A Body Disc Brake Swap 101

A Body Disc Brake Swap 101

Great thread. This swap works on the early A's as well, just use the early center link, pitman arm, idler arm and inner tie rod ends and then the same 73 up parts used in this thread.

I know some had said you can use your stock outer tie rod ends but that is not the case on the earlier A's they need to match the lower ball joint/steer arm.

phish1270 said
I am doing the '73-'76 brake swap onto my '65 Barracuda. I have purchased anything new that I can. The donor that I got my stuff from was a '72 Dart that someone else had started putting the '73-'76 setup on. Nice thing was that everything was hand tightened & came off in no time, bad thing was it was a /6 4 wheel drum car so I did not get a proportioning valve. Any suggestions on finding the correct proportioning valve, new or used? What years will work, maybe F,M,Js also? Parts cars & junkyards are almost non-existent around the Charlotte area. I already have an inline adjuster for the rear drums & a dual res. master to put on. Thanks for posting good detailed steps on this conversion; I will be following it regularly as I get mine started. Getting all the hard parts ready for powder coat so far.

Do you mean an adjustable proportioning valve? If so? That is all you need, it just cuts down the braking to the rear, no need for any other proportioning valve. I have mine mounted below the seat where the knob sticks up above the floor so it is easy to adjust.

needsaresto said
Reagarding the ever popular big bolt pattern swap. I understand that the upper control arms must be changed out. How come no one has tried reaming out the original control arms to fit the big ball joint? Is there not enough material?

Because it is just a piece of stamped steal, you would need to have the conversion which you are still running a small ball joint or do what they did back in the late 60's and weld the ball joint section from a B-Body control arm onto the A-Body control arm. It's easier and safer to just get a set of 73 up control arms.

spencer0731 said
I converted my 70 340 duster drum brakes to the 74 big brake set up. I also bought a new mastercylinder/power brake booster kit. I had no problem doing the swap but, now, no matter what i do, i can't get any pedal. I can bleed and bleed but, i still have to push the pedal to the floor to even consider stopping. I am not sure if i have the right proportioning valve or not. does anyone have a picture of the 74 disc brake proportioning valve? i have like 4 different types. I can't think of anything else it could be unless i have the brake lines hooked up to the wrong sides of the proportioning valve. can you get a diagram of how to do it right?

What kit is it? What size bore does the master cylinder have? What push rod are you using?