[FC] Brakes & buying poarts

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

GM brake parts from the sixties were pretty standardized, i.e., nearly 
all (say, for instance) 2 x 12 brake sets were pretty standard with 
standard hardware, etc.  But, with the Corvair, and other applications, 
the master cylinder bore and the wheel cylinder bore sizes were strictly 
designed for that vehicle's braking performance criteria, even if the 
shoes and hardware were the same.  Same for brake hoses -- specific 
lengths for specific vehicles.  Most of this information is in the P&A 
books, but since liability is a potential factor, *I* am not going to be 
inclined to supply that information.  Your vendors, however, carry 
product liability insurance, and together with having already researched 
the correct parts for each application, if you don't want to do it 
yourself, well, living outside the US and buying parts from US suppliers 
is your choice.

Selecting the correct master cylinder for a disc brake conversion can be 
a tricky thing, and what worked for "Jake" on his RS might not be what 
the doctor ordered for your installation on your GB.  And then there are 
proportioning valves, check valves, and power brake boosters -- yeah, 
power brakes -- power brakes are generally recommended for any disc 
brake conversion using calipers that were designed for use in a power 
boosted brake system, which includes nearly all modern US designs, 
especially for cars weighing over 2,000 pounds.

Outfits like Heidt's offer a lot of technical information (or at least 
they used to) in their catalogs -- downloadable at 
http://www.heidts.com/heiCatalog%20Download.html -- and their brake 
instruction sheets often have recommendations for master cylinders to 
use with various conversions -- 
http://www.heidts.com/Install_instruct_page.htm

Yeah, so there is a lot of interchangeability among GM parts, like 
Joel's dropped spindles, which should give you some clues about brake 
interchangeability, but there are differences between braking systems 
for a front engine p/u and the brakes on a 95 series Corvair, so a 
blanket statement like a "cross reference to a 60's chev pickup" is a 
gross oversimplification.

Oh, by the way -- yeah, I know, Canada, but any safety inspection that 
passes a vehicle with a "severe pull to the right under hard braking" 
isn't saying much about the inspection service, especially if it is your 
dollars that paid for such service for, theoretically, your own safety.  mo.

Bill Strickland