Drum to Disc brakes - which kits will fit

[b5blue]

You need the spindles, others offer "kits" to adapt to different types of calipers but that opens a new can of worms. Calipers, rotors and bearings along with hoses and the needed proportioning valve can be sourced anywhere. Do yourself a big favor, read the info till you know it inside and out, before you do anything with ordering parts. I may have a set of the slider type adapters you want, give me time to check my stuff, I bought a whole set-up of the smaller rotor size just to get the spindles for my "yet to be done" conversion to 11 3/4 rotor disks.   

[Needa68]

A few months ago I bought one of these kits.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MOPAR-69-70-71-72-73-74-B-E-BODY-DISC-BRAKE-KIT-CUDA-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem35ad158197QQitemZ230537134487QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

This weekend I got around to starting the install of the power booster, master cylinder and combination valve. Sadly, I dislike the looks of the bracket that is used to mount the booster to the firewall and the brake pedal. In addition to disliking the bracket I see no way to properly seal off the firewall aesthetically once it is in place. I might be able to live with the bracket but not with a hole in the firewall. Has anyone faced this particular hole in the firewall issue and overcome it?

[71rm23]

Is the same true for the 71 B-body?

[lexxman]

Hi,I am restoring a 69 charger,the preivous owner changed the front drums to disks.I need to replace the booster anyway,but should I upgrade it and the master? :shruggy:The disks and spindles on my car are from a 79 labaron.

[modmidget]

Looks like trying to do the conversion with parts from an auto wrecking yard is out.  There's not a wrecking yard within 100 miles of here that has parts that old.  All of the local wrecking yards (within 50 to 100 miles) don't have anything old than 1985.  So I found this kit on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.m748&item=180598817973&viewitem=&_trkparms=clkid%3D5625629872658223325

It looks like it will work.  I can get a rebuilt master cylinder for $50.00 and use my booster. 

I'll have to assume the rotors will fit a 14" wheel because they are only 1/8" larger than the 10.87" rotors recommended by Moparaction (Disc-o-tech).

[lexxman]

I didnt know Ithink a lot of the older cars are ther same.I plan to get most of my stuff at napa.They still have listings for the old cars.

[modmidget]

After several months of research I finally went with the brake conversion kit from Classic Performance Products.  Their e-bay link for my purchase is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1963-74-MOPAR-CHRYSLER-DODGE-DISC-BRAKE-WHEEL-KIT-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem4151afccbdQQitemZ280543349949QQptZVintageQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

At the last 2 car shows I went to in late 2010 I saw CPP brake systems on several cars and figured they were probably ok.  The $399.00 price tag was excellent and the free shipping made it even better.  However,  being a resident of California I did have to pay $34.91 in State sales tax (oh well, that's better than the tax free kits with $75.00 shipping charges from out of state dealers).

I received the kit today, so I guess I'll start pulling the front end apart tomorrow morning.

[sixty8charger]

I received the kit today, so I guess I'll start pulling the front end apart tomorrow morning.

So anxious! i have almost clicked the buy it button.. waiting on your results 

[Supercharged Riot]

yeah.  mee too. I reallly want to hear more testimonials from anyone else who has done a disc brake conversion

Im still rolling on drums! 

[BigBlockSam]

i would keep it all mopar stuff . you need a disc brake master and a double diaphragm booster . you can buy that stuff at your local parts store 

[modmidget]

Installation update!!

At 9:30am yesterday my son-in-law and I start pulling the old spindles and drum brakes off the front end of the car.  That was the toughest job of the day and,while removing the spindles, we found that the front brake lines were in pretty bad shape.  Sooooo, we spent most of the day removing the old stuff and replacing the brake lines.  I think we spent about 6 hours doing that.  Then we started installing the new stuff.  It took about 3 hours, but that included installation of the new master cylinder and proportioning valve.  The new spindles, rotors, and calipers were the easy part and it took about 45 minutes to install them (that's not 45 minutes per side, that's 45 minutes total).  I finished up some minor work on the passengers side this morning and put the wheel on to check the fit.  Keep in mind these are 14" Magnum 500s and I was very concerned that they might be too small for the new brakes.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the wheels fit perfectly!!!!!!  We will bleed the master cylinder and brakes on Sunday, and then I'll take it out for a test drive.

By the way......  The Custom Performance Products package came pre-assembled.  They had even packed the bearings with grease.  I had to pull the caliper and rotor off just long enough to bolt the spindle in place.  Even the flexible brake hose line was "loosely" attached to the caliper.

One more... "By the way".  This brake kit appears to be the same one sold by MBM and I used installation instructions from the MBM web site to install my kit.  Instructions was the one lacking things from CPP.  There was NO INSTRUCTIONS.....

[quadram4]

Currently a new friction compound is being tested in a 64 Chrysler 300K.  We know the material works well in 160 mph drum brake equipped road race cars and we now want to see street use. 

