looking what to do for brakes

[thelazerviking]

i have a 71 super and want to go to 4 wheel disc brakes.

ok here's a story.
i'm almost done fixing all the rust on my car then i'm taking the body off.
then i don't know what to do next.

i guess clean up the rear end and paint it and do the transmission


but i don't know what to do next.
brakes?

thanks

[jmd]

I just wanted to respond based on my own practices.

Order of modifications:
1. Safety.
2. Safety.
3. Safety.
4. Speed

ie;
1. stable base (no rust, strong frame rails, solid working platform).
2. Brakes ( you always want the best stopping action... period).
3. Belts / Cage / Roll-Over bar ect.
4. Start tuning your motor / tranny options to get the output desired.


Now it must be understood that I myself am very much a 'light myself on fire and get on it by the seat of my pants' kinda guy. But at the end of the day I want to come home in at least as many parts as I left in, leaving me with the need to have a safe vehicle to get sideways in...

Always tune to your own expectations and desires, not cause your trying to one-up the guy in the booth or parking spot next to you. Its your ride, its about you.

So I guess the real question is, where do you want your ride to take you?
Best of luck.
jmd


p.s. in relation to your brakes, I would go at least disc in front if not all the way around, just cause modern gear performs better.. so research 944 conversions as that seems to be the way to go.
options:
single pot x 4 (944 n/a)
double pot x 4 (944 turbo)

double in the front, single in the rear?
running with or without 944 trailing arms...ect.

Or you could go for total madness and just put triples (6pot) all the way around the way that lazylongboarder did... but that might just be a bit over the top...(no offense lazy...)

[oasis]

All we have is anecdotal evidence. The only way to scientifically suss it out is to test different systems under the same circumstances in the same car.

Even then, you have to define what you are looking for in the test. Do you want to test for:
(1) one emergency stop from 60?
(2) one emergency jam from 60 to 30?
(3) a series of stops from 60?
(4) a panic stop from 60 after a series of jams?
(5) stopping ability over the course of ___ months?
(6) ability to panic stop in a straight line?
(7) ability to panic stop within a given curve?

... and one can change or combine any of the above for new parameters.

And then there is cost effectiveness. There is little doubt one reaches a point of diminishing returns -- especially if one is talking about an 1800-pound vehicle. (There may even be a point of negative returns but I won't even go there. Oops, already did.)

If a $300 brake set-up allows one 110-foot stop from 60 MPH and a $1,000 set-up produces one 106-foot stop at the same starting speed, which is better? (That becomes rhetorical question. If one says that $700 is worth that extra four feet, though, how far would you go? Would you pay $2,500 for 103?)

(Sorry to the Rest-of-the-Worlders for my use of the American dollar and standards of measurement.)