68 Charger RT - Front disc brake upgrade - suggestions please

[rollo1504]

Hey folks,

My 68 Charger RT came from factory with front disc and rear drum brake system

I want to upgrade the front disc brake system as I noticed during "playing around" on the street that the front disc brake "is not enough" for my application

So I wanted to ask the experts here for some suggestions please

I am leaning towards a 4 or 6 pistion upgrade of Wilwood as many of my muscle enthusiasts friends equipped their car with Wilwood brake "stuff"

I already searched the Wilwood homepage but could not really find a correct brake kit as all of them tell "only for drum brake systems" or something like that.....

Has anyone of you already upgraded your car with a Wilwood system or do you recommend other companies?

Thanks

Roland

[rollo1504]

Did some research and could find a 4 piston setup from wilwood but the knuckles/spindles are needed to be replaced also as the wilwood brake kits are only compatible with drum brake spindles.

Could also find a 6 piston front brake system setup but I am not sure if they will fit:

I am running these wheels:
https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/wvi-63-5812042/overview/

and the front brake system I am interested in would be:
https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitsProdFront?itemno=140-10740-D&year=1968&make=Dodge&model=Charger&option=Drum+Brake+Spindle

It tells it MAY fit. This "MAY" word concerns me :-)

So

1. Anybody any experiences?
2. Has anybody installed a 6 piston front disc brake system of any brand which fits in a 15" wheel?

Thanks

Roland

[Mopar Nut]

What kind/size of wheel are you using? Wilwood's will not fit with magnums 500 wheels. Baer has a four piston disc kit that will fit on you stock disc spindle under a 15" wheel. Baer also has templates for each of their kits to check for wheel clearances. I have never heard of a six piston setup that will fit a 16" wheel or smaller. 

[darbgnik]

I'm no expert, but it looks like your options open up greatly........ after the purchase of drum spindles.

[rollo1504]

I am running on 15" wheel vintiques wheels..... So probably agree that obviously no 6-piston kit will fit.

Further I agree that the possibilities will open up with drum spindles :-)

There is a Wilwood 4-piston kit that will fit with drum spindles but will also check the baer kits as well.

Thanks for the replies

Roland

[Yada]

I am installing https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitsProdFront?itemno=140-10740-D and they do have a wheel clearance diagram https://www.wilwood.com/Images/BrakeKits/WCD_Drawings/WCD_dwg-Large/ds642_wcd-lg.jpg I did take a measure from outside of wheel stud to outside of caliper, just under 4 1/2 inch

[c00nhunterjoe]

I am intrigued with the back story. What sort of "playing around on the street" caused the disc/drums to not be enough?

To the wilwoods- i have different versions on the dedicated race car. Nice but not what i would personally run on a street car. Expensive and stuck with them for parts. My 2 ton pig stops great on the street in.... "spirited" situations with the factory drum/disc setup and has no fade from 130 mph. If i were autocrossing it, that would be a different story.

[rollo1504]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Thanks for the measuring. Will check "my" clearance....

@C00nHunterJoe: I am living on the countryside hence we do sometimes playing around with the cars on the street. We are not street racing but sportive driving through serpentines.

The last few times i noticed a "bad" smell and I had the intention that the front brakes needed a lot work to do... I had the feeling that they are on their limits and I do not want to find it out during some serpentine turns that I should have better upgraded them....

Thanks

Regards

Roland

[Yada]

Stock disk setup the caliper piston area is 5.94 on a 70 charger, is 68 the same? and if you choose a caliper with smaller piston area then you need higher line pressure for the same clamping force and make sure that the new caliper can take the higher pressure. With higher line pressure vacuum boosters won't work, Hydroboost is needed or go manual. There is "race" frictions pads but brakes need to warm upp really high before they work and not suited for a street car.

You should check your actual line pressure needed to lock the wheels for reference before any brake change with something like this https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ssb-a1704/