Has anyone used a disc brake conversion kit

One concern -- must replacement brake pads be purchased from Leeds or do they cross with some other application that you can get from an auto supply store?

Another concern -- their infomation claims their system will work with "most Mopar wheels", but are those considered to be 14" or 15" and from what model years?

A consideration -- from looking at their product listings on the Summit website, why not save some time/trouble and purchase one of their more expensive kits, which include the master cyl/booster assy? That would ensure you end up with (their) version of parts that will work together, rather than your having to chase them from different sources of used/reman parts that are "supposed to work" with their kits.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
 
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't considered replacement parts and I do still have the factory 14" wheels. I did see another kit that used GM parts if I remember right. I'll have to do some more research.
 
I highly recommend using factory parts, which are still fairly easy to acquire. From what I understand, there are too many areas of "concern" with the aftermarket kits.

Find a good 70-73 C body with discs, and use those parts. It's a direct bolt in, and retains your current drum brake lower ball joints. The factory parts are very very good... over-engineered in my opinion, and were considered the best out there back in the day.

The biggest challenge will be to find the correct 65-68 disc brake power booster, of which cores are still out there. Just keep looking.

Alternately, if your car has a console, or you don't care about accessing Low 2 or Low 1 on your column shift, then use the 70 and up single diaphragm booster. Again, it's all a bolt in.

Look on this forum for the various parts lists and tips docs (some I wrote), and I guarantee, you'll not regret it.
 
Go with the factory parts. The kits are a bunch of odd parts put together that should fit. Probably a Ford rotor with GM caliper. I see an adapter plate to mount the caliper and adaptor rings to fit the wheel bearings to the spindles. I'm really not a fan.

Enough guy have done the conversions using factory parts to give you a good idea of what you need.

BTW, I'd stay away from the Scarebird conversions. They make work well for some, but have heard of adaptor plates cracking and also some horrible "service after the sale" on some earlier Mopar conversions that just plain didn't work.

You've probably read this: Fuselage - Drums to Disc Brake Conversion
 
When I first discovered "Scarebird" about 20 years ago, I thought it was pretty neat to use auto supply sources rather than salvage yard sources. Cleaner and easier, I suspected. Plus some sort of parts warranty with the supplier/auto supply.

But as things progressed, some of those auto supply parts went into NeverNeverLand/unobtainium. Then alternative parts were noted, which also went there, too, as all auto supply sources can tend to go, just as the OEM new parts go their sooner.

Which then opens things up for the kits from Wilwood, Leeds, and such. Wave the $$$$ and things happen on the porch "to your door". For those who might desire such, but even those kits can, as mentioned, have some issues in fitment or needing other parts (in this case, probably wheels to clear the calipers, or the caliper mounting brackets, much less the needed booster) to make things work.

Chevy did have some 14" disc brake wheels in the '67 or so timeframe, for non-Z/28 Camaros and such. The difference was in how the backside of the wheel was angled/shaped to clear the brake calipers. A 15" wheel would clear, but the drum brake 14" wheels would not. Which is also probably why Chrysler just used 15" wheels only on their power disc brake cars (which meant C-body and Imperials). With 15" wheels becoming standard in 1969.

People in this forum and others have universally mentioned "Booster Dewey" to rebuild power brake booster cores sent to him. All with great reviews.

But then, @TxDon (1967 Monaco station wagon) and others in the FBBO forum have found a supplier for drum brake linings that could well get very close to disc brake performance without changing anything other than the brake shoes. GTXs and such had 11" brakes, too, just only in 11x3 and 11x2.5 shoe widths (which might not cover older C-body cars, in all cases, unless they came with those sizes). A bit pricey at $198.00 per axle set. www.musclecarbrakes.com

Funny thing in one of the Hagerty newsletters/magazines was a list of 10 things people always said to do to an older car. ONE was "Got to put disc brakes on it". I smiled, because I experienced (as others in here probably did, back then) that the power drum brakes had enough guts to lock-up all 4 wheels, making the stopping distance more or a contest with the frictional relationship between the tires and the road surface . . . for one stop. But then, too, power discs were know to have much better fade resistance in high-speed stops (like at the end of the drag strip, where the return road suddenly appeared while you were still "at speed".

Just some observations and thoughts,
CBODY67
 
But then, @TxDon (1967 Monaco station wagon) and others in the FBBO forum have found a supplier for drum brake linings that could well get very close to disc brake performance without changing anything other than the brake shoes. GTXs and such had 11" brakes, too, just only in 11x3 and 11x2.5 shoe widths (which might not cover older C-body cars, in all cases, unless they came with those sizes). A bit pricey at $198.00 per axle set. www.musclecarbrakes.com

THanks for this tip on brake linings! Pretty sure my New Yorker has 11X3 and 11X 2.5 shoes, and I may opt for these.
 
Scarebird is good. I wanted to maintain my drums and factory 14"wheels and hubcaps after installing my 505 stroker. The drums are good and powerful around town, however with a bigger motor and the ability to generate crazy speeds instantly, and some infrequent trips to the dragstrip, the disks became an immediate requirement. The car is not safe with the drums in my situation.
 
