yeah I'd like to find a donor car, but they're pretty scarce, and I have NO place to store it. I can't even store my car at my house (1 car garage and street parking for our other car). I'd like to find the KH used but I know its scarce. I'll keep looking into it and wait for the weather to clear here and see. Big swap meet here next weekend, so who knows!

MJ

SSBC sells a SBP disk brake setup for $1000. It is basically a refurbished KH setup. If you cann't find a A-body BBP disk setup, then use the F/J/M/B-body setup. They work just fine and they were made until the late '80s.

All A-body axles measure 56 1/2" between the wheel flanges. All A-body axles have 43" spring perches. With that said, the following apply:

There are four mopar axles that will fit your car. They are the 7.25", 8.25", 8.75" and maybe a 9.25". The '65 B-body axle is a close bolt in. The 8.75" A-body axle is expensive and needs modified axles from a truck or C-body to use the 5x4.5" bolt pattern. It also can not use the drums and backing plates from the 5x4" axles.

There are three Ford axles that will readily bolt in. They are from mid '70s Granadas, Monarchs, Mavericks and mid '60s Mustangs. They are 8", 8.75" and 9". All of these axles measure 57" from wheel flange to wheel flange and have 43" spring perches. Stay away from the 8.75" axle. This axle is no longer supported by anybody. The 8" axles were found behind 250 and 302 powered vehicules with the bigger axles were behind the 351.

As Sandy pointed out, there are other options that require some modifications for them to work correctly. The most interesting is from Ford 8.8" from the Explorer, as they do come with disk brakes.

Kesteb, can you help me out here? Where did you get that info? When I looked on bigblockdart.com the F-F measurements were all different on the A bodies for the 7.25, 8.25 etc and none of them were 56.5" (51 to 53 I thought--dont have the picture I posted from the previous page in front of me). So that's several inches difference...and I'm confused.

Also, what's the latest A body year I could find? I don't think I'd have much more success finding a late 60s/early 70s Ford either since they have also long since rusted out for the most part around here too. ARGH! I need one of those wooded junkyards people keep posting pictures of, not the muddy gravel pits where cars are stacked and moved out all the time. =)

BBP is definitely cheaper, so I dont want to count it out if I can come by an axle. Also with next weekend being a big swap meet, I might be able to take my tape measure and know what to look for and score something cheaper.

MJ

Did you check out Heckshemis post about an 8.8 for sale? Add a F/M/etc spindle/caliper/rotor setup and voila.
Try to focus on the solutions rather than the obstacles to your project.

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Yeah I asw the axle he put up in the Trans section. Did you see him post a price? I must have missed that. I'm not focusing on what I can't do, I'm trying to be realistic and know my limitations. When I first said I cannot weld or modify an axle to fit, and then get posted about how I can use X axle with modification, its just not as helpful What may be a simple job for someone else with a welder is not an option for me DIY.

MJ

Although I have a little wire feed welder I farm out all of my welding. I always get a ticketed welder to do my work. I have no machine shop facilities. All the towns I have ever been in have a place to get welding and machining done.
I live 2.5 hours from the nearest stoplight or McDonalds or wrecking yard or dealership. The nearest NAPA is 25 miles away. I mange because I reearch, plan , communicate and ship.

How to do an 8.8? Buy one from a wrecker. Get them to ship it to the machine shop of choice. Machine shop ships to you (or the install shop). Rent a pickup or bribe a buddy.....there are no rules; only solutions.

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I took a tape measure and actually measured the axles in question. What bigblockdart is quoting is the Mopar Chassis Manual, which measures to the center of the rim. This measurement changes depending on the brake size, rim size and rim offset. Both are right, I am just more right.

Gee, Sandy, I wasn't aware you cared so much what the factory did. From your posts on the forum here, I got the distinct impression you like to modify things and try things out, and you have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't.

The factory didn't supply cars with discs up front and 9" drums in the rear, you're right. But that setup does work. I've had it on several cars at various times. I've also had the more conventional disc/10"-drum setup.
Excellent, excellent. Remember, weight distribution and system component selection create large differences in brake system performance. Also remember that road tests of disc brake equipped A-bodies, when they were new, frequently included complaints of premature rear lockup. So it looks like your configuration doesn't suffer from it—special bonus for you!
There are no rules, only solutions.
Gosh, the factory didn't supply cars with Ford or Jeep rear axles...

Hi All,

I've got the 9 inch drums on the front of my 63 Dart - but I the vendors I've contacted don't appear to sell kits to convert _9 inch_ drums to disc.

Am I missing a vendor somewhere???

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the drivers here love to randomly slam on their brakes.

_________________
1963 Dodge Dart, motor by Doug Dutra, Offenhauser two carb intake, Pertronix, Clifford 6x2, Flowmaster 40's, Erson RV15/295 RDP, head work. Addco anti-sway bar, urethane suspension bushings, KYB's, racing leafs, SSBC discs. Need ZDDP? Get STP.

You could try Wildcat Auto Wrecking.. to get the disk brake setup and the rear axle.

Everybody reading this thread ought to get a copy of the new (June '05) Mopar Action magazine. It contains a lengthy article with a great many new disc brake swaps for old Mopars, including easy and inexpensive swaps (total cost around $250!) for small-bolt A-bodies. Those in particular come from www.scarebird.com .

Hi all,

Dan, you are exactly right about the article. There are now a number of options for front disk brakes.

1. Late model A body retrofit

2. Viper brakes on AR Engineering brackets

3. scarebird adaptation

I am going with number 2. But if I had to start over now, I might consider number 3.

It is great to have choices!

I was going through e-bay tonight and everything needed for a disc brake swap for a A-body was there for pennies.If you want to stay with small bolt get yourself 72 disc brakes(although 73 are the more desired brakes but big bolt).I saw everything from upper control arms,to spindles,the correct 72 proportioning valve,its all there.

I had the fortune to get the complete front disc set-up and complete 8 3/4 489 small bolt rear end out of a 72 dart.That is the best way to do it,I got pretty lucky on that.But it can easily be done you just have to look.The going rate for a complete front disc brake assembly is around $200.00 .If interested I know a guy in Calif who gets them regulary.

To tell you the truth I will not be using the 8 3/4 in my slant six car.I am quite happy with the 7 1/4.That will be used on a future V8 car.
Enough of my rambling

JZ

I was reading through the installation instructions, and Scarebird adapters also require re-drilling of the rotor to fit our 5x4" bolt pattern. Scarebird says the s-10 rotor is plenty beefy enough to handle redrilling and it comes with a pattern to do it or you can have it machined at a shop.

I'm a little apprehensive about redrilling a rotor and compromising its strength. anyone with some more knowledge of the engineering behind it have some thoughts?

also i asked him about using 5x100 patterns and he said that he had tried them and didn't have much luck. No other details were offered

Converting for such a low cost with new rotors, calipers and an adapter sounds great. I won't put a lot of wear on the brakes so I don't worry about needing to have the rotors drilled frequently. I just want to know how safe this seems to others out there with more experience.

MJ

Two more questions:

1--Anyone have thoughts on redrilling rotors from the 5x4.5 to 5x4? I'm considering the scarebird conversion and this is my big hang up.

2--MBC? Recommendations on bore size for non-power brakes, 10.x" rotors and 9" drums in the rear. Also what cars would this come off of so I can spec it out at the parts store.

I know many of you have done the conversion, so I'd like to know what Master cylinder you liked or didn't like.

Thanks!