I have a 61 corvette and was "told" that it was a big brake car. Is there any way that I can confirm this? Is the info. in the vin # or some other way to verify. At this time it has regular brakes on the car. Any help would be apprecaited.

 

Here is a good write up on big brakes.

http://www.libertyship.com/rpo/RPO1.htm

 

I have a 62 big brake car and there are many things that are different on these verses standard brake brakes. Are the back plates screened, What wheel Cyl do you have, does the car have the cut outs for the airducts etc. Give me a call and I will help you all I can. Hope this helps

Regards
Ken
731-783-0815

 

A few things come to mind with my 1960....
It has the fast-ratio steering, and has a rear sway-bar also....are these part of the big-brakes RPO?

 

doesn't big brake cars have bigger suspension? If so, you could see if you have the heavy duty springs ont he front and rear.

Does the body have the duct work underneath on the front?

 

There are a few things that are different between the 61 and 62. One difference is the Brake shoes themselves. 61's pads are riveted to the shoe, 62's are bonded. Do you have the Finned brake drums p/n 3745534? There is a difference in the drums between the front and rear even though they have the same casting number

Regards
Ken

 

All '60 - '62 had the rear sway bar.

Jim

 

Hi-- I want to thank you for the information on the "big brake" issue. I read the article from beginning to the end and I will have to take a closer look at my vette to see if it is really a big brake car. The car has been modified/ stuff omitted that it is difficult to tell. I am not sure it would be cost worthy to try to make it a big brake even if "most" of the parts are there. Thank you again for the information!

 

Thank you. I will have to crawl under the car and see if anything that you describe is on the car. I will give you a call if I have any questions.

Rick

 

Hi-- Thank you for the information. I will crawl under the car and see what I really do have. You have been more than helpful!

 

I want to thank everyone for the information on: big brake vette. I will have to crawl under the car and see what it is I have/or not.

 

None of those items was proper for 61. The duct work was 57-58 only.

 

99% sure all the 58 and later RPO cars were 4 speeds with posi and were FI cars (required components to get the RPO 684/687 option). Look for the telltale signs of FI cars for starters (not sure on a 62, but my 58 has the oblong tach drive hole in the firewall and the 2 mouting holes in the driver fender where the air cleaner housing mounted. Could also look to see if there was ever a "fuel Injection" badge installed by seeing if holes are filled in on inside of the fender if badge isn't there anymore

Also, depending on year, they had different shocks and shock mounts (rear) and clamshells (lower front), different brake shoes, finned brake drums, screened backing plates to allow air circulation to help cool the brakes, diffferent brake pins (eccentric vs. round), wheel cylinders, brake fans, front and rear springs, thicker sway bar, air ducts and/or deflectors, and 5 1/2" wheels vs. 5" wheels that would only take poverty hubcaps (also called dog dish hubcaps). Most of this stuff was found on 58-60 cars, but would think some of it applies to 61-62 RPO cars too.

As always, creates more questions than answers....

Anyway, the above is a good place to start. Also, Jim Gessner is very well versed in these cars and is an excellent resource on info about these cars!

Good luck with the search!

 

And of course, there will be a small number of early Vettes which had the HD brake pkg added. Up into the 60s, you could go to your friendly Chevy parts man and order a complete pkg, or individual parts for HD brakes. Thus, some cars got HD brakes and other suspension parts installed after the car was purchased. Also, SOME cars got EARLY HD parts added to their later cars. For example, the HD front springs were only factory installed on 57-59 cars. When the 60-62 cars got the thicker front sway bar and the addition of the rear bar, they also got stock springs instead of HD springs. Some racers opted to replace the stock front springs with the 57-59 HD springs (which were stiffer and shorter) as well as replace the rear 4-leaf springs with the 57-59 HD 5-leaf springs.
There was also an auxillary front sway bar available for "field" installation which was installed behind the front suspension. Some racers preferred the front 2 sway bars and removed the rear bar on 60-62 cars.

And last, you get the weird cars such as my 56 which has almost every HD brake/suspension part installed on a 56, including FI and an Airbox and a trailer hitch and 2 tachs.

Tom Parsons