With the sources of stock type drum parts drying up & being hard to find, and the size of my drum brakes. I went with the SSBC set up on all 4's because of the spinners on my 66-300 which I wanted to keep, that's the only reason why I did that!!! Being said and now that SSBC is out of business isn't really a problem for me as I know what components are from what. If I changed anything right now, I would upgrade to better pads. The car stops so much better with the disc. Good Luck
 
Unless I can find a donner car somewhere in the area with a complete disc set up with rebuildable calipers, I may go with one of the kits. It'd be nice to find something within a few hours of Pittsburgh. I was searching today for reman calipers, 18-4031 and 18-4032, and only found one side available. I found two of the 18-4031s. And I found some rotors. This was the response from Amazon,
We cannot find any "18-4032 caliper" for your 1970 Chrysler New Yorker" I used a '70 Newyorker to search. Any suggestions? No luck on Ebay, Rock Auto, NAPA or CarId either for the 18-4032. I checked locally with Advance and O'Reilly's, Auto Zone with no luck.
Does anyone have any experience with the ECI kits?
Engineered Components, Inc. - Your One Stop Brake Shop! (ecihotrodbrakes.com)
 
But then, @TxDon (1967 Monaco station wagon) and others in the FBBO forum have found a supplier for drum brake linings that could well get very close to disc brake performance without changing anything other than the brake shoes. GTXs and such had 11" brakes, too, just only in 11x3 and 11x2.5 shoe widths (which might not cover older C-body cars, in all cases, unless they came with those sizes). A bit pricey at $198.00 per axle set. www.musclecarbrakes.com

THanks for this tip on brake linings! Pretty sure my New Yorker has 11X3 and 11X 2.5 shoes, and I may opt for these.
I should mention that I ordered these back in October but the order never went through due to Covid related supply issues. I have continued to follow up with no luck so far.
 
Unless I can find a donner car somewhere in the area with a complete disc set up with rebuildable calipers, I may go with one of the kits. It'd be nice to find something within a few hours of Pittsburgh. I was searching today for reman calipers, 18-4031 and 18-4032, and only found one side available. I found two of the 18-4031s. And I found some rotors. This was the response from Amazon,
We cannot find any "18-4032 caliper" for your 1970 Chrysler New Yorker" I used a '70 Newyorker to search. Any suggestions? No luck on Ebay, Rock Auto, NAPA or CarId either for the 18-4032. I checked locally with Advance and O'Reilly's, Auto Zone with no luck.
Does anyone have any experience with the ECI kits?
Engineered Components, Inc. - Your One Stop Brake Shop! (ecihotrodbrakes.com)
Where's @mobileparts when we need him?
 
Well Big John,
You're asking for me , gave me an alert , which I am presently responding to you now....
Reading through the first 13 comments here -- where I can help is N.O.S. ++ Asbestos ++ Brake Shoes for our "C" bodies, which as 90 % of us all know, are fifty times better than the garbage of today, including those new - fangled brake shoes at an absurd $200 / a set.....
What I CAN NOT get involved in is all those disc brake conversions that utilize all discombobulated parts, almost exclusively Chineseum parts, custom manufactured parts that are not real parts -- such as adaptation spindles, custom made brackets and hardware for parts that are not meant for that application, etc., etc.... So, I purposely DO NOT get involved with that garbage..... These forums -- Mopar, G M, and Ford, are FILLED with people begging the world to help them get out of the mess they got involved with , with all these $ 800, $ 1000, and $1500 kits that they can't make fit -- and some even require new front end components, new wheels and more....
--------- "NOT my department'", NOOOO Thank you -------

For factory parts, which are NEVER a problem, yes, everyone is always welcome to call me !!!!!!
Always best to simply call me --- Craig ---
516 - 485 - 1935.... New York....
 
Well Big John,
You're asking for me , gave me an alert , which I am presently responding to you now....
Reading through the first 13 comments here -- where I can help is N.O.S. ++ Asbestos ++ Brake Shoes for our "C" bodies, which as 90 % of us all know, are fifty times better than the garbage of today, including those new - fangled brake shoes at an absurd $200 / a set.....
What I CAN NOT get involved in is all those disc brake conversions that utilize all discombobulated parts, almost exclusively Chineseum parts, custom manufactured parts that are not real parts -- such as adaptation spindles, custom made brackets and hardware for parts that are not meant for that application, etc., etc.... So, I purposely DO NOT get involved with that garbage..... These forums -- Mopar, G M, and Ford, are FILLED with people begging the world to help them get out of the mess they got involved with , with all these $ 800, $ 1000, and $1500 kits that they can't make fit -- and some even require new front end components, new wheels and more....
--------- "NOT my department'", NOOOO Thank you -------

For factory parts, which are NEVER a problem, yes, everyone is always welcome to call me !!!!!!
Always best to simply call me --- Craig ---
516 - 485 - 1935.... New York....
I think you have misread what I did by alerting you.

The OP is looking for OE type calipers. #18-4032 is the reman part of an OE caliper. That would obviously let him do the conversion using Chrysler parts. He's also looking for other OE parts.

All I was doing was trying to help out so he wouldn't do the aftermarket conversion.
 
I don't really like the look or function of the gm style kit on my charger.
Factory stuff on the fury.
I'll probably buy dr. Diff setup for my Coronet.
 
Allow me to mention this again. All of your problems will end if you get the scarebird kit for your 67, i used them on my 66 newyorker and other than requiring at least 15" wheels it has been great, it utilizes 1/2 ton chevy mid-90's pickup calipers, widely available rotors and most of your original bearings. The 1/2 ton calipers are appropriate for the weight of our cars, my 66 newyorker weighs 4767 lbs with me in it. Powerful brake performance time after time, stop after stop.
 
I'm starting to think I'm going to live with the drum brakes. Back in my 20s I had a '65 Newport with a single pot master cylinder and booster. I drove that car for probably 7 years without issue. At least my Newyorker has a double pot cylinder with a booster. I may look into a new set of shoes from Mobileparts.
 
I think there are better options than keeping the drums is that didn't come across
 
I didn't use a kit; I bought prats from other, newer Chryslers. Did the same for the Gremlin. I'll bet that is harder to do today as parts are getting harder to find.
 
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