I am sure this has been asked before, but i didnt see any old threads with all that I wanted to know. I have a 68 valiant and a 76 dart. I want to put the disc brakes from the dart on the valiant. I know I have to swap the A arms and spidles with the rotors and calipers. I imagine the master has to be changed with the booster. I am also going to swap the rear axle so I dont have to carry 2 spares. Now my question is what do I do about brake lines. Is the dart a longer wheel base. They are both 4 doors. I want to use all the brake lines off the dart sinse they are fairly new and the valiant ones are all rotted. Can anybody give me any details on that and a conclusive list of parts needed sinse I have a complete parts car.

All the parts on the '76 will bolt onto the '68. Darts have a longer wheelbase then Valiants. You can always cut the brake line at the junction block and re flange the end to make it work.

when i swapped the discs off my 74 dart 4dr parts car into my '63 valiant convertible, i swapped the prop valve and all the lines including the rear line from the 4dr and everything worked ok. IIRC i may have had to bend the line a little differently in a couple of places but didn't need to cut anything.
as for your booster, i'd ditch it. i prefer the manual disc setup over the power anyday. high hard manual pedal compared to the low soft power is much easier to modulate and won't make you feel like you're headed out the windshield when you slam on the brakes. there is some sort of cantilever pushrod system between the pedal and the booster that contributes to this (i have no idea if it's possible to use the booster without it.) you can just use the old pushrod that's in the valiant with a manual disc master cylinder. the lines from the dart master to prop valve should work just fine.
hope this helps.

-james

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Thanks guys. Its still a few weeks away till I start the swap so if I run into any other questions I'll post them. Am I right with the suspension parts. Only the A arms and spindles need to be changed and the 68 lower control arms can stay?

Matt

My memory could be faulty, but don't the lower ball joint/steering arms have a different bolt hole size between the 9" drums and the 10" brake/disc brake cars? (not sure about this) Also, the disc brake lower ball joint is bigger is it not? See some info here: http://www.autohobbydigest.com/a-brake.html

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan

patrick-

i'm pretty sure the lcas are the same in this respect. the later arms may be a bit different in the area of the strut rod (IIRC '73+up rods are a bit larger in diameter.) the lower balljoints are different but i think it's the bolt bolt pattern and not the taper that changes (like the upper joints.) so, yes all the balljoints need to change for the disc setup parts when the swap is done.

-james

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On my 65 cars, the LCA is shaped differently near the LBJ in such a way that some steering lock is lost with the late disc BJ. It works out to be a blessing with wider tires though, because they can be trimmed just enough to regain the lost motion while keeping the tires from rubbing at full lock.
I haven't torn into my 68 yet to see if they're the same, but I'll bet they are.

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