Front drum brake conversion to disc--need help

I need some guidance/direction and hope you guys can help. I have a 1937 Nash Lafayette 2 door sedan and the brakes are scary to say the least and Idon’t feel safe enough to take my kids for a ride. I want to convert the front drum brakes to disc. I already swapped out the original rear end with a 12 bolt from a Chevy truck to keep the same bolt pattern so I can use the stock rims. I also will be changing from single to dual master cylinder.

Back to the front discs. I need to know if there is some way I can take measurements of the stock spindle and then go searching for the right combination on an existing vehicle and make the swap. I understand that I will have to make an adapter for the caliper bracket to attach to the backing plate to hold everything together. I also will probably need some kind of bearing adapter too. There are no after market kits for this rare car so I can’t go that route (plus they are pretty expensive). . Does anyone have bright ideas or can help in any way.

Thanks,
Paul

 

I'd reccomend this-Peel all the brakes and backing plates off down to a bare spindle on the Nash.....

Then take some measurements of the diam where both bearings set on that spindle.
Then measure the total depth of the stock drum thru the bearing holes to determine a length for the newfound rotor to accomodate.....then it's crossreferencing the bearings inner and outer diams to come up with a candidate....the caliper bracket isnt rocket science as most are a floating style whick=h will simplify that part of the adaption process....Good luck!
As to a rotor -a place to start would be chevy pickups 73-87 or GM big cars 71 76 or 77to 80 big pont or olds 98 buick electra etc.....

 

Shot in the dark, but does your car happen to have bolt-on spindles like later AMC/Ramblers? What I mean is there is the piece that attaches to the control arms and steering ala a normal 'spindle', but then there is a second piece - the spindle that the bearings ride on - that bolts to the first piece with four bolts.

Like I said, this was used on later AM-family cars, but I'm not sure how far back that system goes. If yours is like this there may be an easy solution.

 

Hey, I've done a number of disc conversions and may be able to help you out. If you can send me a picture of your spindle and some dimensions I'll see what I can do. Mounting the rotor is usually just a matter of bearing search, the caliper bracket takes some work. Anyway, let me know what you have and I'll try to hook you up.