Need OLDS brake advice on daily driver

[323GTX]

Hi all Need some assistance...

I reached a point on my daily driver that I need to make a major decision. It's going to need a good amount of brake work for inspection and I need to decide to either fix it and keep it another couple years or replace it with a new car.

I would rather fix it because it's cheaper than new car payments and I really like the car. It's a 1990 Oldsmobile Touring Sedan. Top of the line at the time, cost $29,000 new, pioneer of GM FWD performance / luxury sedans. Has 126k highway miles and no rust. Everything works and it's in excellent shape. I picked it up a few years ago for next to nothing. It's a great car!

http://photobucket.com/albums/v11/skybax/Touring Sedan/

It's going to need front pads, front caliper rubber hoses, rear shoes and rear wheel cylinders. (to do the job right) Now you might be thinking... "what's the big deal?"

Well..... it has that same Master Cylinder that the Turbo Buicks have, which is why I am posting this message here. I absolutely HATE that system. It's also equipped with 4-wheel ABS. It's the only thing about the car I don't like.

Can I convert it over to a standard Master Cylinder and Booster like we do to our Turbo Buicks?

If so... I would assume I would use a 88-91 Delta 88 standard Master & Booster?

I don't want to do all this brake work, bleed the system, and have that 15 year old Power Master fail on me. (very expensive) I feel if I converted it over along with all this brake work I could easily get a few more years of enjoyment out of the car.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

[turbofish38]

Originally posted by 323GTX
pioneer of GM FWD performance / luxury sedans.

I think that designation goes to the 84-85 Riviera T-Types IMO.

Actually the brakes on your car are the Teves design and not the Delco powermaster. Same principal different parts.

That ABS system was an option on the C/H body cars so yes you can fit the standard vacuum booster/MC on it. Everything else is the same so you don't need to change the rotors/calipers. It might be a good idea to get everything that bolts to the firewall of the donor car in case there is a difference in the pedal mounting bracket. You are on your own as far as bending the hard lines and figuring out what to do with the wiring though. The only cars I would consider the same are the 85-90 Park Ave/LeSabre, Olds 88/98 and 87-90 Bonneville. Anything 91 and newer is different.

 

[novaderrik]

i thought the pioneer of the GM fwd performance/luxury sedans was the 66 Olds Toronado? or how about the late 60's/early 70's Caddy Eldorados? not blazingly fast or anything, but with 500 inches cranking out over 500lb/ft of torque, they moved out all right..
and were they ever comfy..

 

[323GTX]

Wow... you guys love to nit-pick.

think that designation goes to the 84-85 Riviera T-Types IMO.

66 Olds Toronado? or how about the late 60's/early 70's Caddy Eldorados?

There are a few problems with that, the biggest being are both 2-doors.

I said sedan = 4-door. What I meant in general was..... a GM FWD top of the line luxury sedan with a performance suspension and factory performance add-ons. A sedan that has it all, just like the new Caddys. This car was the pioneer of that, which is so popular today with ALL auto manufacturers. There is nothing that pre-dates it.

Sheez... Moving on.

Thank you for the tech advice Eric, very much appreciated.

Much to think about.....

 

[novaderrik]

a sedan isn't necessarily a 4 door- my cousin has a 66 Chevelle 2 door sedan. not a hard top- it has the pillar between the door and quarter window, and a full frame around the window glass.
that is the actual (tho not widely used) definition of a sedan. hell, a 79-93 Mustang is also a sedan.
GM also made 4 door coupes, as well
now that i think about it, maybe the old Olds and Caddy FWD cars weren't sedans- but they sure were cool..
hey- wait a minute- i think the first performance FWD sedan GM built was the Citation X-11. it was a 2 door sedan, and had a peppy 2.8 v6 with a 5 speed and something like 4.10:1 final drive ratio. and it was rather fast and plush for a fwd car of the era. i think it was second only to the Corvette in accelration (but in 82, i guess that didn't mean much..).

 

[323GTX]

Well... when I said sedan I was referring to a 4-door.

Boy you guys are tough.

 

[novaderrik]

the guy that owns the local pizza place has been trying to sell his 80-something 2 door convert BMW sedan for the 3 years i've lived in this town.
it is a convert, but it has the full frame around the door windows, so is technically a sedan. and is it ever FUGLY- especially with the top down. it's no wonder he still owns it.
would a 2 door Bimmer convert count as a performance luxury sedan?
sorry for getting so technical- i do that sometimes. but i mean well...

 

[323GTX]

That's your 2nd off-topic post after I elaborated...

- GM
- FWD
- top of the line luxury sedan (was referring to a 4-door)
- performance suspension
- factory performance add-ons

Can we move on now? I think we have gone off subject a bit much. The discussion was about seeking advice on the brake system of my daily driver that I don't want to give up because I like the car so much.

No wonder I have only 40 posts in the last 5 years.

 

[novaderrik]

hey, i apologized. and i refuse to use emoticons, so sometimes my sick twisted sense of humor is lost on people. besides, conversations tend to stray in the real world to similar but not really totally related topics.
why not just keep the car stock if you love it so much and it represents such a "milestone" for GM?

 

[turbofish38]

Hey, just to rib you one more time and seeing as your name is 323GTX I'm like the SCCA and use the word sedan to describe any car with doors. If that wasn't the case than it would be the Camaros and Mustangs racing in the American Coupe series.


Good luck on your project. Also in case you didn't know a lot of the TS parts are the same as a Toronado from the same year. Wheels and I think the front seat and console/shifter. So in a sense you have a four door Toronado.