1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

[Gary F.]

I have a 1967 corvette that I am restoring the front suspension on. It has 1969 front spindles with the disc brake rotors still riveted on from the factory. I have assembled the spindle and attaching hardware per drawings and after checking the assembly against an actual 67 car. My problem is that the caliper is not centered on the rotor and the brake pads are not parallel to the rotor. When I put in the brake pads they are tight to the rotor on one side. Do I need to add shims to correct this problem. All parts were on the car with no problems when it was torn down for rebuild.1967

[Timothy B.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

Gary,

I can't answer your question except to mention are you sure all the parts are on their correct sides.

[Stephen L.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

The calipers are unique to each side as dictated by the entrance point for the brakeline hose and bleeder valve. If these align correctly then the next question would be what else was replaced such as the wheel bearings and seals in the hubs. You indicated that all these parts were originally on the car before teardown and were just reinstalled. What, if any new parts were used? Are the bearing seals installed properly......

[Bill M.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

Gary

I dont know a lot about 1969 vettes but i believe that the 69 brake caliper is different than a 67 and 68. All the rotors are interchangable.

Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

Gary

I dont know a lot about 1969 vettes but i believe that the 69 brake caliper is different than a 67 and 68. All the rotors are interchangable.

Bill

Bill------


All 1965-82 Corvette calipers are functionally interchangeable. L1967-about 73 calipers are identical right down to casting numbers.

Rear rotors are the same for all 1965-82. However, in GM SERVICE the front rotors were only supplied with attached hub. Therefore, 1965-68 front rotors are the same but not the same as 1969-82. The separate rotors, never available in SERVICE from GM but available from AC Delco and others, are the same for 1965-82.

[Gary F.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

The only new parts were the front wheel bearings and the bearing seals which were installed with the closed end facing the center of the car and the open end facing out .

[Tim G.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

There are front and back rotors. You may have the back rotor on the front. I know this because we found out the hard way while recently doing a brake job on a friends '66. I'm going to write an article on this. Bubba made it work years ago by shaving the pads or something. He must have pulled all four rotors and set them aside and mixed them up at reassembly. We figured out that the left rear rotor was on the right front and the right front rotor was on the left rear. Nothing worked when we replaced the pads.

[Stephen L.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

Gary, if everything fit before, and you only replaced the bearings and seals then you need to look closely at them.... Hopefully you have the old parts for comparison. Did you install new bearing races in the rotors. Are they "seated" in the rotor housing properly? How much offset are you experiencing which won't allow the pads to be installed. Can this dimension be attributed to one of the new parts? How thick are the new pads?
Have you compressed the brake cylinder pistons completely on both halves of the caliper. (They should be flush with the housing. You may need to use a piece of flat stock and a "C" clamp to fully compress)

I'm just brainstorming the problem for something that may have been overlooked.......

Could the caliper mounting brackets be reversed side to side?

[Gary F.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

I am positive that I have front rotors on the front because they are 1969 rotors still riveted to the hub by the factory. The only difference is that it takes larger wheel bearings.

[Tom M.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

Gary,
Did the '69 calipers ever fit? Had this car been assembled and driving before restoration or are you building the front suspension with new parts for this first fitting?
I had a go-around when doing my 1969 calipers this spring. The calipers were exchanges that had been freshly redone by Lone Star. The left caliper held the outboard pad so tightly to the disc that the wheel would barely turn. It turned out that the caliper was either bent or had been machined improperly and had to be exchanged.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 disc brake caliper to rotor alignment issues

I have a 1967 corvette that I am restoring the front suspension on. It has 1969 front spindles with the disc brake rotors still riveted on from the factory. I have assembled the spindle and attaching hardware per drawings and after checking the assembly against an actual 67 car. My problem is that the caliper is not centered on the rotor and the brake pads are not parallel to the rotor. When I put in the brake pads they are tight to the rotor on one side. Do I need to add shims to correct this problem. All parts were on the car with no problems when it was torn down for rebuild.1967

Gary------

Some of the condition you describe is quite common in 1965-82 Corvettes. It can be partially the result of slight distortion of the caliper mounting brackets, front or rear. However, your situation sounds well beyond the norm to me. Plus, if all was well before you installed the calipers and pads, that pretty much leaves out the problem I mentioned.

If you replaced the bearing races, I would carefully check to be sure that you have them fully seated in the hub. This is a common problem. It's VERY possible for them to APPEAR fully seated when they are not.