moparmat2000 said

Duster captain, where are you located? This will make it easier to figure out which things are best to source for your car. I'm in Abilene, so theres no shortage of old stuff in my junkyards to pick from. Guys from up north like cdnEHbody dont have access to this old stuff anymore which is the reason he is sourcing the scarebird kit. Personally i prefer to use factory stuff if its available. I dont regard M body stuff as old even though the last ones rolled off the line in 1989, probably because my wrecking yards still have plenty of them, and the rotors, wheel bearings, seals, brake pads and hardware kits are the same as 73-76 A body disc brake. Only things that are a bit different are the calipers. Caliper brackets and spindles, but it all works.

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66Dvert said

I was broke (still am and most likely will always be due to my hobby)
cheapest way is rebuild the drum brakes (but go to dual master for safety)

money wise, it's a tossup between 73-up and a conversion anymore.

next cheapest way is to piece it together for the disc brake upgrade. I did the scarebird brackets using the original 9" spindle and hub from the drums and had the autoparts get the rest piece by piece as money came in.
Yes ,you can stay small bolt pattern wheels if you get the rotors drilled at a machine shop (or use the supplied paper pattern, make copies for future use if you want to) my cost was 25.00 for both. that was using scarebirds brackets and auto store parts only, not their kit. my cost was easier to bear since it was piece by piece.

most of the other kits I have seen or used have a center register that can be a problem using you old wheels, there is supposed to be one kit that's a copy of the 73-up parts and a bolt on but I have not used it or seen it work on early A's yet.

here is my setup. yeah I had the hub drilled so that I could go large bolt pattern also but I rolled the car around on the small bolt pattern studs for a long time before re-drilling the front hubs to LBP.
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moparmat2000 said

Good looking kit. If you want to stay small bolt pattern, thats definitely the inexpensive way to go. If your wanting to eventually put some nice looking aftermarket wheels on it small bolt pattern is not the way to go as your choices are limited for the small bolt pattern. BTW DOT required dual chambered master cylinders, and a low brake pressure warning light to be standard equipment by 1967. Since his is a 72 he is pretty much set in that area.

I am looking at a complete running 1986 M body fifth ave parts car for $200. This is probably the best parts car deal next to buying a V8 A body parts car that you can buy if redoing an A body. It has a 318 V8, and an A999 variant of the A904 with a lock up converter. The M body radiator is a bolt in on 67-72 radiator supports, along with the fan and shroud. The disc brakes are a bolt in. It has an aluminum oil filter adaptor, the power steering box refits all the way back to 1967. 3 speed wiper motor fits A body And theres so much more you can mine out of one of these before parting out the remainder that you dont need on evilbay to make back some of your money spent to buy it, and scrapping whats left. I think M body spindles and discs also fit early A body.

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moparmat2000 said

Just checked rock auto. I dont know if you have 9" or 10" drums, but the wheel cylinders apparently are the same left and right in the back, but left right specific in the front. They are pretty dirt cheap about $3 to $5, the right front is about $14 though. The brake lines are pretty cheap at $7-$9 each. Master cylinder isnt cheap. Hopefully yours works.

If you dont have them, theres 3 brake tools you need for doing drum brakes. I got mine at sears long ago in the mid 1980s. You need a star wheel adjusting spoon, a spring cup remover/installer, and return spring remover/installer.

If you decide to do the brakes, shoes etc, pay close attention to location of all the hardware and which shoes out of the set have more lining on them. Its been a long while but i believe the leading shoes at each wheel have to have more lining on them than the trailing shoes at each wheel.

Also only pull apart one side at a time, so you can use the other side as a point of reference seeing where everything goes and how it fits together to put it all back together

Specialty drum brake tools below. A very cheap way to save you cuss words and skinned knuckles. The brake spring cup removal tool 3rd pic below, mine is made by lisle, and has a different sized cup on either end making it more versatile. I couldent find a pic of it online though.

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moparmat2000 said

You can also go to www.mymopar.com

They have the entire factory issue 1971 plymouth body service manual available for free download
And the entire factory issue 1972 plymouth chassis service manual available for free download.

The wiring differences between 71 and 72 are very minimal. If you have room on your computer for these FSMs i recommend downloading them, then you can print out copies of whatever you need to look at. The info is worth its weight in gold.

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