My '85 has the base disc/Al drum set up.

We've had a few threads on pads and rotors to improve the performance of the Delco, 10.5" discs. Once that's done, any suggestions on the hot ticket for the rear drums?

 

Disks??

 

No, I want to keep the stock set up, but make it better.

I'm thinking premium Napa front rotors and Stillen pads up front. From what I read here, the Stillen pads are fairly agressive and I'd like to hear opinions on what rear shoes, etc., would be a good match.

 

Not sure what you mean but I have aluminum rear drums which are lighter... My front LS1 brake kit does most of the work no doubt and my car brakes really well as is.

 

If you want to keep the drums then, apart from making sure they work properly, I think one of the best improvements would be an adjustable proportioning valve. The stock valve doesn't allow much pressure to the rear so cranking it up would get vastly more out of the drums than now. Once you've maximized the pressure without locking them up you can play with different shoes but I don't think you'd see as much difference as with the adjustable valve.

 

bigger drums. an 11" setup of a 75-77 A body would be a good start..
not aluminum, but going bigger is about the only way you are going to get more braking force with drums..

 

Any issues with your drums locking up in combo with your fron LS1s? If not, sounds like I could go as agressive as I'd want with the stock Delco 10.5" discs.

 

No issues locking up.. Stock prop valve, but the rear drums were rebuilt. My LS1's are 12" up front, dual piston aluminum calipers.

 

Can you lock up your front wheels with the brakes you have now? If so then you have enough brake. Does the rear lock up before the front? If not then you can get more out of the rear brakes. Like I said, an adjustable prop valve would let you crank up the rear brake force to get way more out of them. That way if you upgrade the fronts or go to rear disks the re-adjustment is just a turn of a ****.

 

My rear PHB is lowered 4 inches with UE panhard bar relocator, so my braking became different once I did this and my fronts are very hard to lock up even with the LS1 fronts on there, but it brakes extremely well because the car brakes more evenly now (more bias towards the rear). Putting bigger front brakes on will be a good thing in my case.

 

Chazman, Thanks for asking about improving rear drum brakes. I was kinda embarrassed to ask myself. Since my car is a daily driver, I try to only do improvements I can get done in a weekend. Also, I'm old, slow, & not much of a mechanic. I've considered converting to rear disks, but the cost and time just isn't worth it to me.

Base91 - thanks for suggesting an adjustable proportion valve. I knew a different one is needed for a disk conversion, but didn't realize the adjustable one would have an impact on rear drums. Makes sense after you suggested it.

FYI - Just did a quick web search to see approximate cost & found a Jegs adjustable proportioning valve for $40. That's a really cheap upgrade.

 

Me too!

 

Time and money is always an issue. I bought a parts car for $300 for the 9 bolt posi disk rear. I've sold parts and got back half of that so far. I rebuilt the posi and upgraded to PBR disks. I got the whole rear PBR set up (brackets, calipers, unused disks and pads, an unused master cylinder and the rear park brake cables) for $100. The adjustable prop valve from Summit was $40 and $25 to reflare the brake lines. I'd had done this stuff before but with lots of reading and help from the board it all worked out great. Transformed the car. Even still having the stock front disks the car "stops on a dime". Also flatter as the increased braking in the rear pulls the rear down.
I reckon you should be able to do just the adjustable valve for $75 - $90 depending on how much you can do yourself.

 

Meant to say never done it before.

 

Same here. I've done repairs and mods I never would have considered until I found this forum. I'll even admit to feeling excited when I do a mod/repair and the car actually runs when I'm done. LOL

 

there was a time when we had to do this stuff without an internet to fall back on... we'd read about the latest and greatest stuff to do to your car in a weekend for under $100 (or whatever price they splashed across the cover of the magazine on any given month) and then just dive in and try to make it work..

 

Magazine? What's that?

 

I have kevlar shoes & alum. drums on one car, but the fronts are 1LE rotors and overshadow anything those 9.5" drums are going to do.