Has anyone had any luck with these units? My friend is planning on using them on his B-body and I just noticed how affordable they are. I was hoping to do a disc brake swap on my '64 and thought this may be a good option If doing it the traditional way what are the donor car years. Up to '73 seems to be familiar.

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not used scarebird, but yes... 73 and up on doner cars

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'72 Valiant DD for over a decade-225-Disc brakes, big T-bars, big Sway bars f/r, carter bbd/super six, GM HEI, 2- 12" subs in trunk, 1000w amp...
'77 cherokee cheif widetrack-360-33x12.5 tires-no lift. keeps driveway dry-project/backup DD/mudder

I just finished doing the '73+ disc from drum swap on my swinger and man I'm a happy camper. The car stops progressively and predictably. I can use the brakes without holding the wheel!

I also have a '72 demon that is about to get discs. I was going to go with a K/H setup but I gave away my parts car with the condition that I still get my parts as long as I swap drums in. Now my buddy doesn't want to give up his discs, so he offered to buy me a new setup.

The scarebird setups are attractive because of the prices for replacement parts- much easier to service than K/H. Also, I get to keep my small bolt pattern and original rallies. I am planning on ordering this coming week.

I'll be watching this one

Kevin

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madam im adam

Hello,
I have used the scarebird conversion, and was atracted to it because of price and off the shelf availability, such as napa when it comes time for service.
I did the conversion about one month ago and the only thing i found dis appointing was that my original stock 14 inch wheels would not fit over the new calipers. (This set up uses chevrolet calipers and rotors .)
I wound up using 15 inch Chrysler ralleys which look great, but added to the cost which was supposed to be kept low. The wheels were back ordered, i just recieved them, mounted new tires, and will road test on the highway this weekend. All in all the job was mostly straight forward, and Scarebird was helpful on the several occasions when i phoned them with questions. Now if it works as well as i am hoping, all will be good.
FINAL ASSESMENT: if i were to do over, i would find factory steel wheels of the 15 inch variety, but dont know if they are available in a small bolt pattern, and i would have found a cheaper source for the new parts, like Rock auto or the like.
-RUSS

Russ
Not to be nosey but what did the conversion cost you? With and without wheels. This will helps some of us budget. I know that you said you could of gotten the parts cheaper from rock ( but with shipping???)
Thanks
Frank

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Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

Interesting that the factory 14s wouldn't clear the calipers. That sort of limits your wheel choices and of course you have to buy low profile tires so your car doesn't look like a Donk. I wonder if a different offset in a BBP 14" would do the trick. I see some measuring in our future.

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I have 2 A-bodies with the Scarebird brackets. Both cars stop well, straight with little fade. 70 Dart Swinger, 440/727 had 10" drums, 14" slotted aluminum wheels fit fine. 72 Plymouth Scamp, 225/904 had 9" drums, 14" stock steel wheels just about touched when spun by hand, I had to remove a little of the edge of the caliper with die grinder. My Son has bin driving the Scamp every day for the past 6 months, brakes work well. I added ajustable proporationing valves on both cars, I could not heat the tires (power brake) on either of car without them. JWH

Hello,
Well i took the car out for the shake down cruise and am mostly pleased with the results.
The braking is now predictable, as i get no pulling or fade, even after repeated stops from 65mph. The pedal effort is about the same as the drum brake effort was. This is a bit dis appointing as the wife never liked the pedal effort on manual brake equipped cars to begin with,( having learned and driven only power brake cars her whole life) and i was hoping she would drive the plymouth more.
As for cost, i cannot locate the receipt, but the scarebird brackets and adaptor hardware cost 80 bucks, and i sourced the rotors, calipers, and pads from napa. If memory serves i think it was around 200 bucks for those parts. aftermarket wheels ran me 99 dollars each, which stole money i was saving from a different project.
QUESTION : Would it be possible to add a power booster to this set up? Any ideas? It runs a '72 manual master cylinder. Thanks.

You should be able to put a booster in there.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Keep in mind that pedal effort will decrease once the pads are correctly bedded-in. Try to make a series of stops (or near-stops) from 65 mph or so to heat the pads up to full operating temperature; this will cook off the gaseous components of the pad adhesive and seat the pads to the rotors.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

i have also heard peeps pre breakin in pads in there toaster oven. i think the quote was "heat until cheese is melted and edges are golden brown" ha you dont want to everheat them right off the bat too...

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'72 Valiant DD for over a decade-225-Disc brakes, big T-bars, big Sway bars f/r, carter bbd/super six, GM HEI, 2- 12" subs in trunk, 1000w amp...
'77 cherokee cheif widetrack-360-33x12.5 tires-no lift. keeps driveway dry-project/backup DD/mudder

Yup, I have done the toaster oven trick. It works well, and its basically impossible to overcook them unless you set the toaster on "inferno" and walk away from it for a whole day. A couple hours at 350°F (180°C) ought to do fine. The other trick I've used to improve disc brake performance is to slot the pads anglewise, dividing the brake pad surface in three with two diagonal slots (aft inboard to fore outboard — pay attention to inboard vs. outboard and left vs. right pads) cut with a hacksaw after putting masking tape on the pad surface. WEAR A DUST MASK and otherwise do asbestos you can to keep dust down (get it? Asbestos you can? ).

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

wow that was cute dan

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'72 Valiant DD for over a decade-225-Disc brakes, big T-bars, big Sway bars f/r, carter bbd/super six, GM HEI, 2- 12" subs in trunk, 1000w amp...
'77 cherokee cheif widetrack-360-33x12.5 tires-no lift. keeps driveway dry-project/backup DD/mudder

The destructions posted on ScareBird's page say that the 14s will fit.

Also mentions a difference in where the caliper is mounted(front vs. aft of knuckle) between the 9 and 10" drum knuckles being converted from...

Don't you have to have the gm rotors redrilled to the sbp? This would mean extra hassle and/or expense every time you need to replace the rotors wouldn't it?

Really IMHO the only reason I can see to do the scarebird is if you had some super rare wheel that you just could not live without running and that nobody is making a reproduction of. I looked in to their setup twice and decided that I would spent the money to go with the 73 up conversion. I knew I wanted to get rid of the sbp at both ends of the car. BBP wheels are much easier to find, come in almost any style you want, and are less expensive. I also think that 15" wheels and tires look and handle better then the smaller ones.

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