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Is a Disc Brake Conversion Worth It?

jhutch33

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Location
Boise, Idaho
My 69 Super Bee has manual drum brakes all the way around. I'm considering replacing everything and going with a conversion to Wilwood Disc brakes all the way around. I'm curious if any of you have converted to Disc Brakes and if you feel it's worth it? Also, for anyone who has made the conversion....did you use Wilwood?

Thanks
 
I've converted both my cars to front discs.

It's my opinion that there is no need to change to rear discs.
 
Nope. I just used the later Mopar front power disc brake setup on one of my current cars, retained the rear drums. Stops fine.
 
My recommendation is to convert fronts to factory style disc brakes preferably the larger 11.75 rotors but you will need 15 wheels or larger to make them work, either Dr Diff or a couple of other places have factory style disc brake conversions and on the rear I would leave the factory drums you will most likely save yourself some headaches getting your brake system dialed in. Alot of times when people convert to front and rear disc brakes you start running into issues with not having enough pressure to run the brake system, than you might have to go down the route of getting a dual diaphram brake booster or possibly go to a hydroboost system and then relationship of the size of the piston in the master cylinder and caliper pistons gets to be more critical to make it work correctly. Just my two cents.
 
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A front disc, rear drum system is more than adequate.
4 wheel disc systems offer the advantage of the ultimate braking performance BUT the system has to be properly sourced. Many times, the system has been pieced together from many places which results in a mismatch of components. I've been down this road.
A front disc swap allows you to retain your rear brakes entirely. All you will need is the front conversion, a disc/drum master cylinder and a proportioning valve. You can run a booster or go without one. I've driven both manual and power front disc-rear drum cars. Both perform great.
 
Bottom line, Disc front and top quality parts used for rear drums.
More brakes than you will need.
You will love the difference especially if you have ever overheated your brakes ( high speed panic stop or down the mountain type braking) and experienced fade or drove in the rain and it wouldn't stop or stop straight.
Rea disc is eye candy unless you do road race type braking.
Just keep the rear in adjustment and change the brake fluid regularly just like coolant or trans fluid. Every 2 years or 30k.
 
One of mine is 11inch 4 wheel drum
The other is front disc and 10" rear drum


I can honestly say the drum brake cars stops better ( but its a very close comparison ) . its only if you overheat the drum brake car is when the disc brake cars stops better
 
One of mine is 11inch 4 wheel drum
The other is front disc and 10" rear drum


I can honestly say the drum brake cars stops better ( but its a very close comparison ) . its only if you overheat the drum brake car is when the disc brake cars stops better
Well my charger with manual 10" drums was not good at all.

I like it with manual discs.
 
Well my charger with manual 10" drums was not good at all.

I like it with manual discs.
Don.
My former 67 Coronet with 10" power drum brakes stopped pretty well.

Again...it's only an issue is lot of.stops and brake drum/ shoe Temps rise is when i have to be carefull
 
Both my cars have drum rear and disc front manual brakes. The 63 drag car has Willwood discs and the RR has factory discs sourced from a later model and they both stop just fine. I agree with others to retain the rear drum brakes. Less headaches in the long run. ruffcut
 
The day drums get discontinued.
It Is the day a conversion is done.

The only drums that were a bugger to set were the 50s Mopars which were set by camber bolts. A great learning experience
 
I would change to synthetic fluid.
Synthetic is actually not the best for daily driver. If you race and are worried about boiling the brake fluid, then yes.

Screenshot_20230423_193405_Adobe Acrobat.jpg
 
DOT 5 is also good if you want to preserve the paint in your engine compartment and/or paint your master cylinder and have it remain that color rather than rust.
 
This one has been in there since the 90's.
I painted it just before I installed it:
1682342826968.png
 
I have had DOT5 silicone fluid in my Charger for over 40 years with no issues. I just replaced all of the surge brake components on my boat trailer and filled the new system with DOT5 fluid.
 
Had a helluva time converting my ’63 to front disks. Part of this was also converting to power and having the wrong kit from SSBC. Swapping out the single to dual reservoir is of course a wise safety measure. Twice I lost brakes having old rides with the single pot. The nice stopping power the disks provide is like night & day.

Learned a good deal from fellow members on improving their ride for safety and handling – suspension, steering, etc. My ’63 drives and handles better than it did when it came off the assembly line.
 
One of mine is 11inch 4 wheel drum
The other is front disc and 10" rear drum


I can honestly say the drum brake cars stops better ( but its a very close comparison ) . its only if you overheat the drum brake car is when the disc brake cars stops better
Back in the day my parents had two late model Valiants. The '67 had drums all around, the '70 had manual front discs, rear drums. Normal driving no difference. In the mountains, with the car loaded with passengers , the discs were fade resistant.
 
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