I used Tom00799's method the weekend before last to remove my rear rotors....worked like a charm. Cobalt drill bits are a must and stop frequently to dip the bit in cutting oil.

When knocking out the rivets, I made a point to not drive the rivets into the parking brake pad retainer springs (at 3 and 9 o'clock) or the parking brake adjuster (it's at around 5 o'clock). If you rotate the rotor and look through the inspection holes, you should see where the springs and adjuster wheel are located.

Another note, when removing the rotors, back off on the parking brake adjuster......stick a flat screwdriver and push down to back them off.....I also disconnected parking brake cable. I still had to give the rotor a few good hits on the backside to get it off.

 

I finally attempted the much dreaded drilling of the rivets tonight. It started out as playing at first because the motor in my drill press smoked a year or so ago and all I have is a 18 year-old DeWalt 18V cordless.

I center punched the first one and picked a size of bit that was just a wild-assed guess of 11/32 and started drilling. With plenty of cutting oil and about 60 seconds into it the hat came off and rode up the bit. Well that was quite a success to start out with. I continued to drill for another minute or two, stopped to see the progress since I'm really starting to get some long curlies. Now I thought this stuff was supposed to be hard, but I was getting deep - fast! A few taps with the pin punch and a claw hammer (to lazy to go after the ball peen) and it fell out!!!

Now how can that be this easy?! Maybe it was just a fluke on the first one? Nope, all the rest came out about as easy. Only one held on to the hub and had to be drilled a bit more. I must have spent a total of 30 minutes from start to finish with a cordless drill on a half-charged battery, a punch, hammer, and cutting oil and I'm done.

This isn't meant to be a brag or show off. I certainly expected to have to visit the neighbor's drill press and a good hour or so and lots of pounding and aggravation and it ended up being a quick before-I-retire-for-the-evening check-off task.

 

I'm a new C3 owner and I'm about to do the same thing. I can only hope it's as easy as the previous poster. I've never encountered this brake design and I've had a few older vehicles. I'm excited for the challenge! I'm pretty amazed that a 79 with 130,000 miles likely has the original rotors!

 

"I'm pretty amazed that a 79 with 130,000 miles likely has the original rotors! " My 68 convert with 1xx,xxx miles ( speedo changed, mileage unknown) had perfect rotors- no scoring, no ridge at edge on a 47 year old car. I changed to put on drilled rotors and used my shop press to get the front rotor off the hub after pre-drilling. Makes quite a loud snap when all five rivets let go at once.

 

I can only imagine how loud that would be, my luck I'd get a piece of metal to the forehead. I haven't had the time to actually get back to work on the old girl. By far the weirdest brakes I've ever seen, I started out on this venture without reading up on the brakes on a C3. It had me a little baffled at first.

 

let the runout begin... along with temperamental brakes

 

"I can only imagine how loud that would be, my luck I'd get a piece of metal to the forehead" Yeah- one of the disadvantages of a shop press is the anxiety as you add more and more pressure (tons) on the hub and rotor and keep wondering if something is going to break or if it will finally let loose. When it finally released, the rivets flew all over the place- mostly down- and the snap was about as loud as a rifle shot going off next to you. I had new rivets to put back on, but chose instead to very carefully clean the mating surfaces between the rotor and hub until every last particle of dirt was removed. I have one inch spacers on all four wheels, so once the lug nuts for the spacers were carefully installed and torqued the issue of run out was probably remote. Most times dirt between the rotor and hub contributes to the run out problem when the installer is in a hurry.

 

I'm considering going with a Wilwood kit or VB&P. The original design seems pretty good but I would love to not have to deal with calipers leaking and such. Put it together and forget about it until pads are worn out sounds pretty good to me! I'm also considering torque thrust wheels as well so the Wilwoods would look very nice behind those wheels!

 

That was easy, Alan just waited until the wife was away for the day!!!