I know that drum to disc swaps are common and are the subject of frequent posts, but after searching I still have some questions.... I want to convert my manual drum/drum to power disc/drum, and get most of the parts(rotor assembly, calipers etc.) from the local parts store. Does anyone have a list of parts required to do the swap and/or their part numbers? So far I know I need:

- (2) Calipers
- (2) Rotor assemblies
- (2) Front rubber brake lines
- (2) brackets or spindles???
- (1) Proportining valve???
- (1) Master cylinder and booster???
- (1) Master cylinder rod
- lines for vaccum off of the rear of the carb
- brake lines to cut and flare to length

Thanks all

Hi Medic,

I went the 'parts store' factory setup route myelf when I swapped the front drums to power discs.
Without duplicating work, you can get all of the part numbers of all the parts needed right from the auto parts stores web site. I bought everything through AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts. I researched the part numbers through their sites, then brought a list with me. They'll be the same part numbers for a Nova of the same year.

I should make a list and post it here one of these days to save people the time. ;)

As far as the combination valve needed, you'll have to either get one from a donor car of the appropriate years in the junkyard, or purchase one from Master Power Brakes or someone like that. I yanked mine from a '72 Malibu or El Camino I think. I'd buy a new one just for the sake of it being 'new' and less likely to have any issues. If my junkyard find doesn't work, I'll trash it for a new one.

As far as the lines, I bought a complete front-to-rear brake line kit for power discs from Ricks. Obviously since these cars didn't use combination valves back then, I'll have to fabricate some of the lines at the master cylinder to make the valve fit. Like I said, I got the calipers, booster\master combination, pads, all associated hardware, rubber hoses, rotors, bearings\seals from the auto parts store. The caliper brackets came from CPU Muscle Car Parts, and I modified the upper boss on my drum spindles myself.

Good luck with the swap! It's fairly easy once you have everything. You may have to locate some of the bolts for the spindle\steering arms from a local source. I went with all Grade 8 hardware from Lowes and the auto parts store.

Excellent, Thanks for the info....Hopefully I'll get all the parts needed and make a saturday out of it. What kind of modification was needed on the drum spindle?

Assuming the drum spindles are in good shape around the bearing surfaces, all that's needed to turn them into disc brake spindles is to shorten the upper bracket mounting boss.

David Pozzi has this info on his site, but from experience, I wouldn't just measure where they need to be cut and go for it. I ended up having to recut the bosses shorter than what the measuements said.
The best way I can see to do this is to first bolt the caliper bracket to the bottom boss, loosely. Rotate it up until it comes in contact with the upper boss. This is going to show you where the boss needs to be cut down to. Scribe a line at this point. Again, assuming the brackets are square to begin with. I had faith and they turned out perfect.

Cutting them is another story. Don't use a hacksaw unless you KNOW you're going to cut them perfectly straight. A hacksaw tends to wander off course. A Saws-All might work better, but I didn't try that. A bandsaw would be the best solution, or take them somewhere and have a shop cut the bosses down.... after you MEASURE THREE TIMES first!! ;)

I didn't have any problem with the upper bracket bolts fitting in the bosses after they were shortened. Like I said, I got my brackets and hardware from CPU. Only thing I had to do was buy longer steering arm-to-spindle bolts. I used Loc-Tite on everything.

http://www.camaros.net/techref/articles/ftecref012.html <--Good reading.

http://1967-81camarocarparts.com/catalogPDFs/F1%2005%20brakes.pdf <-- find your P/N's

Thanks for the reference Doug... I just learned there is a missing file in the brake article. I'll get it fixed this evening when I get home from my daughters game.... The .pdf file you linked to is a great resource as well.

Check out www.rockauto.com (http://www.rockauto.com) the way you look up parts on their site is very cool. Don't forget to factor in caliper core charges, they can actually be just as much as the calipers themselves. The best way around this is finding some cheap used calipers to turn in as cores...