1966 Chevrolet Bel Air SSBC Disc Brake Upgrade - Drop Anchor

Now that the brackets are installed and bolts torqued to spec, the axle was slid back in the housing. The C-clips and cross pin will be addressed after the passenger side conversion is finished. The new 11.5-inch rotors slipped right over the axle and Jason temporarily held it in place with a lug nut.

The caliper mounts to the bracket with two slide pins, which allows the caliper to move with the axle. The axles in a C-clip style rearend will have a small amount of side-to-side movement and having the calipers on slide pins will eliminate pad push back that can happen with fixed style calipers on c-clip rearends.

Here is a good shot of the e-brake assembly and how it uses the factory cable to function. You can also see that just like the front, the rear stainless steel brake lines mate up to the factory brake lines. With the completion of the other side Jason moved onto the master cylinder.

Before installing the new billet master cylinder Jason worked all the air bubbles out by bench bleeding the master with DOT 3 fluid. This master has ports on both sides for multiple line routing we used the ports on the out side which is the same location as stock. You have to bleed all four ports whether you utilize them or not.

With the old booster and master removed from the fire wall the new unit slipped right into place. This car had a single reservoir master on it so a few new lines needed bending and flaring. We also installed an adjustable proportioning valve in the rear line. This will allow us to dial down the rear brakes so they won't lock up when all the weight shifts forward under a hard stop.

Because brake lines are subjected to a lot of pressure (1500psi and more), all the lines need to be double flared to prevent leaks.

Inside, the new adjustable pushrod kit was used to tie the brake pedal to the master. Here, Jason has the ends installed so he could measure the distance between and cut the center piece to size. Since this is adjustable he was able to make the rod a bit longer to take up any slop in the pedal.

The system was bled starting with the furthest caliper (passenger rear) from the master and then working our way to the closest (driver front). Since the calipers are shipped dry this will take some time. Once all the air is bled from the system, you should see upwards of 1500 psi in the front and about 900psi in the rear. The rear will be less, thanks in part to the proportioning valve. That completes the transformation and once Jason strapped on the new rolling stock the car was taken out to bed the pads. Bedding the pads is a necessary step in any brake install and SSBC has mapped out how to do it in the instructions.

Here is a nice shot of the car with all the new goodies installed. The wheel and tire combo looks perfect on the car and the brakes fill them up just right.

Once the pads were bedded we took the car to the El Toro test facility and watched as it came to a stop almost 30 feet less than before. We were fighting wheel lockup so we know the brakes are working. Now we will need to focus our attention on the suspension to control the dive so we can adjust the proportioning valve and add a little more rear brake pressure.