[brewski]

I put SSBC disc brakes all around on my 67 Lemans. I found it impossible to get the parking-emergency brakes functioning correctly. I had to leave the main cable loop loose (not pulled out to the hooks) so that the rear brakes were not locked. Using the footbrake doesn't work well. I think the issue is that the two rear cables need to run a little farther to the rear of the car to hook up to the parking-emergency brake levers on the SSBC disc brakes.
The probable answer is that I need a slightly larger main loop cable, or a slightly longer cable for each brake that runs from the main loop. I contacted SSBC and the person I talked to hadn't run into this before. In the end they indicated that I needed different cables, but they couldn't help me with length, reference numbers, source, etc.
Can anyone on this board point me to appropriate cables? Thanks. Don.

[Sammy B]

Sorry, don't have an answer for you, but I was just wondering how you like the new brakes? I've got disks in the front and drums in the rear, but my brakes are freakin' awful! What size rotors did you go with?

[brewski]

Mine are awful as well. I got the standard kit, 10 - 10.5" or something like that. They fit under the 14" Cragars. I called SSBC about the poor braking and feel. They said that I probably glazed the pads/rotors. I told them I was just trying to stop the damn car! They said they couldn't help me unless I was able to measure the pressures at the brakes. Since I had such a difficult time getting the brakes bled, I am not interested in buying their gauge kit, breaking open the lines just to give SSBC another item of information resulting in no help. As you can tell, I'm not very happy with the brakes. I'm too fed up and running out of money to change them again.

[428PHIL]

I did a front brake conversion using SSBC power kit on my 66 LeMans a few years back. What they don't tell you is if you use the power set-up you must have a min. of 18" engine vac. to have them work, which mine worked horrible. After trying a canister, vac. pump and any other thing I could think of I removed the booster and master, and when back to non power brakes. The car now stops 100% better than before.

[Vmax]

I have the SSBC 4 wheel set-up on my 67 GTO. It is very difficult to stop the car when I first start out and its cold, the pedal is hard and the brakes don't seem to work well. Funny however that once the car warms up it seems better. Regardless even when warm I have the feeling that it would be hard to lock them up. They do stop straight and true compared to the drums. I am not sure what is going on since the vacuum does not change much from cold to warm so maybe its the pads heating up that improves the stoping power? My car runs about 15 inches of vacuum at idle. I have never been able to get the emergency brakes to work right either. I have the small rotors with their booster and master from SSBC

[brewski]

Vmax, mine behaves very similarly. I have the original 326ci in the car and if I remember correctly, I had more than 18" vacuum. There is no way my brakes are going to lock up. Thanks for sharing. Glad to know I'm not the only one. Too bad SSBC doesn't care.

[Vmax]

Brewski,
My system was installed by a well known local shop so I feel the installation is right.
I am going to go out today and see if I can get those brakes to lock up during a hard stop. Has anyone tried new pads? In my mind its either a design issue that does not put enough pressure at the calipers or the pads are crap. I did not have the rotors slotted either. Does anyone know who makes the pads? I used Hawk high performance pads on my Vette a couple of years ago and they were much better than the stock pads with less dust.

[brewski]

Vmax, I put the brakes in myself, just had some help getting them bled. I don't know who made the pads and I've not tried different ones. I'd be interested to hear whether you are able to lock up your brakes and if new pads make any difference. I don't think slots would have an affect. I think the slots are meant to vent gases developed at high braking temps. We haven't been successful at getting any heat going with these brakes yet!

[Vmax]

Brewski,

Tried twice today before it started raining, 45 mph down a slight hill (high vacuum) and nailed the brakes. It just stopped reasonably quickly with a small lock up at the end. Very staight also. Its just does not seem to have the bite that my vette brakes do. I am thinking that I will find some more aggresive pads and maybe turn the rotors. I might try that pressure gauge also. I adjusted the distributor advance at idle to get maximum vacuum today (now around 17 inches) which also seemed to help.

I am not sure what year the calipers are from on the front and rear? I seem to remember that the fronts were A body GM from around 1970 and the rears were late model T bird brakes? I am sure the guy at NAPA will be able to tell me so I can order the pads. Not sure I want to order them from SSBC.

[lordtyman]

Hi,

I too have installed 4 wheel disk on my 66. I ran into two problems. The master cylinder in the kit was trashed, and after replacing it, I was able to fully bleed my brakes. The 2nd problem was the main parking brake cable. What I did was make one a little longer 's' bracket (lack of better terms), Its the bracket that connects to the trans crossmember and loops around the parking brake cable. I used the original as I template and made the new one around 3 inches longer. Works like a champ.