If you ask me, GM put a brake system for a 2,000 pound car on a 3,500
pound car when they designed the brakes for Thirdgens. Because of
this, there are a lot of upgrades available that will improve the
stopping power of these cars.
Most of the things on this page aren't
really considered 'mods', they are just replacements of what was there.
But, I think it is still pretty useful information.
I figured that
since I was spending all of the money on completely restoring the rear
end and rear brakes of the car, I didn't want to trash them when doing
burnouts.
If you don't
know what a line lock does, here is how it works: While the car
isn't moving, you hit the brakes, which obviously locks all 4 wheels.
You flip a switch that is connected to a solenoid mounted between the
master cylinder and the front brakes. The switch holds the line
pressure in the brake lines, hence the name "line lock". You then
let off the brake pedal, and the rear brakes are released, while the
fronts are still "on" because the solenoid does not let the brake fluid
go back into the master cylinder. You then smash the gas, and
light up the rear tires, without the fear of trashing your rear brakes.
After you're done, you just flip the switch back on, and your brakes go
back to normal.
In the left picture, you can see that
the line lock is not installed. In the right, the solenoid
is mounted, and the replacement brake lines are installed.
When it came time to rebuild the rear brakes, I decided to keep the
stock drum setup, but I wanted to upgrade the system as mush as I could.
I went to the dealer, and ordered the aluminum drums that were a little
better than the normal iron drums. Once they showed up, they were
cast iron. We made some phone calls, and it turns out that GM has
replaced the aluminum drums with the ones that you see here. They
are considered "heavy duty" drums. They are actually pretty nice
compared to most others that I have seen. They have a coating on them
that looks like it will prevent them from rusting over pretty bad.
The original
backing plates on the car were pretty trashed. They were starting
to rust, which was enough alone for me to replace them. Also, when
I took them off the rear end, I had to cut off the bolts that hold them
at the top (above the wheel cylinder). I ordered GM O.E. plates,
but they turned out to be discontinued, and there were none left in any
dealerships in the entire country. So, I turned to Napa and got
them from there.
