I sent a technical question to Scarebird brakes about a disc conversion for a 1956 T-Bird. Their reply was "we are selling production rights to another company, should be available by mid spring." Don't know if it's just the T-Bird conversion or if they sold everything. Just a heads up.
Interesting. They use to be based in the Seattle area for many years and moved south a while back I was told. Might be stepping into retirement
They bailed out of here and went to Albuquerque IIRC. But their website says done. If they’re selling the patterns to someone serious that would be good. https://scarebird.com/
Due to latent supply constraints from Covid-19, we have decided to shut down operation effective end of 2022. Items still listed are available - those not listed will not be replenished. Phone is not is use - please email us direct: tech@scarebird.com We sincerely appreciate your patience. Website will revert to info only regarding kits previously sold in 2023.
This is exactly why I never liked the idea of depending on an aftermarket vendor to keep parts in stock or them having to depend on other vendors for supplies. I realize that they provided a valuable service for a specific time period, but market whims, life situations, and plain old bad luck can play hell with these vendors. Hell; I work for Mack/Volvo and WE are having bad issues STILL with the supply chain, three years into this crap.
It sucks! I have a couple future project I was going to use their kit on. I guess we should all start planning ahead and ordering stuff now while it's still available. Can't assume places that are here now, will be tomorrow.
Today.... Is as Good as it gets!! Interesting way to view life... The Plandemic, Changed the world...For ever!
scarebirds brakes did not fit my 1950 Ford spindles without grinding on my spindles and I dont want to do that. Scarebird is not recommended
That figures. I had gotten a kit from them for one of my Buicks, and had planned on another one for the second car. I guess I will adapt a set of 90 fin drums instead.
Well you can look at this two ways. If it weren’t for small companies seeing a need, taking a chance that there is a market then spending their own money to develop and manufacture there would be a lot of stuff we take for granted that we would never have. Large companies/corporations always look at return on investment first. A lot of large companies today started off in someone’s garage especially in the hot rod world. Lay down your money and roll the dice.
Yep. there was a time when you could only get a few db conversion kits, you had to make 'em. It's a great exercise in creativity and resourcefulness. I did quite a few oddball conversions for people at my little shop. Unfortunately, while it was challenging and fun, it was also time consuming and totally unprofitable, researching bearing/seal options, shopping calipers and rotors and making it all fit together. These days I could/would certainly do it for my own cars, but if a kit is available, I usually go that route. I no longer have my vast selection of good old paper catalogs, my mill or my lathe, but I do have a few bucks in the hot rod account. Too bad about Scarebird, another one bites the dust.
Rod mags used to have detailed articles on how to go salvage yard scrounging for the needed parts, or at least a list of donor cars so you could try your luck with parts stores. Don't know why or when that stopped, but it sucks to not have those lists at hand today.
They are still answering e-mails. Sent them one today inquiring about some bearing spacers and got a reply. Apparently the only whole kits available are the ones listed on their site, but bits and pieces you have to inquire about.
Thing is the wrecking yard parts that were available are not there and ready to be pulled off anymore. Heck,,when was the last time you saw a carburetor on an engine in a yard?
It's a shame. I have installed several dozen sets of brackets from them, and have never had a single issue. I hope their work is allowed to continue on, and is not lost.
That sounds easy until you actually set out to do it. 90% of the guys on here just flat don't have the equipment in their garage to make the brackets. Then just for shits and giggles sit down right now and list out the steps you would have to do to mount a disk brake setup on a spindle that no readily available kit is out there for as most of the Scarebird kits are. Just write down the steps as if you were explaining how to do it to someone else and were telling them what they needed to do to build their own front disk brake setup that actually worked right. There are a lot of steps involved and several have to be precise. Then you come down to figuring out what rotor is going to work and if it has to be modified to work and if you find a hub and rotor you have to figure out how to get the wheel bearings (inner 90% of the time) to work. That is why we need Scarebird or someone who is capable of taking their patterns and their info and keeping on producing the kits. Looks like somethign for Hellsgate Hot Rods to add to their line even if the kits are made to order after they are ordered.
I have all of the equipment, and it is still a large undertaking, just to make them, let alone the R&D that goes into the design. Scarebird stuff was precisely made, fit right every single time, and was plated for corrosion resistance.
Fair enough. Sometimes I forget that not all on this board have the needed skill set and a shop that goes along with it. But, please keep in mind that the single biggest issue that small manufacturers face is the time and financial investment to make a 'special' part or assembly compared to the ROI. It is simply not practical to make 10 or 100 or how-ever-many dodads if they can't be sold in a reasonable period of time. No one I know is willing to park inventory on a shelf and then hope that a customer wants to buy it. A recent customer did say that he would rather be looking at a part than be looking for a part so he was willing to buy in advance. I have found few like him, most just expect to have 'x' available when they need/want it. One of the best examples I have seen is the SS/X intake manifold project from the late Roland Osborne. Four of us sat down and designed the best manifold that we could come up with for the venerable 318. There is no shortage of guys building the 318 A-engine (Poly), several making 500hp, but Roland's $100k investment never saw enough return to make regular production runs. Basically, the project died with Roland. So, for those who have a Mechanical Engineering degree and need another project, get busy. Maybe you'll be the guy that actually makes money.
The sun is setting on this hobby, irrespective of people wishing that it would not. There may be no money left to make, unless you are big player, catering to the masses. We ain't the masses.
ROI (return on investment) is a big deal, and one thing that most people either or both do not consider, or even understand. I needed a collection of parts to make a project that I was building work. It took 6-months (about 1,020 hours) from zero to finished to make reliable working ones. I cannot tell you how many people have now asked for those parts for a few hundred dollars, or the CAD files FOR FREE! I cannot sell this collection of parts. The market is too small (maybe 5 people on the planet). There is no way that I would ever recover the R&D costs. Zero ROI. Now, people have tried to use the fact that I cannot monetize this to get me to give it to them!
Very few people understand the efforts required to design, market and make money on 'special' projects.... You might be right about the coming sunset.
My shop switched over to 5-axis CNC machining, business-to-business. Making car parts is like grabbing the chain of an anchor that was tossed overboard. You let go, or go down with it.
Just the insurance liability of running a shop is an ever-increasing financial investment. Designing and manufacturing something as what seems to be as simple as a brake kit, would be astronomical for a small business. All the custom chassis work I did back in the day when I had my shop would have my insurance company dropping me like a hot potato today. I closed up shop in 2012, couldn't imagine the cost of doing business verse profit margin today.
the question of liability may be the single element killing the hobby. When we have accidents, attorneys want to sue somebody for something and they will question home built parts every last time. Nobody wants to foot that bill alone. This may be why my beloved "lists" and rod mag articles went by the wayside. Brakes and steering are nothing to be experimenting with. If it won't go, big deal; if it won't stop, now that IS a big deal.
I agree, I see many parts listed as “off road only”. I used to think it was smog related, but why the heck would non-smog parts be “off road only”. Probably like you say, covers some legal thing.
The Jalopy Journal
