I have manual drum brakes with the factory Ralley II wheels. I heard I have to replace the wheels with grooved ones for clearance to convert the car to disc. brakes. Is this true?

If it is true, what do I need to upgrade to power brakes (keeping the drum system) other than a booster?

Thanks, Tim

The issue is whether your Rally II's are 14 inch (OEM) or 15 inch (2nd Gen or GTO's).

Most disk brake kits will not work with 14 inch Rally II wheels. However, there are some models of 14 inch Rally's that were designed for the original (crappy) 4 piston front disks. That info is on this site someplace.

So, the bottom line is that a disk brake upgrade with your existing Rally II's is a crapshoot with 14 inch wheels and absolutely no problems with 15 inch wheels.

Others have found that they can get by with 14 inch wheels after a little bit of grinding of their brake calipers.

I used the kit plus the lines from Matt's classic bowties with my 14" rallys. about 700-800 bucks if I remember correctly. You will have to grind a bit off the top of the caliper bracket, about 1/16 inch. No biggy, bout 5 minutes each side and the set-up works great. I ran around with manual drums for years and the difference is like night and day...go disc, just my opinion, i'm sure others will chime in.

Just bought a Kit from Year One that they advertise for the 14" Rally II's. $650 after an on-line coupon. They are going in next week.

According to all the research I did when looking for a 4-wheel power disc brake conversion for my LeMans was just like mentioned above, if you are wanting to use OEM original 14" rims (regardless of style Rally I, Rally II etc.) unless they are from 70 forward, there is a very good chance that they will not work. In my case, I have a set of repop Rally IIs and most mfg. claim that if you are using repop 14" rims, they will work. Mine also needed a bit a grinding on the brackets for the fronts, and grinding on the calipers for the rear...

Where did you find the coupon? Thanks

Here you go.

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/yearone.com

Rob

Thanks everyone! Should I worry about reducing the vehicle's value on an otherwise all orig car by switching to disc brakes? Some have told me not to do it for that reason.

Just keep the old drum brake parts and then the future buyer will be able to put it back if he wants. You won't regret putting on the discs.

Two things, generally when it comes to brakes and tires there two things will not harm a car's value at all. In fact, disc brake conv. are one of the very few mods that one can make that most often increases a car's value. Along with steel belted radials.

Second, as Bob S. suggest above, keep the old parts. This way you are offering a new owner the best of both worlds and how could that possibly hurt?

Generally speaking if an upgrade is done to a car and it is truly a bolt on item, it will not harm it's value. In saying this, if the correct/original part is a numbered part, hard to find or very rare, then this could be a factor as it could be impossible or seriously expensive to find/replace.

A good example of this would be an original intake that has been replaced with an aftermarket. Yes, this is bolt on, however, if the person did not keep the original intake the new owner would then have to find one etc. to make the car correct and yes a serious buyer would take this into consideration when looking at the car and making an offer.

Spending my days at my friend's house who does appraisals for a living and has been doing them for moer than 35 years I tend to pick up on stuff like this. Just thought I'd pass along his advise that he always offer people in this situation etc.

So when I have the engine rebuilt, I should build it to factory specs with a factory cam to obtain the highest resale value? I also wonder if upgrading my exhaust from stock will lower the value?

Thanks Rob. Did you get the conversion done? That Year One kit is the only one I have found that is made for 14's. How do you like the quality/ease of installation? Notice a big difference stopping?

Hi Tim: I'm having my mechanic put the kit in and he is not done yet. I'll be sure to ask him how easy the kit was to install and give you a report. Should have it back next week.
Rob

Rob, any updates??

Haven't forgotten about you. Much to my disappointment he didn't get the car done this week as promised. He said I would have it for the 4th for sure. The only new info. I have is that he thought the conversion would take 4 hrs of shop time.

Tim: Got the car back today. The mechanic said that he had no issues with the Year One kit for the 14" Rally's. Said it went in just as it should. Cost me $328 in labor. I really notice the difference in the stopping ability which was what I wanted. They are a little noisy, but I assume that there will be a break in period.
Rob

Thanks for the update. Do you have existing power brakes or did you upgrade that too?

Already had power brakes. Quick update, I found out why they were noisy, seems that there was a problem with the installation and something was grinding a ridge into the rotors. The car is now back at the shop. I'll let you know what happened.

I'd bet the mounting brackets for the calipers were grinding into the 14" Rally IIs. I know this because my 4-wheel disc conv. did the same. Had to simply grind a bit off the top ridges of the brackets and problem solved...