Overhauling 1966 Chevrolet Brake System - NEED HELP & MANUAL

[Joiner Transit]

Hey guys. I'm going to be re-doing the brake system (under hood and at axles) on a 1965-1966 Chevrolet C-60 School Bus Chassis in a little less than a month up at our farm during Thanksgiving. I need a little help as I have never worked on anything like this. I was going to buy some new parts and start putting them on. I restore small antique tractors as a hobby and figured I could tackle this. The bus has been sitting for about 30 years.

I need help finding parts (going to try RockAuto).

I need help knowing how to fix everything. A factory GM service manual would be AWESOME!

I need any other tips, tricks, and advice you guys may have!

LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING BACK FROM YOU ALL!~!

[Rusty]

I think I remember this bus- was in the family for a long time?

Cool looking ride.

I'm guessing you are:

Replacing all the hard lines and flex lines in the entire vehicle? PB Blaster soak all the fittings early and often.

Rebuilding the wheel cylinders or replacing with rebuilts?

Turn the drums & new pads?

Rebuild master cylinder?


Sure is a beautiful spot to work.

[Johnny Mullet]

Every brake line and hose will need replaced. I can't help you finding brake parts, but you can make your own lines with a flare tool.

[cadillackid]

wow!!! originally a factory air-conditioned Superior (built in ohio).. beautiful bus!! what are your plans for it?
-Christopher

[Tango]

Doubt you will ever find a makers manual but I'm guessing that is simply a Chevy 1-1/2 or 2 ton truck chassis. All the wheel components should be readily available. As for lines, those will have to be made. No biggie.

Here are a couple of links worth checking out though...
The Old Car Manual Project

FactoryRepairManuals.com | Factory Service Manuals, Original Auto Shop Repair Books

https://www.classicparts.com/default...SAAEgJ05PD_BwE

Should make for a pretty cool ride. Best of luck and please do keep the pix coming.

[Joiner Transit]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

wow!!! originally a factory air-conditioned Superior (built in ohio).. beautiful bus!! what are your plans for it?
-Christopher

How do you know it was once factory air conditioned??

[Joiner Transit]

Yes the chassis and drivetrain is a 1965-1966 Chevrolet C-60. That is the service manual I need badly. A superior manual, expert/ex-employee, and parts source would be the icing on the cake!!

[Joiner Transit]

Yes brake lines for sure need replacing. Here is the deal. Read below.....

Ok. The week-long Thanksgiving Bash is coming up this year that we have at the Farm and I will once be reunited with the Bus I bought this time last year. I will be staying up there from Monday night through Friday and am planning on working on the bus to hopefully get it MOVING and STOPPING under its own power. I almost had it running a couple days after I bought it last year, so hopefully the old 327 won't give me too much of a fit if I throw some new plugs, points, condenser, coil and rotor at it. I will need to find and install a good radiator (new or used) because that is the only thing that's missing on it. The oil was changed last year when I got it. I remember one of the rear dual wheels was locked up when we were loading it up to tow it and it will definitely need the brakes fixed.

The game plan for Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Friday is:

* Replace ignition parts and get engine running smooth. Possibly replace fuel pump and fasten a makeshift fuel tank inside.
* Install radiator so it will be able to cool properly
* With the help of a family member who works for an emergency tractor trailer repair business (tires, breakdowns, etc), I will remove the rear wheels and repair brakes with new parts and new lines from the front. New brake parts under the hood too.

What else am I forgetting??? I'm gonna need some help getting a parts list and tool list together. I have diesel air compressors, forklift, etc.; so I'm not worried about limited capability. Keep in mind that this is just for fun to get it going in the meantime before we do a resto-mod on it; so the drivetrain will most likely not be used, but for now I want him to be able to load up some friends and drive it around the farm. I did update a prior post with some extra pictures, and here are some more on this post. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RESPONSES!!!

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Joiner Transit

How do you know it was once factory air conditioned??

99% of the time that empty "compartment" on the lower right was where parts of the A?C was located on a factory superior system.

they were unreliable at best but still kick-ass neat just because almost no one had it in a bus back then..

-Christopher

[bansil]

C60 are fairly easy to get start with Napa, Autozone, O-rheihlys , go in with a list and Ebay

Example

60-66 C60 master cylinder

Autozone below and they have alot of parts

Autozone power booster

[Joiner Transit]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

99% of the time that empty "compartment" on the lower right was where parts of the A?C was located on a factory superior system.

they were unreliable at best but still kick-ass neat just because almost no one had it in a bus back then..

-Christopher

Ok. Pretty sure it did not have A/C unfortunately because I have all the doors for the compartments. I took 2 off because they weren't on the tracks and didn't want them to fall off. Once redone, I'm sure we would install modern roof a/c units

[Joiner Transit]

Is there anyone on here that has redone/owns a 1965-1966 Chevrolet C-60 bus ?? Would also be awesome if someone on here has a bus with the same Superior Body and window style (any make chassis).

[golfersmurf57]

Originally Posted by Joiner Transit

Hey guys. I'm going to be re-doing the brake system (under hood and at axles) on a 1965-1966 Chevrolet C-60 School Bus Chassis in a little less than a month up at our farm during Thanksgiving. I need a little help as I have never worked on anything like this. I was going to buy some new parts and start putting them on. I restore small antique tractors as a hobby and figured I could tackle this. The bus has been sitting for about 30 years.

