65 Fury Front Disc Conversion plus front end rebuild

[kellycom]

I have a 65 Sport Fury that I am looking to convert the front power drums to power disc. I'm looking for a conversion kit and not buy this spindle, these rotors, etc. I also would like to get the front end rebuilt at the same time. The Fury is an original 383 4bbl/4 speed car that now has a nicely built 440 in it. So I'd like to have good stopping power as well as a good ride.

Let me hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks,

 

[BillGrissom]

I haven't heard of an after-market disk brake kit for C-bodies, but I haven't looked. For A, B, & E bodies, Wilwood, Stainless Steel Brakes, PST, and Scarebird (ebay) come to mind, so you might search them. There were factory disks in 65, but maintaining them gets into $$$$. I recall seeing some suspension wear parts like a lower ball joint that was ~$400 if disk brakes. The factory 11"x3" drums are pretty powerful and are sufficient for most drivers.

Some people claim that drum brakes don't work, pull to the side, etc, but not true if maintained well. The main advantage of disk brakes is that they cool faster, so if doing repeated stops from 70 mph like in road racing, you definitely need disks. I think the federal mandate for front disks ~1973 was because too many untrained drivers would ride the brakes on downhill stretches and overheat drum brakes. If you know how to drive, that isn't a problem. I use brakes sparingly, since every BTU of heat in the brakes equates to fuel wasted.

 

[thrashingcows]

You can try and find a complete disc brake set-up off a 73 C-body. You would need the spindle and all brake related hardware, but it's a direct bolt on. I used the 73 set-up on my wagon and it's great. If you want to retain the stock drum brake spindle you could use a scarebird set up, and I'm sure there are others if you do a little digging on-line.

As for front end kits...PST has a decent kit, I used theirs on the wagon as well. But I believe the PST kit uses ball joints that are not built a tough as the originals. Just Suspension has C-body front end kits as well...they are more money then the PST kit, but you are definitely getting premium parts.

 

[recondotexas]

I installed the Just Suspension kit in my 67 Fury III and had no issues. The quality was on par with an OEM replacement set. I did a lot of research on the Scarebird system as I had heard some rumblings about poor quality. The biggest hitch is getting rotors from a Dodge truck, brakes lines from a Caddy and I think calipers from some other maker. Seemed like a bit of work when you can go the 73 C-body route like thrashingcows mentioned. You can find a C body disc brake kit but they start around $800. If you decide on something let us know since I am still looking to change my drums out as soon as the 360 crate gets here. I gotta admit I am tempted to buy a high end brake kit so I will never have to worry about stopping this big ole beast. Good luck.

-Zach

 

[northbay65]

go with the 73 cbody swap you will be happy all mopar components and no hassle rebuilding, thats what i did and the rear summit disc kit now AWD. stops faster than accelerating

 

[commando1]

I wonder if he ever got around to it.....

 

[mopar383]

something tells me - no

 

[66SportFury]

Ummm,.yeah!??

 

[kellycom]

The Fury has been in the body shop for quite some time. I let the shop know as long as they don't charge me storage they could take as long as they wanted. The car is very close to being painted. Just a little more wet sanding and it's ready for paint. Below are some photos of what the worst part of the body was. It was repaired with metal by an old school body guy. He made the patch himself and blended it in and it looks great. Check out the photos. You'll also notice a few boxes. That is my disc brake and front end rebuild kit from PST. I have had the parts quite a while and they have been in storage until the car is further along.

Enjoy the pics.

 

[commando1]

I'm ecstatic it hasn't stalled.
Thanks for checking in.

 

[mopar383]

congratulations-carry on

 

[66SportFury]

Very cool..!

 

[thrashingcows]

Looking good...thanks for the update.

 

[Funship32]

Actually I'm kinda interested in this topic since I'm doing a disc brake swap on my '69 RR and since I've a '68 Fury III that I want to convert to front disc at some point. I believe SSBC offers a kit but at almost a grand it is a bit 'spensive. I also know that from my conversations over at FBBO, that some guys have done the Scarebird setup and have been VERY happy with it. The kit uses Ford Galaxie rotors and Dodge Ram calipers so at about $450 to do a conversion it seems to be a decent setup. However I'd like to hear what others may find other than going the '73 fury disc conversion route.

 

[sweatnblood]

http://www.p-s-t.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7980/.f?sc=12

Personally I think you should do the conversion because it's going to save you money in the long run...if this was a chevy where you could go down to any auto parts store and find the parts your looking for then it would be a different story but it's a Plymouth and you can't find parts and when you do people want a ****'n arm, leg and eye for them...I also have a 65 fury and just spent a grand redoing all 4 drums with rebuilt master and it was hard to find parts...I had just bought this EFI set up so I was short on cash so that's the only reason I didn't do the kit yet...but next go around after this will be 4 wheel conversion...I know most dodge/ plymouth guys like to keep stuff stock...but I don't have deep pockets needed to keep up with the limited parts available