Scarebird Drum/Disc conversion review...with pictures

[AKcharger]

NOTE - I was going to update this photos after the PB meltdown but discovered scarebird doesn't offer this kit anymore so didn't bother to doo all the photos. If you are doing it and have questions PM me!

I bought the scarebird kit for 2 primary reasons; 1) I could keep my 14 inch rallye wheels and 2) it promised to be VERY simple,  easy with minimum down time.  Bottom line is if I went to do it again I'd go with that A-body conversion. I really consider this a temporary conversion till my next Major restoration. If all had gone according to plan I would have had about $240 total in the conversion but since I had to chase my tail and buy a bunch of nit/noid parts cost is closer to about $350
PRO's –There is no way to to do a disc conversion with new parts cheaper, period! The conversion is very quick and easy.... Provided you don't run into problems. And finally the Scarebird tech support was good
CONs – The problem isn't the kit or plan, it's the fact there cars have had almost half a century to be molested, changed, modified and damaged so you don't know what you'll find till you start getting into things. That was my problem, I had some weird sized hub that caused me to have to make all kinds of "Mickey mouse" work arounds
Recommendations – I'd recommend the kit if you want an inexpensive/easy conversion, but I'd strongly suggest do NOT change the stud as recommended, That caused 90% of my problems!!!!!

Below is the kit and all required items. Scarebird provides the backing plate, some hardware and instructions. What's not shown is all those stupid Studs I had to mess with!

[AKcharger]

1)   Chock rear wheels and loosen lug nuts on each wheel

2)   Remove Wheel and drum (mine came off pretty easy)

3)   Disconnect Brake hose and remove hub

4)   Loosen Backing plate Nuts and support control arm with Jack. Once supported removed bolts and Backing plate
NOTE- Scarebird instructions are to support the control arm with a jack stand, I elected to go a different route for more working room but import takeaway is the control arms are under spring tension from the torsion bars!!

[AKcharger]

5)   Clean and inspect upper and lower control arms

6)   Install plate on upper control arm, install bolts

7)   Supporting the lower control arm insert lower bolts

   Torque all bolts and test fit caliper, mine needed a little trim

9)   Rotor inner radus will need a slight trim to it on hub, a little work with the grinder was all it took

10)   Install hose, hub and test fit caliper

11)   If all looks good, install rotor, reinstall caliper and torque and there ya' go! The scare bird conversion!!!!

[AKcharger]

Well wait, you said you had all kinds of problems???   Yup, lets look at them now:

DO NOT CHANGE THE STUDS!!!!!! Scarebird recommend the studs be changed ( I suspect for liability reasons) I am certain the studs are long enough and finding longer replacements is a nightmare!!!

One hub was had a stud knurle area of .625, standard I believe, the other was .650...this hub was the oddball and he's cause more trouble in the future. So longer studs I thought would be around 2 inches...guess what, bad guess they were too long and now I needed new lug nuts

On the other side I had to drill/waller out the holes to accept some .668 studs I found from NAPA...probably off a Studebaker or something

OK so studs installed and everything put together and all looks great, till I tighten the drivers side wheel and It's dragging badly. Here we go with problem #2 the gap is bad, too close to the caliper (remember that odd ball hub???)  .366 Pax side/.108 drivers side. After a few days I came up with a fix...a 5/16 wheel spacer! Put the rotor right where it should be and as an added plus I didn't need those $20 worth of new chrome lug nuts I bought, my old ones worked fine again lol



Alright NOW it's all done and I take it for a test drive...now there's a front end wobble...BAD! So back  in the garage to figure it out I jack the car and spin the PAX side whell and I can see it is the problem. I pull everything apart and check the hub ( That was my  1st suspect) and it was fine? Well I noticed one of the studs was punched out and after looking found the problem...those stupid studs again!!! Seem the base of the studs are too fat and the rotor  was sitting on the STUDS as opposed to the face of the hub. When I tightened the wheel some studs held, and 2 pushed through, hence the wobble.

So I drilled out the holes in the Rotor to accept the large std base area and volia!

[cdr]

yep , one hub is made for a cast drum & it is thicker drum, the other is a composite drum that is thin, so the hub has a different height.

[AKcharger]

Ahhhh! gotcha

[GPULLER]

Where did the hubs come from?  Did I miss something?

