I recently purchased a 1978 LT Camaro that is about to drive me insane with the brakes. Google hasnt been super helpful but Im looking to do a very budget minded brake upgrade to replace the front single piston calipers with something a bit better AND convert the rear from drum to disk. Does anyone have any insight on a brake swap/upgrade that wont break the bank on a third gen? Id also like to ditch the proportioning valve if at all possible, but Im not sure if thats even an option on these cars without spending some major money. Thanks in advance!

 

when you say budget minded how much are you willing to spend??

rear drum to disk conversions run around $350 from Summit and a Corvette C5 front setup runs around $650 from Summit as well

 

I'm not one to point someone to another forum but when it come to certain vehicles you'll have better luck finding what you need. There are quite a few posts to learn from on the third gen forum. Be careful what you upgrade to or you'll be buying wheels and tires. I went with large brakes on my S-10 and now I'm locked into large wheels.

 

Look up Right Stuff Brakes. They are probably the most affordable brake conversion kits on the market with a decent quality.

 

While we do not know what you consider budget minded we do have some options for you. What we would have to offer as a front brake upgrade from the stock single piston calipers for your 1978 Camaro would be a C5 Corvette conversion kit CLP-7081SWBKSC5B from Classic Performance. This kit is currently priced at $649.00. This comes with two piston calipers and larger 13 in. drilled/slotted rotors. With that being said it appears your using some Weld Racing 15 in. wheels. With this larger front brake combo it would require that you go to a minimum of a 17 in. wheel/tire combo. Another option for the front which would not require you to change your wheel/tire combo would be a Wilwood WIL-140-11007 4 piston caliper disc brake conversion kit. This would however require some modifications to your spindles to get this brake kit to work. You will need to cut off the factory brake caliper mounting ears and modify a couple of the bolt holes. You can view pictures and instructions for this on our site.

As far as a rear disc brake conversion. Assuming you have the 8.5 GM 10 bolt or even a passenger car GM 8.875 12 bolt we would recommend the Right Stuff Detailing RSD-AFXRDM6 rear disc brake conversion kit. This kit comes with rear rotors, calipers, brackets, hardware and new flex hoses to complete the conversion and it is currently priced at $310.99. Also you mentioned wanting to remove the proportioning valve, we would not recommend doing so. In fact, we would actually recommend changing the proportioning valve if you go with a rear disc brake conversion. We would recommend the Summit Racing SUM-760185proportioning valve which is designed for your car when having 4-wheel disc brakes.

As an FYI for a limited time we are offering our "ALWAYS" discount promotion. This will get you $25 off of $250 in parts, $50 off of $500 in parts or $100 off of $1,000 in parts. When visiting our site you would enter the code "ALWAYS" at checkout in the source code box or make sure to mention it with a representative over the phone, live chat or text.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looking like I'll probably do the rear disc conversion for now and do a larger brake upgrade to the front in the future.

 

try finding a second gen F body 80-81 for parts… some and all turbo models came with 4 wheel disc brakes , as for the front, there’s wilwood double piston calliper’s a cheaper upgrade.

 

We're talking about long ago and far away on those 2nd gen cars. Doubtful if they can still be easily found but later 1st gen Cadillac Sevilles (77-79) are rear disc on the same type different width 10 bolt axle. 79 and up WS6 Trans Am's were rear disc and the entire axle was an easy swap. Another popular upgrade back then was a 77 and up Caprice 9C1 or wagon front spindle, caliper and rotor which gave you a 12+ inch rotor on the front. All this was a definite improvement over the stock brakes but none of it is as good as the modern kit upgrades.

 

I've done a few 2 gen rear disc brake swaps. I've used 1997 Camaro rear discs. Due to the rear shocks you need two left brake assemblies. They have the e-brake that compresses the brake pads. It works but not the best.
A better e-brake is the 2002 Camaro that uses the internal brake shoe. Again you need two lefts due to shock interference.
Both have been done many many times. Just google it.
I use Lokar brake cables for both setups.
Front brake wise I like C5 stuff. 13" discs or if you have room C5 calipers with 14" ZO6 rotors. Requires a bit cutting and tapping of the 2 gen spindles but again has been done many many times. The good thing about using C5 stuff is that you can get replacement parts at any parts store.
You will need a adjustable prop valve for the rear brake line. I use the Wilwood adjustable.
On my latest 80 Camaro I bought the front 13" C5 stuff from "Custom Works". They are in north CA.
Another great source is Tobin at KORE3.com.