Hi All,
Im new to the forums and am very excited to get to work on me and my stepsons project. As you can see from the pic we have alot to do.

It looks rough but really its a good solid car. We are going to start out by removing all the front suspention and removing the subframe from the body and rebuilding it. I want to make some modifications and dont have alot of money to buy the exspencive aftermarket parts. Thats why im here. I would like to put bigger brakes on the car and would like to get some advice as to what i can retrofit on this ride. ie could i use parts from a caprice or impala? also would like to put rear disk brakes too.

well enough for now. will be back soon. Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum!
I don't relate budget to rear disc brakes. There's not really a budget way to get from drums to discs, as even if you found a donor axle that already had disc brakes, you'd still need to change the master cylinder and proportioning valve. Probably best to go to an aftermarket proportioning valve that's adjustable to get it dialed in too.
The Camaro isn't a car that has trouble stopping with factory discs up front and drums out back, if you get good quality shoes all around. But if you do want a easy, cheap, budget minded improvement then go to 11" drums and backing plates on the rear axle. It's simply a matter of finding the 11" backing plates and drums from an older Impala and just bolting them on. The improvement is noticeable, and the cost minimal. I did this change to my '71 about 25 yrs. ago, and it's worked great ever since.
As for the front suspension, there's not much wrong with the stock arms either for the street driven car. Just rebuilding all the control arms with good quality bushings and ball joints, plus new tie rod ends will make your car handle better than new.
You can go crazy with all sorts of fancy adjustable A arms and joints, but replacing with stock type, or one of the poly types will give your son's car a great feel when completed.

 

Ditto on what BB427 says about brakes. But if you really want to do a budget change-over of the rears go to Steel-Tech Solutions on the web. He can sell you the brackets for the axle and send you in the right direction for the calipers and rotors. With my shop discount I can switch a car for about $550 including the adjustable prop valve.

 

I understand what you are saying for normal street driving but this car will be raced at some point and will need it to stop good without overheating the brakes. I will be putting aftermaket bushings, and new ball joints. This will be a quality build. I havent decided what rear end we're going with yet either. might be able to find one that is already switched to discs. And as for the master cylinder and break booster, there is'nt any on the car. So we are way open for what we can use.

If i could find a place that has drawings for the brackets and things like that, i am a machinist and i could make them. The shop i work at has all the equipment i need including cnc mills and turning centers. lol more than one way to cut costs without giving up quality.

thanks guys for the info. This is exactly why i joined this forum. to get the good info that your giving me. ROCK ON AND DONT STOP. Ill be posting alot of pics and show you my progress as we go on this job. prolly going to video alot of it too.

 

What type of racing will you be doing? If you're talking drag racing, then it's still not needed, but if you're talking autocross, or something along those lines, then you're correct to want rear discs.

 

Yea it will be on the drag strip. Your right disc brakes do drag. And drum brakes would be good enough. Im in the planning stage and looking ahead to this project. So im throwing things out there and see the feedback. Thanks...

We got a 86 camaro we will be pulling the 350 engine and trans out of today. It has a 1975 truck motor in it and im hoping it will have a 4 bolt main block. It will be the motor/trans combo that is going into the 74 camaro. Good motor to start with. It has a edelbrock intake and carb that is fairly new. We will be building a 383 stroker roller motor with it. And ill be rebuilding the trans as well.

 

Yeah, I drag raced my '71 with a big old heavy cast iron headed big block for 16 years with stock discs up front, and the 11" drums out back. It never had a problem stopping at the two local strips I raced at. My old '71 will lock 'em up with no problems at all, but I've never had to lock them up to stop at the strip.
Nopw if you build a Camaro that runs 150 MPH in the 1/4, then you might use the whole shutdown area to get her stopped with stock brakes. But heck, that's what chutes are for!

 

Yea i had no problem stopping my 79 z. Ofcourse it on ran high 12's.

We we didnt get the engine out of the 86 yet. We had problems getting it to the garage..lol flat tire... I need to get a trailer bad. seems like every week im barrowing one to haul something somewhere. Anyhow finally got the car over there so hopefully adam and i can get the engine out tonight. We are getting rid of the rest of the 86 so if anybody needs anything email me.

 

This is the cheapest way I know of to upgrade. http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109707
This is for the rears.
http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109454

 

Wooot! Got the motor out of the 86. Turns out the block is a 4 bolt main. Had dish pistons and cast crank. lol wont be using those. Time to get rid of the 86 to make room for the 74. Cant wait to get started.