[AKcharger]

They were what was on the car when I got it on '03...at that point it had 33 years to have been molested/changed 

[jaak]

Thanks for the write up and pics AKcharger! Very Informative!!

Jason

[Charger-Bodie]

Good write up. I have a scarebird set up on the front of my 68. It is different though. 15 inch wheels minimum for the set I have.

[marshallfry01]

How's the performance with such a small rotor? Is it much better than the drums? I like the fact that it lets you keep the 14 inch wheels! 

[TXcharger70]

I as we'll have the scare bird kit but for 15in wheels. For the price and ease and not to mention hell of a difference from drum I can't complain.

[AKcharger]

The braking performance is good. I haven't yet did any heavy braking 'cause I still need to plumb in the proportioner valve. Sooooon, very soon 

[Charger-Bodie]

the thing I like about the scarebird kit i Have is all the parts are easy to get at any parts store.

[AKcharger]

the thing I like about the scarebird kit i Have is all the parts are easy to get at any parts store.

...except studs 

and I'd suggest going through rockauto for all parts! Parts were easily %60 less...rotors were $12 ea. I think compared to $36 at autozone

[c00nhunterjoe]

What are the pads rotors and calipers off of?

[AKcharger]

The calipers and pads came from a '92 Chevy Celbrety, rotors from am a '91 Lincon Mark VII and brake hose from a '78 caddy 

[MSRacing89]

These guys make good easy to maintain and install kits. I ran these before we went full crazy big brake race stuff. Always worked well for a good solid upgrade.

[AKcharger]

Sorry for the delay guys, here's the last bit on the proportioner valve installation ( I can't believe 10 months have passed!) so this will close out the whole installation. Brakes are now AWESOME, I finally feel safe driving it!

1) I cut the line about 17 inches after of the block (followed an old article by mopar muscle) with he line cut I could easily get a box end wrench on the nut so it didn't strip out :-)

2) As for the double flare it wasn't that hard but you'll want to make a few practice flares in the piece of 3/16 tube you purchase. Note you'll only need 2 flares - one on existing line going to rear brakes and the new line going into the valve, the new line SHOULD have a flare/nut already installed so you can just install in the valve block. Oh...and make sure you install the nut before you make the flare...not that I made such a mistake  

3) Attach to valve and there ya go. One thing you'll note is it's secured by a line clip. I was going to bolt it to the frame but found the torsion bar was in the way and I didn't have a funky angle drill...so that will have to do, it's not that heavy anyway

As for adjustment of the proportioner; at first I had it 1/2 way closed and there really wasn't much difference in braking then without out it so I ended up closing it all the way and that worked pretty well.  The rear tires will lock just before front so that's the best I can get but the breaking performance is excellent now. oh, and closing the valve really means it's about 1/3 open..it doesn't close it all the way off.

Cheers!  

[Mopar Nut]

Thanks for the write up, very detailed.

Are you doing the rear with Scarebird brackets?

[AKcharger]

I'm glad to do it! as for the rear brakes...nope. What I have now is fine, perhaps when I do another restoration I'll add rear disks but when that happens I'll go with a more complete system

[AKcharger]

Some pictures updated but Scarebird doesn't make the kit anymore so didn't bother doing them all...PM me if you need anything

[71charger_fan]

I used a Scarebird conversion on my 1955 Plymouth Plaza Suburban wagon. The only problem I ran into with that was the slot in the castle nut didn't line up with the cotter pin hole on the spindle. I just had to file the slots deeper and was good to go. I switched it to a dual master with an AAR proportioning/distribution valve.

[AKcharger]

Glad it worked for ya'! 95% of my problem was with the hubs/Studs. 1) if you change out the Studs you WILL have problems. they will either be too long, too short or that will not fit. I should have just left the original ones 2) There are different hubs out there, some work and some don't. you will not know till you get digging. I had the one that wouldn't work and had to "shim it" with a wheel spacer.

I wrote to Scarebird and gave them the link to this review. I never heard from them again...but they aren't offering it anymore   But really pay the extra $$ and get the correct kit

[AKcharger]

To close out the thread I ended up ripping this off and doing the "A-body" disc conversion...that way I know it's right.
Funny thing was reason I didn't do that is I thought the spindles would be difficult to change...child's play!