Can someone point me in the right direction on a 78 c20 rear disc conversion

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Jul 26, 2014
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Location
La
First Name
Steve
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
c20 scotsdale
Engine Size
hopped up L31 waiting for a hot 400
im looking to convert my 14 bolt rear end in my 78 c20. i have a 400 with a forged bottom end 4340 crank scat qlight 4340 rods and lightweight forged aluminium pistons. i have ported and built vortecs a edelbrock rollin thunder cam with my guides machined down for the 544/552 or so lift/dur. and jegs lifetime rollee rockers and a holley 750, its just a short description and i intend to boost. my trans is purpose built i have a 3800 stall convertor and need help choosing breaks overall. i need help with my whole system overall booster lines and disks all around. can some one show me some good conversion kits and brakes for my application?
 

77 K20

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Mike
Truck Year
1977
Truck Model
K20 5" lift
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HT383 fuel injected
I did a disc brake conversion on my 14 bolt last year. I researched and read up on them for probably a year before doing mine. Seems everyone did things differently... some kept the stock brake combination (proportional) valve, some kept the stock master cylinder, some said that will not work... I bought what I swore should work great and it didn't and had to change some things. I even had a mechanic friend with 20+ years experience watch what I was doing (as I had to borrow some of his tools). So the problems I had were genuine ones- not that I didn't know what I was doing.

So here is a link to what I did. Your results may be different.
http://www.gmsquarebody.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10943&page=4
The previous pages are some pictures of my project.


ORD rear disc brake brackets, brake lines:
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/14FFdisckit.htm
 
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Rusty Nail

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Rusty
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1977
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C20
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350sbc
Meh.
My experience converting a 14bff to discs has been overwhelmingly negative. Wish I could take it back and do-over. I sure as hell would opt to rebuild the stock brakes.

I've owned my truck 15 years.
Worked as a full service auto mechanic for about 14.
Would switch back in a heartbeat.
Couldn't get to the wrenches fast enough!
If I still had the original parts I WOULD switch it back!!

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Ricko1966

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kansas
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Rick
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1975
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c20
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350
IMHO by all means if you can find bigger diameter disc's for the front get them,fronts do the majority of your braking, bigger diameter is where the mechanical advantage comes in, just like using a longer breaker bar,the further you can get the caliper from the center of the hub,the more leverage it has. Bigger disc will mean bigger wheels also.Same concept with bigger diameter drums. Again my opinion run what you've got in the rear,with the best friction material you can find. And bigger diameter fronts if you can find them with an adjustable proportioning valve.
 

R Carnella

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Rich
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1990
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Suburban V2500
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5.3
I was planning to convert to rear disk on my burb as part of upgrading the brakes, but a few months ago i installed the wilwood d52 duel piston calipers and a set of rotors from summit racing on the fronts. And holy crap the burb stops so good now I'm leaving the rears alone.
Just throwing it out there.
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