A buddy of mine owns a 56 Cadillac Series 62, and he wants to convert the brakes to something more modern and safe. Does anyone know if there are aftermarket companies that make anything for this? He seems to be struggling with trying to find anything that might work.
They all make disc conversions; CaddyDaddy, Cadillac King, Speedway, Summit, Classic Performance, take your pick, most of these kits don't work with the original wheels, you have to turn your car into a donk, but people who go crazy for all that Wilwood stuff like donks too. The best might be: HAMB's own www.scarebird.com or www.classicdiscbrakes.com They sell bolt on kits that will work with EXISTING stock wheels for every year Caddy except '56, (out of luck there), They actually answer the phone right away and answer any questions, and are knowledgable. Myself, I prefer drum brakes, just replace all the components that are tired and adjust it right, after a brake job, once the shoes have worn in a bit the braking improves 100%. Lots of people on other forums say that the big Cad drums stop their cars faster than the discs. Can't say for sure either way, some people say adding mustard to baked beans keeps you from farting. The one improvement that I strongly suggest would be a dual pot master
The caddy daddy disk brake conversion works with stock 56 wheels . I'm currently working on a 56 cdv for a customer. You need a 1/4" spacer that is in the kit . That is all bolt on . The hard part is the master cylinder. I modified the original mount and pedal mechanism and pushrod to work with a dual master cylinder and booster . It took a lot of trial and error but now the pedal "feels" correct and the car stops nicely. I have the engine bay taped up now as I'm painting the rest of the car I can take some pics as soon as I get body work done. Next week I hope!!
I used a master cylinder from the right stuff company. And it is mounted up where the original treadle vac unit was. Barely fits but works good. I put a few hundred miles on the car with this setup to make sure me AND the customer were happy before starting the paint process .
Are the adapters pretty safe the way they are designed? Had a few curfuffles with cheesy adapters when I was a kid.
The brackets from caddy daddy are pretty well built and the spacers are just 1/4" plate so the calipers clear the original wheels.