I need help finding parts (going to try RockAuto).

I need help knowing how to fix everything. A factory GM service manual would be AWESOME!

I need any other tips, tricks, and advice you guys may have!

LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING BACK FROM YOU ALL!~!

O'Reilly can get the hydraulic parts pretty cheap. If its gas then it Most likely has a hydrovac underneath. You should bleed it first with the engine off then longest wheel to shortest. Make sure to adjust the rears up and put the bleed screws in the upper wheel cylinder. Pull the rears at the axle by undoing the wheel bearing. If you need drums deal with them off the vehicle. Then reinstall as an assembled dual.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk

[Joiner Transit]

Originally Posted by golfersmurf57

O'Reilly can get the hydraulic parts pretty cheap. If its gas then it Most likely has a hydrovac underneath. You should bleed it first with the engine off then longest wheel to shortest. Make sure to adjust the rears up and put the bleed screws in the upper wheel cylinder. Pull the rears at the axle by undoing the wheel bearing. If you need drums deal with them off the vehicle. Then reinstall as an assembled dual.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk

Thank you for he input. Very good information! Can you explain what you mean in this sentence? Make sure to adjust the rears up and put the bleed screws in the upper Wheel cylinder.

[Joiner Transit]

After a little research it looks like the school bus cowl & chassis models were labeled as a B-series. Mine would therefore be a B-60, not a C-60 and not an S-60.

Please correct me if I am wrong. I think this will help me more with finding parts and other research.

[cadillackid]

Navistar did that too.. the bus is a 3800, however under the hood and even suspension many of the paerts from the 4700 truck are identical.. ive bought m,any '4700' parts for my 3800 bus..

obviously anything cab related wouldnt exist in a Bus chassis.. but engine parts, transmission partds, etc interchanged..

with brakes if you can find any info about the supplier who made those brakes there may be cross reference.. for instance in my case bendix Brake-works made the entire brake system for navistar.. so even though navistar has no part number for a specific part, bendix does.. your hydraulix brakes and / or steering may be TRW.. who may have cross references to Reman parts..

case and poiint being my air compressor in my DEV bus.. it died.. had a navistar part number plate on it.. call navistar - they laughed - discontinued long ago.. in their catalogs it was... called bendix - they gave me 5 different currently Re-manufactured part numbers that would fit it.. and they were all over..

-Christopher

[Joiner Transit]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

Navistar did that too.. the bus is a 3800, however under the hood and even suspension many of the paerts from the 4700 truck are identical.. ive bought m,any '4700' parts for my 3800 bus..

obviously anything cab related wouldnt exist in a Bus chassis.. but engine parts, transmission partds, etc interchanged..

with brakes if you can find any info about the supplier who made those brakes there may be cross reference.. for instance in my case bendix Brake-works made the entire brake system for navistar.. so even though navistar has no part number for a specific part, bendix does.. your hydraulix brakes and / or steering may be TRW.. who may have cross references to Reman parts..

case and poiint being my air compressor in my DEV bus.. it died.. had a navistar part number plate on it.. call navistar - they laughed - discontinued long ago.. in their catalogs it was... called bendix - they gave me 5 different currently Re-manufactured part numbers that would fit it.. and they were all over..

-Christopher

Yeah, I'm afraid the brake parts are going to be different in a bus chassis (B-60) but I really don't know beacuse I don't have a parts manual to check or the parts on the bus near me to look. I talked to a mechanic here at the DOT where I work (they know big trucks) and one guy there said he would think the brakes might be bigger and different being a bus. He said best way to tell is measure the drum and that is how parts are obtained. Can't do that since bus is 3 hours away. haha.

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Originally Posted by Joiner Transit

Yeah, I'm afraid the brake parts are going to be different in a bus chassis (B-60) but I really don't know because I don't have a parts manual to check or the parts on the bus near me to look. I talked to a mechanic here at the DOT where I work (they know big trucks) and one guy there said he would think the brakes might be bigger and different being a bus. He said best way to tell is measure the drum and that is how parts are obtained. Can't do that since bus is 3 hours away. haha.

Nah. Manufacturers are cheap and there's no reason for them to engineer a different brake system for a bus. They used the exact same parts as they did for their truck lines and I expect in at least some cases, the truck/bus chassis came down the exact same assembly line using the exact same parts. (That may not necessarily be the case today, but primarily because the assembly lines are more "dedicated" to their respective chassis, and they sell so many vehicles that one line won't have the capacity to meet production needs). IH and GM were (and still are) well known for using the same parts between chassis, it reduces their parts overhead and makes the vehicles cheaper to keep on the road. They don't need "special" parts for the bus brakes, they can get them down at any truck parts warehouse.

The *ONLY* reason any manufacturer would use a different, non-standard brake system is if the buyer *SPECIFICALLY* ordered it, such as a customer running a mountainous route.

[Joiner Transit]

Got more pics!!

[Joiner Transit]

And more. Hopefully these will help me find the right Brake parts without tearing it apart first.