Vette – July 2019

rum brakes have a bad

reputation, and they’re usu-

ally the first things to hit the

swap meet pile. Early C2

Corvettes were only avail-

able with drum brakes, but they worked

adequately, thanks to larger drums and a

lightweight car compared to other vehicles

of the era. Our project car, a ’64 Corvette

coupe, has relied on manual drum brakes

for its whole life, but as we continue to

upgrade the car we realized that adequate

just isn’t enough for this modified Vette.

Just because it stops doesn’t mean that it’s

up to the task of dealing with today’s high-

way speeds, and more importantly, dealing

with the incompetent drivers that share

the road with our precious vehicle. Even if

you’re not planning to go racing, a brake

system designed to withstand the abuse of

racing is a great upgrade for an early C2.

Swapping to disc brakes on an early

C2 is an easy process, but you do have a

few choices to make. One option is to run

stock-style disc brakes from a later-model

C2. And while this may be more affordable

than a full aftermarket kit, you’re looking

at a change in the car’s track width. This

change can be exaggerated even more

(up to 1 1/4-inch per side) with other after-

market kits that use a more universal, non-

Corvette specific rotor. This wider track can

be problematic if your car is lowered or if

you’re already pushing the limits of tire and

wheel fitment with your current combina-

tion. The goal with our car is to retain the

vintage-style 15-inch wheels we currently

have so we wanted a kit that would allow

proper fitment, while also keeping the

wheels tucked in nicely.

What we found was a Wilwood Forged

Dynalite Pro Series disc brake kit. With

BY TOMMY LEE BYRD (^) I PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE AUTHOR
[ TECH]

Brake Time

Upgrading to Four-Piston Wilwood Disc

Brakes and Keeping Our 15-inch Wheels

36 VETTE 19.07