I have a 72 ss Camaro with drums in the rear and went for a short drive and the back brakes started smoking and dragging i stopped let them cool down for awhile and drove it home. The car sat for 4 years i have wheels and tires on order i figured rebuild the drum brakes unless they need too much money then i figured i would convert then to discs first off anyone help me with a theory on the issue and second any recommendations or thoughts on converting to disc rear brakes. Thanks for the help.

 

Sounds like the wheel cylinders on back brakes have frozen or are gummed up, not letting the brake fluid pressure release after the pedal is no longer being depressed. Flushing the brake fluid and rebuilding the rear wheel cylinders will probably take care of the problem. Pretty common for a car that has been setting.

 

Thats the reason when a car sits for a long time you dont have the parking brake set .And to rebuild the rear drums arent all that expensive compared to change over to 4 wheel disc brakes .And with that with all the disc brakes set up out there.You could use a 1978-81 Firbird /Trans Am 4 wheel disc brake to a Wilword type .depending on your budget and what you want to do with the car.

 

Just want to drive the car not going to race it bout going to show it i want to have a set up that i can depend on to be able to get it and drive into the mountains or down to local spot where other classic cars go. I've looked online and there are plenty of aftermarket kits to convert the drums to discs around 1k i have wheels coming in that i would rather see a disc and fancy caliper on there then a blaw drum. Has anyone installed any of these aftermarket disc conversion kits and had any luck i like the look but when it comes to stopping function out weighs cool factor.