but manual 4 wheel disc brakes work fine. I just read up some the other day and Baer recommends the front calipers to be a minimum of 25% larger than the back. Preferably 40 to 50 % larger. By that I mean the caliper piston area. I just did this for my car so I'll show you what I came up with.

Piston area (square inches) formula is - Pi times radius squared. Radius of a circle is half its diameter.
1991 S10 front caliper piston is 2.5". 1995 to 2001 Ford Explorer rear caliper piston is 46mm (mm x .039370078 = inches) or 1.81". You have to find the piston area for both.
S10 1.25 x 1.25 x 3.1417 = 4.91 piston area.
Explorer .905 x .905 x 3.1417 = 2.57 piston area.

So if I did the math correctly the front brakes should be 48% larger than the rear. I want mine to be manual and I hope there is enough brake pedal movement (I read that somewhere also) but I bet its close enough I never did check on the stock H front caliper piston size but I bet its close. Hope this helps some but check it out for yourself. Brian

[71LS1Vega]

Well i talked to my uncle who has manual 4 wheel disc on his 10.30's 4door 62 impala and he told me if i can find a master cylinder with a smaller piston so it can compress the fluid harder. is there any other options for this?

basically i think if i used a power brakes master cylinder it would have a larger piston and wouldnt work as well. im debating on just buying a wilwood master cylinder or what not. i heard G-body monte carlos and regals ect have MC's that bolt right in so i might try something like that or i might have to call wilwood and see what they suggest.

and also by that chart you posted it only shows one option for my rear end. but i thought there were 2 patterns? well either way ill go measure and see if its the same or not.

[spyder_xlch]

How about hydroboost?

[stage169]

I have read that a master cylinder with a piston diameter of 7/8 or 15/16 is a good compromise between pressure and volume for four wheel disc brakes. I don't know what MC's will fit our cars but I bet there are plenty to choose from.

I called today to check on what my 77 Skyhawk front caliper piston diameter is and was told 2.5" just like the S10. Maybe a late model H MC might do the trick. Need to find out piston diameter and stroke. I'm sure its worth the effort I read a 25 to 35 % stopping distance improvement with rear disc's.

I forget where I got that diagram of housing ends and the one from Moser doesn't include them all either. You are right though I have seen two for the 12 bolt. I thought it might help, you measure yours and you'll know when you see it.

Hydro boost is cool but a lot more work. I've had two out of three leak and so is my father in-laws. Still trick and gaining in popularity no doubt. Brian

[71LS1Vega]

i just measured and i got from center to center of the bolt holes around the perimiter 2 sides were about 2 3/4 and the other 2 sides are about 3 3/8ths within that range (my tape measure measurement probably isnt 100% accurate.

it didnt seem to match up with anything on the chart.

[stage169]

I searched here and found this post. http://forums.h-body.org/viewtopic.php?t=465

Which led me to this. http://www.steeltechsolutions.com/REAR_AXLE_ID.html

See if you think your housing end is like the Large Pattern 10 - 12 bolt Chevy rearend towards the bottom of the page. Brian