EARLY CAMARO BRAKESWilwood Engineering brake kits for the ’67-’69 Camaro

The front disc brake kit comes with the rotors,calipers with pads, caliper brackets, and all of thehardware required to complete the installation. Afull set of instructions is also included to show youhow the installation is done.

The rear disc brake kit comes with the rotors,caliper brackets that include the parking brakemechanism, the calipers with pads, and all of thehardware required to complete the installation. Afull set of instructions is also included to show youhow the installation is done.

People in the know say you can’t keep a secretin Detroit, but Ford proved them wrong when theMustang debuted in 1964. The management atFord was looking for a sporty car they could sellto the youth market, so they borrowed some me-chanical parts from the Falcon and designed abody that was irresistible. Just before it was re-leased Ford leaked some information about theMustang to the car magazines, as well as auto-motive editors working for the newspapers to getpublic reaction. When the car was released, peo-ple flocked to the dealerships and the Mustangset a record for first day sales.

The managment at General Motors was takenby surprise and responded by ordering a Chevyalternative that debute almost three years later.Unfortunately nothing was on the drawing board,so the engineers and stylists team had to createa nice looking car to compete with the Mustang.The engineers and stylists didn’t want to copythe Mustang, they wanted a completely new

car that was superior to it in every way. Theywanted it to look better, handle better, and have awide selection of engine options available, so thebuyer could use the options selection to order acar that was perfect for their needs. Finallyin October 1966 the new Camaro was releasedas a 1967 model car and it was the first Chevyequipped with the new 300hp 350ci engine aspart of the Super Sport option. Camaros camewith a wide range of other engine selections fromthe base six-cylinder on up to the powerful 396ciengine. The 1967 Camaro was a beautiful carthat surpassed the Mustang in every way and itturned out to be a sales leader for many years tocome

When you ask muscle car and street machine en-thusiasts what is their favorite car, the early Ca-maro generally takes the top spot to own andrestore. Wilwood Engineering was well aware oftheir popularity, so the company released brakekits to upgrade the Camaro’s stopping ability. The

base Camaro was offered with four-wheel drumbrakes with front disc brakes as an option. The1967 Camaro we are going to upgrade is a basemodel that uses front and rear drum brakes. Thefront brake system that was selected to upgradethis Camaro was a Wilwood part number 140-2285-B kit that features Forged Dynalite calipersrunning BP-10 smart pads. The rear brake kit isa Wilwood part number 140-7141 and it featuresForged Dynalite calipers with BP-10 smart pads.The master cylinder was an original Chevy unitfrom 1967 and wasn’t looking good, plus itwouldn’t work with disc brakes, so a Wilwoodpart number 260-9439-P will replace it. The Ca-maro also needs new front brake lines so we or-dered Wilwood part number 220-7056 Flex lines.Since this an entirely new brake system a pro-portioning valve, Wilwood part number 260-8419will also be installed. The kits and parts that weare going to show you are popular upgrades thatare available from your local Wilwood dealer.

Wilwood Engineering states that disc brakesshould only be installed by someone experi-enced and competent in the installation andmaintenance of disc brakes. If you are mechani-cally inclined, work on your own car, and havedone your share of brake work over the years,

the kits we are showing are relatively simple to in-stall. In order to perform this installation you oryour mechanic will need a floor jack and jackstands, a good assortment of SAE wrenches, anassortment of line wrenches, a socket wrench setwith SAE sockets, an impact gun, safety wire pli-ers, a drip pan, Loctire 271 thread locker, an inchpound torque wrench and a foot-pound torquewrench.

Before you start, make sure the kits that you areusing are the correct ones for the make andmodel of car you are working on. Spread out all ofthe parts and make sure you have all of the itemslisted on the instruction sheet parts list. It wouldalso be advisable to verify the hub stud pattern tomake sure it is the correct one to fit your wheels.The hub generally has several holes so makesure you use the correct set.

We are going to follow along as this disc brake in-stallation is done on a 1967 Camaro, so if youplan on doing the same installation on your car,this should provide the information you need todecide whether you want to do it yourself or if itwould be better to have a professional do it foryou.

Using a breaker bar and the correct size socket, thewheels were removed from the car. If you want to speedthings up you can use an impact gun.

This ’67 Camaro came from the factory with standardfour-wheel drum brakes. Disc brakes were optional in1967 and they were primitive. We are updating this Ca-maro with a Wilwood part number 140-2285-B disc brakekit that can be installed on disc or drum brake spindles.

After the cotter key was removed, the spindle nut and largeflat washer were disconnected with a large Crescent wrenchand then the nut was loosened by hand. After the nut wasdisconnected, the hub assembly was removed. The nut andwasher were retained for use later.

Using an impact gun and an open-end wrench, the backingplate bolts to spindle were removed. The backing plate andbrakes will be removed as a unit.

The springs that are connected to the special centerbolt were removed. The center spring connection is alsoa bolt that fastens to the spindle.

Using a large 15/16-inch wrench, the center bolt was re-moved from the backing plate and spindle.

Before the backing plate could be removed, the brakehose had to be disconnected from the steel line. Herethe connection is being disconnected with an open-end wrench and a line wrench.

After the backing plate was removed, the caliperbracket could be installed. The bolts were coated withLoctite 271 before installation.

The caliper bracket was installed using the two spac-ers in the kit. The large spacer and a washer are usedat the top connection and a small spacer and a washerare used at the lower connection.

The upper bolt was tightened to 120 ft-lbs and thelower bolt was tightened to 77 ft-lbs. Because thereare tolerance variations among spindles, it may benecessary to install a shim washer between the spac-ers and the bracket.

