Newbie brake-conversion Q

[marangen]

have 11" drums on my Charger 68 R/T.

seem to work ok, haven´t driven that much...

Aware that people convert to discs - seems to be some kits out there.....

(I assume most people put discs all around and not just front - correct?

Q:

Is it really worth it?

Is the difference that big?

How were discs if optioned from factory? just on front I believe. much better than 11" drums or just slightly better?

Are the new conversions a lot better that the original discs?

Also read that people upgrade their 11" drums! Is that the way to go? Simpler "conversion" and yet a lot of improvement?

Any advice please and if there is a good drum-upgrade kit out there - what make is it and who sells them?

(in a post it seems like drum conversion possibility depends on wheels used on car. I thought everything fitted "inside" the drum, so that from the outside the drums look original, in which case wheels don´t matter? I have MAgnum 500 on my charger....

Many thanks,

Martin

[bull]

MOST people do NOT put disc brakes all the way around but some people do. Most people put them on the front only because the front brakes do about 70% of the work and having them on the back doesn't really make enough of a difference to justify the cost and work involved. In many cases disc brakes on the rear are just for looks.

The factory disc brakes were around 11" I believe but I'm not sure. They were front only and are better than drums of any size because drums heat up so badly so quickly that they become pretty inefficient after the first hard stop. They need time to cool down before they're very efficient again whereas disc brakes stay cooler and cool off much quicker once hot. Yes, disc brakes are worth it, at least on the front and they make a big difference.

As far as braking efficiency I think the stock ones are comperable to the new kits BUT when it comes to cost and availability there's no comparison. The stock four-piston calipers are hard to find parts for and there's no rebuilt units at the parts stores so they have to be rebuilt individually (if you can find someone to do do it). Rotors for those are no longer available either IIRC.

Rebuilding drums is probably not a cost effective way to improve braking, even if they are bigger. When I compared the cost of rebuilding my front drums to that of replacing them with A-body spindle discs I found it to be almost the same.

Lots of places make kits for Chargers (Baer, Wilwood, SSBC, etc) and there are some cheaper conversions out there too such as the 11.75" rotor A-body spindle swap I mentioned (http://www.moparaction.com/tech/archive/disc-main.html) and the Viper swap. I've also seen a few swaps using Porsche calipers. All these examples will run you between $500-$1,000.

Most kits require 15" wheels minimum to fit the calipers inside the wheels. The larger the rotor the larger the wheel needs to be because the farther the calipers stick out. I think you can still use 14" rims if you go with the A-body spindle and used the A-body calipers and rotor rather than the larger cop car rotors. I think the stock A-body rotors are 10.87" or something like that.

[Dave22443]

I upgraded my '68 from drums to front disks.  The main reason I did it was to improve stopping.  As stated above, drum brakes fade rather quickly and don't stop as well as disks, even when they are not overheated.  I scored a conversion kit off Ebay for $300.00 and did the conversion myself.  My kit is basically from a mid-70's Cordoba and has single piston calipers.  (Yes, I run 15" rims now)  You might get lucky and find everything you need in your local junk yard.

Another thing I learned about all drum brakes from an old pickup I used to have... if drums get wet, you have NO stopping power!  Disk brakes grab extra hard when wet, but thats easier to deal with than no brakes at all.

Unless your a purist, do the upgrade. 

[andyf]

Here ya go, a nice Porsche conversion kit for your Mopar.  This is the setup that I hung on my B body.

[Chryco Psycho]

fornt discs are definatly worth doing , the difference is substantial

[71charger_fan]

If you want to have any hope of saving your front sheet metal when the much newer, much lighter car in front of you hits its four wheel disks, switch. You're still not going to have the stopping power of the newer cars but at least you'll be closer than you are now.