best 5x4.5 disc conversion on my 1968 dart 2dr post

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jonnyrose

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howdy looking for the best kit that comes with everything i need to bolt up disc brakes on my 1968 dodge dart 2dr post,putting a 360 727 combo,will be using a ford 8" out of a maverik for now ,because its all we can find around here,would like to upgrade to 5x4.5 wheels,

dart home 008.JPG
 
howdy looking for the best kit that comes with everything i need to bolt up disc brakes on my 1968 dodge dart 2dr post,putting a 360 727 combo,will be using a ford 8" out of a maverik for now ,because its all we can find around here,would like to upgrade to 5x4.5 wheels,

View attachment 1715087513
those wheels are justing sitting up against the car for mock up,
 
I converted my '70 duster from drums to disc using the Wilwood 140-11022 kit and the Mopar aluminum m.c. came out real nice,very easy to install and stops great also takes about 35 lbs off your frontend:D:D
 
Dr Diff has everything from Stock 10.95" Single piston calipers to multi piston Brembo 13" rotor kits. Cass is awesome too.

Brakes :: Kits and Assemblies

Agree. I sourced my front disc conversion from a 77 Volare wagon and then used adapter parts from Dr. Diff. Cass was very helpful and responded to questions right away. I'm also running an 8.8 out of a 97 Explorer, 4:10 gears, posi and disc brakes.
 
I used the later model 73-76 a-body stuff and just flipped the mounting bracket from left to right so the caliper mounted on the back of the rotor and I could still run the factory sway bar. I did have to bend the metal part of the brake hose a little to clear but it was no big deal and everything but the big ball joint upper control arms, the spindles and the caliper mounting brackets you can get at your local parts store. You would need rotors, calipers, brake pads, brake hoses, wheel bearings if they don't come with the spindles and ball joints and upper control arm bushings if needed as well. Cheap and they work great
 
Dr Diff has everything from Stock 10.95" Single piston calipers to multi piston Brembo 13" rotor kits. Cass is awesome too.

Brakes :: Kits and Assemblies

Agree. I sourced my front disc conversion from a 77 Volare wagon and then used adapter parts from Dr. Diff. Cass was very helpful and responded to questions right away. I'm also running an 8.8 out of a 97 Explorer, 4:10 gears, posi and disc brakes.

I used the later model 73-76 a-body stuff and just flipped the mounting bracket from left to right so the caliper mounted on the back of the rotor and I could still run the factory sway bar. I did have to bend the metal part of the brake hose a little to clear but it was no big deal and everything but the big ball joint upper control arms, the spindles and the caliper mounting brackets you can get at your local parts store. You would need rotors, calipers, brake pads, brake hoses, wheel bearings if they don't come with the spindles and ball joints and upper control arm bushings if needed as well. Cheap and they work great

Exactly!

If you're going to the 5x4.5" big bolt pattern swap anyway, just use 73+ mopar parts. Dr. Diff is great and sells everything if you don't have any local wrecking yards to source parts from. You can pull parts from any of the F/M/J bodies if you want to save some money on spindles and things, although even those have gotten super scarce around here in the yards.

I don't understand why you'd want to use aftermarket stuff when there's OE Mopar parts out there that will do the job just as well for less money, and all the replacement parts like rotors/pads/bearings can be bought at your local autoparts store.
 
I don't understand why you'd want to use aftermarket stuff when there's OE Mopar parts out there that will do the job just as well for less money, and all the replacement parts like rotors/pads/bearings can be bought at your local autoparts store.

Oh please thats like comparing apples to oranges OE Mopar brake setup's are no where near the quality fit finish or weight reduction of the Wilwoods and they look a hell of a lot better..
 
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Oh please thats like comparing apples to oranges OE Mopar brake setup's are no where near the quality fit finish or weight reduction of the Wilwoods and they look a hell of a lot better..

Right. Except you can't buy parts for them anywhere local, the center bores on some of their kits don't work with a lot of OE wheels, and some of the kits widen the track width more than the 73+ disks. Oh, and they cost more too. You can get a set of the 10.95" OE disks from Dr.Diff with calipers, caliper brackets, pads, rotors, bearings, spindles, hoses, splash shields and hardware for $445. You can add the ball joint adaptors and keep your small ball joint UCA's and still only be at $480. The cheapest Wilwood kit you can get is $787 from Summit, and that doesn't even come with brake lines which are another $60.

Heck for $600 you can get the 11.75" Mopar disk set up from Cass as long as you have 15" rims, still includes everything and again you can add the ball joint adaptors for another $35.

Sure, the Wilwoods are lighter. The multi-piston set up probably works a little better than the OE single piston set up too. But unless you're running something other than BFG T/A's you'll probably never notice the difference anyway because you'll be tire limited, especially if you go with the 11.75's. And of course the OE set up is bomb proof and tested over millions of miles and decades now. I've pulled calipers off of wrecking yard cars that were in perfect working order. Wilwood has been around a long time now too, but for longevity I think you'd be hard pressed to outlast the OE single piston calipers. They aren't fancy but they work well.

And I'd rather deal with Cass @DoctorDiff over a Wilwood tech line any day of the week.
 
