need help with a 63 dart

[kourgath]

ok here's what i'm up against.
bought a 63 dart in pretty good condition. needs new bushings all around, idler arm, ball joints and bearings for the front wheels. the problem is it's been modified for disk breaks on the front so I don't know what has been changed from stock for the ordering of parts. anyone able to give me the most likely suspects? oh yeah it's got a 4 manual transmission and bolt pattern on the wheels is 5x 4.25(or thereabouts)

 

[Darter6]

Post a few pictures of the rotor/caliper.We can tell right away from a photo.

 

[kourgath]

ok here's some I just took of the passenger side

 

[C130 Chief]

So you want to order an early kit with ball joints for a 73-up disk car. Or think of it another way, you need a later kit with early A-body pittman and idler arms.

I had Espo put me together a kit with the earlier steering arms, later balljoints, 11/16" tie rods and ends. Their prices were competitive.

 

[kourgath]

thanks much, how about spindle and bearings?

 

[Darter6]

That is the 73 up single piston caliper/rotor that was used till 88 or 89. In A, B, F,M,J, mopars.All using the same spindle/rotor.Measure the diameter of the rotor should be 10-10 1/2 inches. Some of the bigger cars used 11-12 inch rotors. I put that same setup on my 63 Valiant that you pictured.I ordered everything for a 88 Dodge Diplomat.Got rotors , calipers,Hardware kits, bearings and seals.Local parts store should be able to get everything you need.

 

[Chuck Valiant]

Talk to the good people at PST, they have a vender page here. Order the full early a kit and ask them if they can switch the upper ball joints for the 73 and up ones. I just switch out the front end on my 64 Valiant and when I found out I messed up on ordering all of the parts I needed they were very helpful on making sure I was getting all that I needed (although it turned out that their rubber torsion bar covers were too small but they were inexpensive and my old ones weren't that bad). Plus you get 10% off for being a FABO member.

Do you need new spindles? If you walk into any parts store and ask for 1973 Dart front disc break wheel bearings, I'm sure they might have some or can get them for you in 24 hours. I always check their websites to find out who has the best product at the price I can afford and it will tell me if they have it at my local store or one that is within 20 minutes.

 

[kourgath]

not sure if I need spindles yet, haven't taken the bearings out to check. I know the ball joints and most of the rubber in the suspension is toast as well as the idler arm. had the alignment checked this afternoon and somehow the guy who had this car before me had 10 degrees of positive camber kinda much and it's why I originally had the thought I needed to work in the suspension. tires were rubbing in front on turns

 

[kourgath]

ok heres an update after the winter freeze and thaw
replaced the suspension except for the torsion bars and rear leaf springs (those are up soon.) replaced the front calipers as both bleeder screws broke off when I went to remove them. Now for the issues, After replacing the front calipers, bleeding the whole system (replaced the rear brake cylinders and pads as well since those bleeder screws broke off too) I have no brakes, stepping on the pedal 5-6 times gives some resistance but not near what I had before. Replaced the master cylinder as there was some leakage when I did finally get some resistance, bench bled it properly and as far as I can tell the system has been bled properly. just can't get any pedal. could there be an issue with the brake distribution block? (not sure what it's called. both brake lines from the master cylinder go into it then split off to the different wheels.) I've checked everywhere for leakages, and if i'm under the car while someone is pumping the pedal I can hear brake fluid going through the lines and into the front calipers. anyone with any ideas?

 

[dodgegod]

try adjusting the rear brake drums till they are tight,and bleed again, see if that helps

 

[kourgath]

well found out what the problem is, the front brakes bleeder valves are lower than the piston and intake port. meaning i have to dismount them and use a vacuum bleeder to get the air out of the front pistons. now if i could only get a proper seal on those damned bleeder valves...

 

[Keith Mopar]

Did you bleed the master cyl before installing it? That could be the problem if you didn't.

The bleeder on the Calipers should be up.

 

[kourgath]

yeah bled the master cylinder first, dismounted the calipers last night and bled them with the bleeder valve up and got a lot of air out of them, now i have a nice solid pedal. just goes to show that i could have saved a whole lot of effort and frustration with the correct parts.