Using the correct Chevy 5 on 4 3/4-inch spacing, thelugs were installed into the aluminum hub assembly.The lug studs were tightened to 77 ft-lbs.

The rotor adapter plate was connected to the rotor usingthe bolts supplied in the kit. Before the bolts were in-stalled they were coated with Loctite 271.

The rotor adapter plate to rotor bolts were tightened to180 in-lbs and then they were safety wired in place. Asafety wire diagram can be found in the instructionsheet.

The hub assembly was connected to the rotor adapterplate using the bolts supplied in the kit. Using a torquewrench, the bolts were tightened to 22 ft-lbs and thenthey were safety wired.

The hubs come complete with the inner and outerspindle bearings, so before they were installed, theywere packed with high temperature disc brake bearinggrease. The large bearing was placed into the rotorhub and then the grease seal was installed.

The rotor was placed on the spindle, the small bearingwas installed into the front of the rotor, the washer wasplaced back on and then the large nut was screwed ontothe spindle end. This is a critical connection so the nutwas tightened snug but not over tight because that couldcause premature bearing failure. After the nut was snugthe castle portion was aligned with the hole in the spindleend and a large cotter key was installed to keep the nut inplace.

After the rotor was in place, the caliper was connected tothe caliper bracket using the bolts, washers and shims inthe kit. The caliper was bolted to the bracket and then thecaliper to rotor centering was checked. Shims are used toget the centering perfect.

The BP-10 Smart Pads were installed into the rotorsfrom the top. They should fit in without any binding andshould seat all the way in. The Smart Pads are perfectfor normal driving around town and on the highway.

The brake pads are secured with a long cotter key. Theends were bent enough to hold the key in place but nottoo much because the key will have to be used againwhen the pads are replaced in the future.

Using an open-end wrench, the part number 220-7056Wilwood Flexline was connected to the caliper.

The Wilwood Flexline was connected to the originalsteel line using an open-end wrench. The Flexline wassecured with an open-end wrench and the steel linewas tightened with a line wrench after the initial con-nection was made.

Here is the front brake assembly after the installationwas completed. This should be a huge improvementover the original Chevy drum brakes in overall stop-ping and in bad weather conditions.

The front wheels were bolted onto the disc brakes andthe front of the car was lowered so the rear of the Ca-maro could be elevated. This Camaro features a strongrunning small-block Chevy engine so it is equipped witha 12-bolt Chevy differential. Drum brakes are used atthe rear so Wilwood rear disc brakes will get this Ca-maro stopping efficiently.

Using a line wrench, the original steel lines were discon-nected from the wheel cylinders on both sides of the car.

The axles have to be removed from the differential sothe differential cover was removed to access the C-clips. A drip pan was placed under the axle, the coverbolts were disconnected and then the cover was care-fully lifted and removed from the axle. Before this isdone, it would be advisable to have another pan gasketand some silicone ready for installation.

The parts that secure the axle to the housing were dis-connected so that the axles could be removed. If youhave a shop manual for your car, use it as a guide foraxle removal.

The axles were carefully removed from the housingmaking sure you note which side they came out of.Many differentials have a short and a long axle.

Wilwood hats center on ½-inch studs and Chevyuses 7/16-inch studs. You will have to take the axlesto a machine shop and have the lug holes drilled andtapped for fine thread ½-inch lug studs.

The lug studs were coated with Loctite 271 and thenthey were screwed into the holes. The studs weretightened to 77 ft-lbs.

The four backing plate to axle flange bolts were re-moved using an impact gun and an open-endwrench. After the bolts were disconnected the back-ing plate was removed from the axle.

After the backing plate was removed, the axle flangewas cleaned off with a wire brush and then the Wilwoodcaliper bracket and internal parking brake mechanismwas installed using the same four mounting holes. Thebolts were tightened with an impact gun and an open-end wrench.

Following the installation of the internal parking brakemechanism and caliper mount, the axles were rein-stalled into the axle housing. Replace all of the parts inthe center section and then install the differential coverusing a new gasket.

The caliper was held up to the bracket to check the boltspacing. Everything was looking good but the calipercouldn’t be installed until the rotor was connected.

The rotor was installed and it was bolted to the axle.The caliper was connected to the bracket and then thecaliper to rotor centering was determined. After thecaliper was in alignment, the bolts were coated withLoctite 271 and then they were installed and tightenedto 30 ft-lbs. After the caliper was centered, the BP-10Smart Pads were installed.

Since this is an entirely new brake system a partnumber 260-8419 proportioning valve was installedto the rear brake lines under the Camaro. The knobwas positioned toward the outside of the car foreasy access. This valve can be used to set the frontto rear brake bias.

In 1967 all American cars had to have a dual mas-ter cylinder for safety, so this Camaro had a non-power master cylinder designed for drum brakes.This original master cylinder will have to bechanged to a Wilwood dual master cylinder de-signed for disc brakes front and rear.

The old master cylinder was removed and the newone was bolted in place. The Wilwood part number260-9439-P master cylinder has slotted mountingholes so it will fit perfectly in many locations suchas this Camaro where it bolts right on.

Using a large and small line wrench, the originalbrake line was connected to the new master cylin-der.

The master cylinder is filled with Wilwood Hi-Temp 570racing brake fluid and it is ready for bleeding. ThisWilwood master cylinder works great and it is also a niceappearance addition to any vehicle.

Here is the finished rear brake assembly and it certainlywill be a nice performance addition to this ’67 Camaro.After the bleeding procedure is finished the brakes willhave to be bedded following the procedure outlined onthe instruction sheet.

Wilwood Engineering4700 Calle BoleroCamarillo, CA 93012(805) 388-1188www.wilwood.com

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