Drum to Disc brakes?

[TopDown]

Hi,
I'm new to the site and i recently purchased a 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 Convertible. It currently has manual drum brakes, and i want to get power discs instead.

After a lot of research, i was able to find conversion kits that cost from 600-1200, but then i still have to change my stock 14" to 15" due to the rotor sizes the kit comes in.

If anyone is aware of a cheaper solution or a kit that made rotors small enough to fit 14" wheels, that would be great! Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Gary67]

I did the A-body front disc brake swap on my 66 Satellite, it's on the Mopar Action website.
I used the 10.87" rotors that will accept a 14" wheel. Not as easy or cheap to find the parts as it used to be though...I stayed with manual brakes...

 

[rolling_Thunder]

I believe the factory 10.87" rotor set up on the later A-body disc spindle will fit inside most 14" wheels.

 

[dantrap]

I did the Mopar action A or F body swap using Mriada 1981 spindles and a quality rotor from SSDB on my 69 roadrunner. I also upgraded to a modern master cylinder, new lines, silcon fluid etc. The master is biased 63/37 % to the front disc without an additional proportional valve (10" drums Rear) and the car stops great. Stopping is good from high speed without any pull or lockup. I used the Carbon Plus pads on the front and high quality bendix shoes on the rear. This setup works great and will fit your 14's if thats what your running. The car aligned fine with the F-body spindle and handles ok.

 

[MprDoc]

HEY! SSBC's kit to go from manual drum to power front discs SHOULD (if it works as advertised) fit under the stock fourteen inch weels, im getting ready to install mine within the next month (hopefully, doesnt seem to be enough time these days) I am planngin on keeping the stock 14s for the time being so I can keep you posted on that, I dont know how soon you were looking at doing that but check out SSBC's web page, the parks look very quality and the install should be relatively straight forward.

 

[cr8crshr]

SSBC is a great kit for 14" rims as it retains the stock drum brake spindles. I have that kit on my C Body and it was a bolt on as well. For my 66 Satellite I went with the MOPAR setup as I was able to acquire good B Body spindles for Discs. There are kits advertised on eBay and other sites. If you are looking to accomplish the swap on a budget, there is a product by Scarbird that utilizes all after market parts. As to its reliability...I reserve my judgement..

 

[TopDown]

I have contacted many stores regarding their brake conversion kits that advertise that the 11" rotors will fit my 66 Coronet, but every time i have spoken with one of their representatives, they have said it will only fit on 15" wheels. I have not contacted SSBC, but i will try to do so soon.

Thank you for your contributions to this thread. I actually have snapshots of the 66 Coronet 500, and if you would like to view it, click on the link below.

http://s575.photobucket.com/albums/ss196/TopDownCoronet/

It's a work in process, but its well worth taking.

 

[Revhendo]

The stock A body disc setup from '73 to '76 will allow the use of 14" rims. Easy bolt on and not all that expensive if you do some shopping.....

 

[Basoline]

I had a MP Brakes Disk set on my 68 runner. It sucked. Material is poor and stopping even so...

Now, the Coronet has a typical A-body conversion, just like Mopar Action site. It stops great!

 

[TopDown]

--Basoline,
What do you mean by a "typical A-Body conversion?"
Is that a kit you can buy, or is it finding parts of A-body donor cars with power breaks?

 

[67Satty]

The disc brake setup on the front of my Satellite is from a Challenger and my original 14" steelies fit just fine. My old '72 Challenger I had came from the factory with discs and 14" rally wheels. I also had a '75 Duster with discs and 14" wheels from the factory.

 

[my66-67-68-69-72bbodies]

i used a spacer to make my conv work

it was about a 1/4 inch thick and the wheel cleard the rotar, but used on all four wheels to keep them even

 

[srt8mechanic]

i have a complete front suspension from my 68 charger for sale including my org factory spindles and 4 pistion calipers. let me know

 

[mech440]

I too am in the process of swapping over to disc brakes on my 66 B-Body,
I am using the smaller rotors although I am not worried about wheel clearance they were just easier to find. My question is,if anyone can answer is which brake hoses am I supposed to use?? Thanx in advance!

 

[ga66mopar]

The brake hose to use depends on if you mount the calipers to the rear or front. On my 66 belvedere I mounted the calipers to the rear.
brand
Brakebest - Brake hose part # BH499069 same for both sides.
Cardone - caliper part # 18-4144 for one side 18-4145 for the other

Works great with no clearence issues.

These are for sliders and not pin calipers

 

[mech440]

I have mine mounted to the frt! And Yes I am using the slider type of caliper. So I need to know which hose(s) I need for frt. mounted slider type calipers on the my 66 belvedere ii. Guess I wasn't specific enough(oops)Thanx for responding and I appreciate the input

 

[ga66mopar]

I mounted the calipers to the front once and I think I used the 73 - 76 a bodies hoses and calipers. Make sure the bleeder valve is mounted up.

I'm sure about the a bodies hoses but I'm not sure about the calipers.

 

[Patrick]

Go here you'll be glad you did, www.musclecarbrakes.com

 

[7DRRunner]

just curious

are you also going to add stainless steel braided hoses ?

 

[mech440]

I already have the calipers, so I'll pick-up a set of A-body 73-76 hoses and go from there. Thanx for the tip!

I'm not sue if I'm upgrading to braided just yet but as long as the A-body hoses fit I can use those as a template to have braided ones made up.

I live fairly close to In line tube http://www.inlinetube.com/home page new.htm They can make them up as needed.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hi-jack the thread, was just trying to get a question answered.

Thanx Guys.... you all ROCK!!!