Earlier versions of  upgrades using other materials have worked extremly well so we anticipate no problems with this material. 

Tom do u have a source for new compound brake shoes? I wnt to keep the 4 wheel drums, but wld be nice to get some good shoes.
Thanks in advance, Bob

[gtx6970]

I received the kit today, so I guess I'll start pulling the front end apart tomorrow morning.

What year car ? and Are you going with front or rear hung calipers?
This looks like the aspen / volare style sliding calipers I have. Due to the sway bar design on 1969 and down these can not be front hung. and I need to know which flex hose to use to mount these towards the rear of the spindle

[modmidget]

It's a '68 Charger.  The calipers are on the rear.  There is no way they could be hung on the front because of the sway bar.  The flex hoses came with the kit  but if you need hoses only you should be able to get them at Classic Performance:  http://stores.ebay.com/Classic-Performance-Products

[modmidget]

Another:

[BigBlockSam]

i got the same kit but with drill and slotted rotors and i painted the calipers  . i bought them off ebay. check out this thread there's a pic of my brakes. i'm very happy with there performance 


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,73949.0.html

[lexxman]

The new brakes look great.I will be picking up my calipers tonight,I was able to get them front a local parts place for $22.00 each and 30. for the pads.

[Supercharged Riot]

Hey modmidget,

You mind posting more pictures of your disc brake install?
I'm curious to see how your purchase turned out.


any one else care to share pictures of their conversion?

[modmidget]

The two pictures I posted above are basically the only 2 I have. 

When we started the project we removed the drums from both sides then we removed two large bolts that held the bottom of the spindle to the lower ball joint.  Then we removed the one large nut that attaches the spindle to the upper ball joint and used a pickle fork to pry the spindle off the upper ball joint (we did not have to remove the lower ball joint).

Next, we bolted the new spindle to the lower ball joint using the 2 large bolts we had removed from the old spindle.  Then we tilted to top of the spindle inward and slid it up onto the upper ball joint, tightened the large nut on the upper ball joint and that was pretty much it.  The hardest part was done.  We attached the flexible brake line to the new steel line, mounted the rotor and bolted the caliper in place.  I think it took us longer to install the new master cylinder, proportioning valve, and steel brake lines than it did to the new spindles, rotors, and calipers.

Tomorrow we will bleed the master cylinder and brake lines.  Then, if it's not raining, we'll give it a test run.

[HOTROD]

Looks like trying to do the conversion with parts from an auto wrecking yard is out.  There's not a wrecking yard within 100 miles of here that has parts that old.  All of the local wrecking yards (within 50 to 100 miles) don't have anything old than 1985.  So I found this kit on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.m748&item=180598817973&viewitem=&_trkparms=clkid%3D5625629872658223325

It looks like it will work.  I can get a rebuilt master cylinder for $50.00 and use my booster. 

I'll have to assume the rotors will fit a 14" wheel because they are only 1/8" larger than the 10.87" rotors recommended by Moparaction (Disc-o-tech).

ITS like that hear in St.Louis to can't find not a old car any were !!!
I

[lexxman]

Ya the most of the junk yards around me crash car every few months. But I did find a classic car scrap yard about 20 min from my place.I will take some pictures of my stuff tomorrow.Let us know how the test run does.

[modmidget]

The brakes are installed and I pulled the car out of the garage this afternoon.  I ran into a lot of problems with the rear drum brakes (plugged brake lines, bad slave cylinders, etc.) that really slowed the conversion down.  Oh, I ordered a rebuilt master cylinder from Summit Racing and the one they sent me had bad threads in one of the brake line ports, so I lost 2 weeks on that.  Summit sent me a replacement and paid ALL shipping charges for the return and the replacement.  Over all I would rate Summit's customer support as very good.  I expected to be finished with this job 2 months ago.  

The new disc brakes fit perfectly inside my 14" Magnum 500s and I did not have to make any modification to anything (such as the sway bars, control arms, etc.).  The new brakes seem to work pretty well but I did notice a couple of things.  First, I cannot lock the brakes up to the point of skidding the tires.  Second, the calipers/pads are dragging on the rotors and they are getting really hot, to the point of smelling bad, after about 4 miles.  I don't mind if I can't lock the brakes up, but those hot rotors concern me.  Does anyone know how to correct that problem?

[lexxman]

Sound like you might still have air in the lines,if you cant lock them up or a vacuum leek.As to the hot rotors,check the pads to make sure its not stuck. 
Or the piston isn't moving correctly.

[b5blue]

Re check wheel bearings also. 

[Patronus]

Looking into new brakes too. A big thanks to everyone for these links and suggestions!!! But I have one question. In my application ('69 manual drum) and looking into big brakes, should I steer away from keeping the drum spindle? I will never see the track. No RMS, so a conservative build chassis wise. I just don't know if I will regret the drum spindle later??