I have a friend with a 50 Ford F-1 and he wants disc brakes on the rear. I've never felt that disc brakes were needed on these trucks but agreed to find out what I could for him. I have no experience with rear discs at all. He already has front discs and a Corvette MC so adding rear discs should not be too hard to accomplish. He definitely wants a parking brake. The rear end in the truck is a 1970 Chevy Nova. Has anyone done this or have any suggestion as to what might work best. He's looking at a kit that uses Cadillac Seville rotors and calipers...

 

Many places do rear disc kits for that style rear end. I'd personally try SSBC, as they are a pretty popular company for disc brakes conversion kits, especially for that vintage of GM vehicle. your other big performance type brake companies, (Wilwood, Baer, etc.) should also have some sort of alternative, but will be more $$$ than the SSBC.

 

Hey Vern
We have rear discs on our '50. We got there by changing out the original rear axle for a 2001 Explorer 8.8 with 3.73 gearing, Limited slip, & rear disc brakes. If he isn't happy with his current Nova set up this might be a way to go. It does have the car bolt pattern.

I really like having front disc brakes - not sure I can tell too much difference with the rear discs as well. My 22 year old son drives our truck a lot - I went with 4 wheel discs so he would have the same feel & support of modern brakes he knows from our other cars.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Manufacturers kept rear drums for a long time. Still do. One reason is because of the hassle of an emergency, aka "park" brake. Turns out it's sort of a pita.

 

As I recall, about 70% of the braking actions occurs on the front brakes. Adding rear disc's provides only a marginal improvement. Guess it depends on how deep your pockets are....

 

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rs...model/chevelle




I have the same rear end in my truck and am going to use this kit.


I have already purchased and installed it on the rear end but my truck is a long ways away from being completed. So I cant give you any feedback as to how well it works.

 

I went with disks in the rear also. I am using the Cad Eldorado rear calipers that have the parking brake built in. The only problem I encountered with these calipers is getting them bleed out properly (you have to gravity bleed inorder to get the air out) I would of stayed with drums but every part in my drum setup was bad and needed replacing so for a few extra dollars I went with the disks.

 

I personally like disc for the ease of maintenance. I dont really care for drums up front and out back is either or. Depending on $$ Id swap to 4 wheel disc if I were looking to upgrade. I have heard of the Caddy disc swaps. Seems to be the run of the mill entry level disc conversion. Also, drums actually have better holding power due to the way they are desgined but they are less responsive due to the way they are designed. Disc is a much more efficient setup (less drag) no need to adjust a disc system and parts are very easy to swap when they wear. If its not broke, dont fix it is a rule that some people live by but i like to upgrade when I am doing maint so going to a disc swap next time you are due for shoes might be your best bet as you continue to research.

As a few others mentioned, what are your concerns about an axle swap? You can have an 8.8 for a couple hundred bucks and it already has disc brakes. All you would need to do is use the stock parking brake cable from the explorer rear end and then adapt it to the F1 system. that would be the cheapest and easiest

 

A company in CO called TSR (the street rod) sells a set with the parking brake. I had them for the F3 they worked well and were reasonable.

 

Believe it or not, discs have more drag than drum brakes it's inherent to the design of the calipers. They are way much easier to service that's for sure. Their chief advantage is resistance to fade. I think the split drum/disc system works OK for general use since the front axle provides most of the stopping power anyway. One downside, mainly cosmetic is the amount of brake dust on rims. Over there in Europe I was surprised to see so much brake dust on rims. Turns out they use a soft iron for the rotors and abrasive or metallic brake pads. The brakes work great though munched through the hardware pretty fast.

 

I had disc/drum on it and went to all disc because of my motor combo. Also my daily driver cars have had 4 wheel disc. If you have ever experanced brake fade like I have in my 63 427 Galaxie, you would welcome all wheel disc, reguardless of the upkeep.

 

That's my feeling also so I guess his pockets are deeper than mine...

 

The truck has been finished for a few years and he's happy with the 10-bolt Nova rear (4 3/4 bolt pattern matches the front) so changing the rear would involve new wheels and two patterns. I can see why he doesn't want to go that route.

 

Don't suppose you have a link or website for TSR would you? I haven't been able to locate them.

 

Try this -- Home


http://www.tsmmfg.com/
It's actually THE STREET ROD MFG CO.