Daily Driver Mods for 69 Sport Sat

[69SportSatellite]

I have a 69 Sport Satellite w/318 2bbl, auto, ps, ac, and 4 wheel drum brakes. This car is my daily driver and I intend to keep it so as long as possible. It gets about 800/week. I would like to make it more daily driver friendly. Does anybody have suggestions in the neighbhorhood of:engine, suspension, brakes, etc. to make it more suited to daily driving. the 318 is bone stock and I am upgrading it to an MP electronic ignition, I was thinking about thicker torsion bars and new sway bars for the front and rear, what do you think?


Thanks,
Chris

[goldduster]

The '73-'76 A-Body Disc Brakes are a definate upgrade. If you have the stock sway bar in the front, just buy a rear bar in a slightly smaller diameter than the front. Buy some good shocks.

[69SportSatellite]

I am defenitely going to do the brakes. Ideally I would like to have 4 wheel power disc and hope to acheive them in this order.

1. Purchase the Disc/Drum Master Cylinder and Booster from www.mpbrakes.com since it will work with my existing 4 wheel manual drum.

2. Purchase the rear kit from www.ssbrakes.com (my rims are 14in).

3. Purchase the front kit from www.ssbrakes.com. I just don't know whether I should get the Front Power Drum to Disc Kit or the Front Manual to Disc kit, given the substantial price difference.

Since the booster is the 1st item, should I change any other componnents to ensure safe braking? (lines, etc.)

Many thanks,
Chris

[goldduster]

4 wheel discs are definately not nessesary. You probably have the 11" drums on your car. You will find that you will be more happy with the stock system than an aftermarket for a Daily Driver used for long commutes. You will probably preferr this because the A-body sliding caliper system is VERY common (cheap parts, many choices for parts, good availability) Rear discs are not worth it for a Daily Driver. The rear brakes only do about 20-30% of the stopping anyway, and Rear brakes are known to squeak and cause problems.

As for the Power Brake Booster, Putting a brake booster on the car doesn't make it nessasaily safer. If your engine stalls, you will find that the Power Brakes will make you a little worried. Manual brakes provide more precise control, and if you can handle them, you don't have to have one.

To put a booster on you will have to redo the lines to the distrobution block.

[69SportSatellite]

I am fully aware the the booster does not make the car safer as I have had cars with power brakes go out before. I suppose if I wanted them later I could always ahd the booster/cylinder, the most important parts now are the disc brakes. I guess my brake question falls into 2 categories.

1. Will I notice the difference between 4 wheel drum and front disc, rear drum. I checked and they are the 11in drums.

2. Will putting discs on the front make the pedal feel substantially different more/less difficult to stop the car or feel the same.

I just had the master cylinder replaced for my brakes, will I need to change it again with front disc brakes of any kind?

I was looking at the ssbrakes front non-power kit for $895. You seem to favor the A-Body sliding caliper. Will the A-Body brakes bolt on to my stock B-Body spindles, if you have any parts suppliers, links, etc. I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Chris

[goldduster]

I don't know how much difference there is between the Disc/Disc and Disc/Drum on your car, but my opinion is that it won't be enough to make it worth the money.

Putting discs on your car will make the petal a bit stiffer.

You will have to change the master cyl. to change to Disc Brakes.

If I remember correctly, the A-body system requires you to change spindles to the A-body one. Other than that, you can use any auto parts store rebuilt calipers, rotors, pads, anything like that.

If you plan on using 4-wheel discs, buy their front kit too.

[69SportSatellite]

Perhaps I did not make the first question clear enough, I was inquiring as to the difference between
drum/drum and disc/drum. When the funds allow I will get the ssbrakes Front NonPower Drum to Disc conversion which includes the appropriate master cylinder. That should make the biggest difference, if funds permit I may add the rear kit later. So long as no 5ft women will be attempting to stop the car from 60mph (which I try to prevent) I shouldn't have to worry about a booster.


Chris

[goldduster]

The discs don't "Fade" like Drums do. They don't fade because the friciton surface is cooled by air, instead of having the heat trapped in there like drums. With Carbon Metallic pads, your stopping distance will be greatly reduced (it will stop pretty D**M good)