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disc brakes?

PDFROGMAN

PDFROGMAN

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my 69 sport sat convert came with power drum brakes
I plan on puting discs in the front.
I actually sold my 70 RR because it had manual drum brakes, I was second owner of the car it has 38K original miles I hated to molest the car!

I found spindles rotors and 4 piston calipers that need to be rebuilt. seller says one rotor is on the thin side so I am debating on the 4 piston set up or should I look into 70-74 E body set up for my car?
thoughts? anyone do the conversion?
 
Got my kit off of ebay...It was a complete kit booster,spindles and all..It has the 4 piston setup too...The 4 piston setup is better than the two..More is always better..Right?I also have slotted vented rotors..This helps in cooling...It was easy to do,had it all bolted up in a day...I didn,t want to have to search for parts and take parts in to have rebuilt or exchanged...Gonna do a rear disc setup next..First gotta get my hands on a cheap truck dana 60 first..Gots lots of 4x4 shops were I live...Most are hurtin for money so I,ll have them cut new tubes and weld on the disc brake stuff...I,m gonna go to 4.10 gears too..The 3.55 In it now is still a little tall...
Petty Blue 67 GTX
 
saw those I want to keep the car as original as possible
 
Yeah thats totally understandable...Still brake up grades really do not devalue the car at all....Unless you are going for a concourse resto job...
Petty Blue 67 GTX
 
no other thoughts?
anyone have an expierence with 67-69 disc set ups?
 
I put the 70's style setup on my car, that's readily available as a complete set, and the pads are a parts-store away... works fine for me
 
(low grade rant on)

Disc brakes are great, but I don't understand why anyone would sell a car cause it didn't have them. These things had (at least the HP cars) 11" drums, which will really haul these cars down. They worked well when racing my 3960# six pack Challenger running 110.6mph
....sorry
Ya gonna road race one.....fine. But properly set up the drums WILL stop you in a panic.

(rant off)
 
My drum brake cars worked fine, except for two things:

1 They are really messy and somewhat of a PITA to work on, but I got REAL good at it.

2 If you heat them up, they do get less effective. I had a couple occasions where I was literally standing on the pedal with all my weight, completely off the seat, using the steering wheel for added leverage, just to get stopped in time.
 
YY1 said:
My drum brake cars worked fine, except for two things:

1 They are really messy and somewhat of a PITA to work on, but I got REAL good at it.

2 If you heat them up, they do get less effective. I had a couple occasions where I was literally standing on the pedal with all my weight, completely off the seat, using the steering wheel for added leverage, just to get stopped in time.
Click to expand...

Live in the Mtns here in NJ was not fun stopping that car going down the mtn
I didnt have the heart to molest it much less wreck it
 
69 Runner said:
(low grade rant on)

But properly set up the drums WILL stop you in a panic.

(rant off)
Click to expand...

True unless the car in front of you was built in the last 20 years or so, but antique drums can/will get you, or someone else, injured or killed in day to day driving as they don't hold a candle to modern cars brakes.

In my opinion, drum brake cars should be legally relegated to trailers on there way to car shows.

There is NO way that original drums can compete in normal driving today.

If someone wants to drive these old cars on the road today, It's irresponsible to do it with antique drum brakes.
 
Absolutely. There is no way to setup manual drum brakes to come close to power disc brakes. Period. As mentioned, drum brakes will eventually stop the car, but not good enough for the modern car in front of you. After a few cars with PB, I got my current Road Runner with manual drums... I couldn't yank them out fast enough to replace with a PDB setup.
 
Been workin on and driving them for 39 years, and have yet to run one in to something cause it has "crappy drum brakes"
 
OK...

69 Runner said:
Been workin on and driving them for 39 years, and have yet to run one in to something cause it has "crappy drum brakes"
Click to expand...

However I wouldn't be caught driving in todays traffic and speeds without disc brakes. Time to maybe jump into the 21st century don't ya think?:idea1:
 
I scored a setup off of a 73 Duster, used parts store replacement for everything but the knuckle and spent under $250...love Rock Auto but did get a helluva deal on the Duster spindles which in my search unless your getting some cross drilled slotted rotors, is the most expensive part of the swap.
 
The Bendix 4 piston brakes are a lot of trouble if they are bad and parts are either non existent or expensive. You are better off using the 70 and later single piston stuff.
 
My coronet drums scare the crap out of me when I first drove it.

If you love them, keep them, but to me a safer to upgrade if your using it to as a daily driver and driving in the city full of SUV driving, cell phone armed soccer mothers.
 
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