Finally, my personal mentor and teacher, Ed Justice Jr., inspired the will and desire to do something that may help other enthusiasts. Ed and his family have always gone the extra mile to preserve automotive history and help forge new technology in the automotive aftermarket industry. The Justice family talks the talk by walking that straight line every day. Without Ed’s leading by example and his sage guidance, I would have never attempted anything of this magnitude.
Anyone who has taken on the task or authoring a book knows the mountain of work involved. Without this village of support, no publication would ever get done.
INTRODUCTION
The aftermarket automotive brake industry has responded to vintage muscle car needs with modern technology that rivals anything produced by the automakers these days.
Henry Kissinger was famously quoted in the New York Times (January 19, 1971) as having said, “Power is the great aphrodisiac.” He could very well have been talking about the muscle car era when he said that because muscle cars were built around power and sex appeal during the 1960s and early 1970s. It’s easy to look back and see that American muscle cars produced during that period were the beginnings of what became known as supercars.
Arguably, the muscle car era started when Oldsmobile took the 6-cylinder Olds 76 platform and shoved a powerful V-8 under the hood. Taking a lighter-weight chassis and body and then combining that with a potent engine, the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 provided the framework for American speed. Within a matter of years, the other car companies responded with their own muscle cars. Chrysler’s impressive Hemi engine found a home in the 1955 Chrysler C-300 and was crowned as “America’s Most Powerful Car.” At the same time, General Motors released the mouse that roared with its small-block V-8. This lighter-weight engine platform, which would become the GM standard for the next 50 years, helped create the lightweight muscle cars that followed.
Automobiles continued to become faster globally. The European auto racing scene was especially growing in popularity with its powerful and lightweight purpose-built race cars. All was well and the auto racing sector was enjoying great acceptance with the public until a tragedy at the 1955 Le Mans race when Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh touched another car, careening into the stands at 150 mph. The car’s fuel tank ruptured and the car exploded into flames, resulting in the deaths of 84 people, including Levegh. Known as the most catastrophic accident in motorsports history, this led to a ban on factory-sponsored auto racing as agreed upon by the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) in 1957.
It was the president of General Motors, Harlow Curtice, who suggested the self-imposed ban to prevent government action against racing activities. This worked well and kept many of the world’s governments from creating laws to cease dangerous automobile racing, but the Association’s carmakers were struggling to keep up with carmakers that were not in the AMA and the ban was lifted in 1963.
By this time, the 1962 Dodge Dart was already raising eyebrows, as it turned 13-second quarter-mile times at the drag strip. The familiar combination of a powerful engine and lightweight chassis returned in 1963 with the Pontiac Super Duty and its infamous “Swiss cheese” frame that was riddled with lightening holes. Ford began developing powerful personal coupes and adding a monstrous engine in full-size cars. Pontiac’s chief designer, John DeLorean, had correctly assessed that youthful car buyers were looking for power in their new cars, and the Pontiac crew secretly began offering a 389-ci engine in its 1964 Pontiac Tempest GTO as an option.
GM’s Chevrolet crew rolled out the Chevelle at first with the 327-ci small-block to stay within the company’s guidelines on engine size for its midsize cars. However, the design crew abandoned that directive in 1965 when the 396 was installed, breaking the doors to the muscle car era wide open. The battle was on, and once again, speeds went up as the power in these machines increased. Pushing the edge of the speed envelope, it seemed as if nothing could stop these muscle cars, including the factory brake systems.
The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) brakes worked well as long as every car on the highway was going 65 mph and every car was equipped with drum brakes. When front-wheel disc brakes started showing up as an option and lighter foreign cars with better brake systems could stop faster on the roads, drum brake cars were at a disadvantage and less safe. In 1968, the federal government’s safety and emissions rules came into play. Among the safety issues addressed in these standards were dual-cylinder hydraulic brake systems and front disc brakes. It was obvious that braking systems needed to catch up with the power and speed capabilities of these muscle cars.
Aftermarket wheels have differing brake spacing requirements. Be sure to check with the wheel manufacturer before purchasing a disc brake upgrade kit.
Owning one of these classic muscle cars today is an investment and a matter of great pride, but they are technologically more unsafe than ever. Modern braking systems have applied science that was unthinkable 40 years ago. Antilock braking, fade-resistant brake pads, and an improved pedal feel from improved braided steel lines instead of rubber brake hoses are available in upgrade kits for vintage cars. Critical upgrades include antilock brakes with the ability to maintain steering control under panic-braking situations and kits that allow older-style drum brakes to be replaced with disc brakes for the front wheels, where most of the effective braking takes place as the weight balance transfers forward.
In this book, we will cover the theory and history of braking systems as they apply to muscle cars, discuss the parts and functions of those components, and show three different upgrades in a trio of different muscle car platforms from the Big Three American car manufacturers. These muscle cars were chosen because they are representative of the manufacturers and other cars in their product line. GM’s Chevrolet Chevelle is similar to GM muscle cars from the Nova all the way to the Olds 442. Chrysler’s Dodge Dart fills in for the Plymouth Barracuda and Road Runner and the Dodge Polara, Satellite, Coronet, Challenger, Charger, and Super Bee. Finally, the Ford Fairlane captures the essence of the Galaxie, Torino, Talladega, and Mercury Cyclone. We conclude the book with a chapter that helps the enthusiast determine his or her needs and develop a plan to execute the build strategy.
While we have attempted to cover most of the common aspects that will be encountered with a brake system upgrade, attention should be paid to aftermarket wheels and trends with larger wheels. Larger discs require extra room, and many times the spacing on aftermarket wheels can make things difficult. Checking with the wheel manufacturer is critical when upgrading to larger aftermarket brake systems.
CHAPTER 1
THE EVOLUTION OF MUSCLE CARS AND BRAKES
Vehicles are a collection of several systems; some are more glamorous or more complicated than others. An incredible amount of attention is paid to the engine, which includes the lubrication and cooling subsystems. The ignition system and the electrical system offer very complicated components and schemes. The all-important drivetrain can include iconic names, such as rock-crusher, floater, or posi-traction. Even the more basic systems, such as suspension, steering, and exhaust, have garnered more consideration by enthusiasts than brakes. Yet, braking systems have seen equally impressive technological gains in the past 50 years. Individual system scrutiny aside, no other genre of automobile has benefitted from improved braking more than American muscle cars.
While factory brakes have improved over the years, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There is an entire aftermarket auto industry built up around automotive brakes. Each manufacturer has several different lines, all tailored to a specific purpose and