opening pandoras----brake box

savoy64

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there is a bunch of threads in here about doing the disc swap on these C bodies---and alot of dismay over the drying up of resources.....if you have read your mopar history you would know mopar started chasing the police trade in 1957----they started offering heavy duty cars with sway bars,skid plates and truck brakes-----and chevy was selling corvettes with 1953 era drum brakes----chevy more concerned with speed and less with stopping-----anyway mopar very successful in the trade---in the 60,s with the advent of B body- C body mopar used 1/2 ton truck and van suspension components on the C bodys (spindles-rotors-calipers)....then i bought a 69 fury 3 with just regular drum brakes---69 fury police came with 3 inch drums----need to upgrade to discs----this sends me to the old car junk yard with a tape measure and calipers----start measuring all the fuselage cars--trucks and vans---spindles all the same height--trucks had those 1.25 thick rotors on them------so i bought a complete 1973 D100 for the virtually new suspension it had---what i found was the upper ball joint used was too big for my original upper control arm----one option is to replace the ball joint hole with a larger weld in unit from speed way----i went back to the old car junkyard with my loose upper control arm-----i layed in on top of a 1974 gran fury upper control arm and found they were exactly the same----i pulled off the 74 fury upper control arms and took them home----yes i know they look different but if you carefully cut out the bar through the bushings and knock out the bushings---there is room for stock 1973 fury upper bushings to be pressed in----almost there---installation showed i needed to make a 5/8 spacer and use longer grade 8 bolts for the attachment of the lower ball joint to the lower spindle-------prior to dismantling the original suspension i took a marking paint pen and marked the adjustment bolts so they could be put back in exactly the same position-------the result? the car is driving exactly straight--stopping like a gang buster---i keep forgetting to get an appointment for an alignment-------i am thinking the new resource for the c bodies will be the complete set up off the 1974 gran fury/polara cars--upper control arm-spindle-rotor-caliper----there is a good chance these 74 units are exactly the same as the vaunted 1973 units---if nothing else you are a 5/8 inch spacer away from completely stock mopar items....
 
no pictures--but one other note---before i went out on the limb i went to the parts store and pulled up part numbers to all the components i was considering----upper ball joints--calipers--rotors from both the 69/73/74 furys and the D100-----the stars aligned---what i couldnt find was part numbers to the spindles or upper control arms.......

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With '73 C Body's, some late production '72's, B Body's, 1/2 ton pickups and 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton vans Chrysler started to standardize many brake parts such as rotors and master cylinders. The truck and van rotors were used for many years, which is one reason that the '73 style rotors are easy to obtain.

IMHO, it is still easier to buy a Scarebird or other reputable conversion kit if your goal is only to add disc brakes. The hardest part to find is the proportioning valve if you don't want an adjustable one for a more stock looking appearance.
 
73 style rotor easy to find but guys are walking by the big spindles/big bearing/big upper ball joint upper control arms on the 74-78 gran furys and polaras and other chryslers-----same kind of stock stuff on the D100 and vans but you have to alter the upper control arm---guys walking by and whining about not being able to find the whole 73 package------dont trip over it......on a side note-----there have been other discussions on getting a dual diaphragm booster for the new disc brakes----on my 64,s i have run 4 wheel manual disc brakes----i like the feel----if you lock up your brakes easily you loose control---on my 69 fury i am running the drum brake single diaphragm booster with no ill effect------dont know if the dual diaphram would take less effort........so far i havent accidentally locked them up....
 
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