Whats your price range?
Stuff like a distribution block/proportioning valve and new lines will be needed with any swap.
You can spend a couple hundred-ish on an FMJ swap or several times that for the aftermarket "kits".
Personally I'd go with the FMJ.
Oh wait...I already did :D
 
Whats your price range?
Stuff like a distribution block/proportioning valve and new lines will be needed with any swap.
You can spend a couple hundred-ish on an FMJ swap or several times that for the aftermarket "kits".
Personally I'd go with the FMJ.
Oh wait...I already did :D

Totally agree. The only problem now is finding the donors. It used to be you could just head down to PickNPull and grab an FMJ set up if you checked their website and got up early when a suitable donor came in. I get emails now when certain cars hit the yard, and I've only seen one suitable FMJ brake donor hit the yards around here so far this year. And California has it pretty decent for workable cars hitting the yard, most places the FMJ supply dried up awhile ago. I mean, they show up occasionally, but it used to be easy. DrDiff's kits aren't bad for price considering you get all new or rebuilt parts, even using almost everything straight out of the yard you'd still be spending at least a couple hundred bucks.
 
The trick is to get the whole car:D

Just checked in the shop and I have 3 or 4 sets of F discs in milk crates.:eek:

Odd how some things just accumulate, isnt it?

I deconstruct F's...several each year.

Its my thing :D

100_0813.JPG
 
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Totally agree. The only problem now is finding the donors. It used to be you could just head down to PickNPull and grab an FMJ set up if you checked their website and got up early when a suitable donor came in. I get emails now when certain cars hit the yard, and I've only seen one suitable FMJ brake donor hit the yards around here so far this year. And California has it pretty decent for workable cars hitting the yard, most places the FMJ supply dried up awhile ago. I mean, they show up occasionally, but it used to be easy. DrDiff's kits aren't bad for price considering you get all new or rebuilt parts, even using almost everything straight out of the yard you'd still be spending at least a couple hundred bucks.

I second that! Unless money is not a deciding factor for you, the FMJ route is the way to go... I got lucky though and hit the Sacramento Pick n Pull on a 50% off weekend and found two suitable donors. One for my Duster and one for my friends Coronet. With the Dr. Diff parts, ball joints, rotors, calipers etc. I've got less than $800 in both the front and rear conversions combined. And if anything needs replacing I can get it on any given Saturday at the local Napa Store within a mile or two of where I live...
 
wow lots of options ,i will look up all the tips,thanks for the speedy replies
 
Nope. Didnt even know they carried anything but resto stuff.
 
any one use jims auto parts .com kits

Why? It's just a 73+ disk brake set up. Dr diff sells the same parts for less money. Like, several hundred dollars less for the same parts.

And their "5x4" bolt pattern set up is just 73+ rotors drilled with a 5x4" pattern. Which means, it still widens the track width and the center register is larger and won't fit stock SBP wheels. So you'd still need new wheels unless you already have aftermarket SBP rims that happen to work.
 
i want 5x4.5 bolt pattern,just want a kit that has everything in a box
 
i want 5x4.5 bolt pattern,just want a kit that has everything in a box
I put SSBC kits on front and rear. Used Dr. Diff big bolt pattern axles in the rear. SSBC has nice stuff, but it might be a little more $$$. Your choice of drilled, slotted, plated rotors. And red or black powdercoated calipers if you want. That's a plus... no rusty old iron stuff. The calipers & pads are from late Mustang and/or T-Bird. (They actually tell you this in the instructions). Get the smallest bore M/C you can find and you won't even need power brakes. Mine work great without a proportioning valve too.
 
i want 5x4.5 bolt pattern,just want a kit that has everything in a box

Dr diff can set that up for you. His stage 1 kit will have everything you need, you can even add on the master cylinder, prop valve, etc. And if you aren't sure what you need, you can just call Cass @DoctorDiff, he can help you build a kit that will have everything.

I put SSBC kits on front and rear. Used Dr. Diff big bolt pattern axles in the rear. SSBC has nice stuff, but it might be a little more $$$. Your choice of drilled, slotted, plated rotors. And red or black powdercoated calipers if you want. That's a plus... no rusty old iron stuff. The calipers & pads are from late Mustang and/or T-Bird. (They actually tell you this in the instructions). Get the smallest bore M/C you can find and you won't even need power brakes. Mine work great without a proportioning valve too.

You can drilled, slotted, plated rotors and powder coated calipers from Dr diff. My rotors from him are drilled slotted and plated. Calipers are powder coated.

I'm not knocking the SSBC kits, I know they work. But I don't see any great advantage they offer over using the '73 up disks. They cost more money, but you don't get spindles. And you have to drill your drum brake spindles to fit the caliper brackets. They use a 4 piston caliper, but it's an older design KH style caliper. Rotors come from them and can only be purchased from them or large places like Summit etc. Probably not going to find those locally in most places. And maybe that's not a huge deal for a weekend car, but for a daily driver it's nice to be able to get most of your parts locally if necessary, and you can usually do that if you use the 73+ 10.95" or 11.75" rotors.
 
... And you have to drill your drum brake spindles to fit the caliper brackets...

I didn't have to drill anything on my '69. Could they have changed the kits? I did mine several years ago. Or, is there a difference if the car had the smaller drums? I know that being a 340/GTS mine had the larger drums to start with. Anyways, no drilling here.
 
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