im working on my 1957 desoto firedome sportsman i have had in the corner of my garage for way too many years. i need to go tru the brakes. Im going to put a dual master on it and was thinking of swapping the front to disc. Has anyone done it and what did you use and how did it go? I know scarebird should have brackets for it. Was thinking about buying stuff from them. Any info would be great.
You can use spindles from 70s Mopars. In the Tex Smith Mopar Hot Rod Book '77 Dodge Monoco spindles were used on a '57 DeSoto. I used '77 NYer spindles on my '60 Plym. Grind down the steering bumps to improve turning. You'll need to shorten your tie rods, tie rod ends & the adjuster sleeve to get it aligned. On my '60 the upper & lower A Arm mounts were something like 7" apart, the popular Aspen/Volare spindles were only about 5" apart & wouldn't fit. The NYer were about 6" apart & work fine. Have heard there's a spindle that is about 7" apart that would be great. Used a M/C from a late 60s Mopar that was disc & mounts the same as the '60 does.
SCAREBIRD uses same spindels you have, volare rotors, gm, calipers, works good did it on a 58 coronet also sed a 8.8 out of a explorer with 3.73 posi complete ,welded spring perches mounts has a little pep now with the stock325 poly.good luck
So how was the width on the rear my rear end has a froze up drum and i was thinking i would like to replace it with something newer. Was the bolt pattern the same or diffrent, and what year was the rear end from thanks for the info. much appreciated.
Hood rear was an inch narrower it just tucked tires an inch, i bought spring pads fron speedway motors. wifes car still uses emergency brake set up on trans, you could use the explorer cables if you need or want a emerg/ brake calipers, had all needed hardware to complete would just have to fab cable pulls or pull from explorer donor. does your car have hand or foot emerbrake? it was a very simple swap on a 1 to 10 its a 4 i ran all new lines with a dodge style mastercylinder from about a 80 mopar didnot even have to use a propotioning valve works great.1and an 1/8 bore mastercyl. hope this helps. Mark
sorry year on explorer 88 thru 93 check the width with a tapemeasure at flat area where wheels bolt on ,this swap also got rid of left and right lug nut system which i always screwed up any way. mark
I have a 57 plymouth, that I put mopar disc brakes on. George is dead on with how to do it. Only I used everything from a 73 plymouth satellite. Every thing fit rite into place. Shortened the tie rods ,ground the nubs & thats it. Use a 70 -73 A or B body manual disc brake master(prob the same as power), and a 72-74 e or b body proportioning valve. Its cast iron & works perfect.They are not to hard to find. good luck.
As far as rear axle there's a number of Ford & Mopars that fit with relocated spring perches. 71-3 Mustang & Cougar, Most 70s Rancheros. Dusters. Probably others. 68 C body may be a bolt in.
I read on forwardlook.net the mopar spindle swap causes some geometry issues. Never done it so Im going off what Ive read. I made my own spacers. Used volare rotors and welded up some GM disc brake brackets, but If I did it again Id buy a kit. Try this place too. http://www.aajbrakes.com/
Scarebird is the way to go, the AAJ kit is ok, but i have heard of a lot of instances where additional work is required to make the adaptors and such work. Don't do the spindle swap, it changes the geometry. The big $$ conversion is magnum force, they make a wilwood kit thats $1700!! crazy. You could piece together a wilwood kit for about 7 to 800. Check out this thread over at Fowardlook.net http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=37689&posts=17&start=1
Also see this thread for more wilwood goodness. http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=8268&posts=68&start=1
Im sure it aligned fine, but did he put it on a suspension dyno to check its performance at the extremes of travel? Thats were the geometry changes cause problems. You can be fine at normal "ride height" aka at rest and still have wierdness under compression. Thats why i don't recommend changing the spindles, its easy to put discs on the stock spindles and still have the factory geometry curves. These were decent handling cars from the factory, why screw with that when there are solutions that don't complicate things like that? The spindle swap may be cheaper due to junkyard sourcing, but its not the right way to do it.
I`m going with the AAJ system.. front and rear disc dual MC he will sell you the brackets, then supply you with a complete list of parts to complete the job Mine is going on my 58 Coronet. The wife will be driving it and I want to tow my old boat with it !!
thanks for all the info everyone, i know for sure it wont be the wilwood route, probably the scarebird direction. I really think im going to swap the rear, mine has a froze brake drum and is going to need wheel cylinder rebuilds so if im going tru all of that im all about swapping and having something i can just go most autopart stores and get parts.
woek good for wifes 58 i caught the rear end on a 1/2 price day at u pick it cost 75.00 complete brakes and all had to look at a dozen or so to pick the best one . good luck LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES FOR YOU. Mark.
I just put on a scarebird kit. It was cheap, easy to do, and works great. The only think is that the hoses they have listed in their parts list are not even close to the right length - to short. I had already bought them and was re-plumbing the entire brake system anyways, so I just moved the line mounts so they would work. The large calipers (1/2 ton pickup) hot the control arm and do limit your turning radius some. I ended up using a GM master cylinder, small power booster, and pedal setup. It is from an 84' camaro parts car I had laying around and actually all bolted together. The only mods I had to make was to extend the brake pushrod, and I decided to cut the original pedal box to make a brace to eliminate firewall flex. I even used the stock mounting holes on the firewall. You do need a prop valve if you want your brakes to work correctly. This was another GM item I used from the camaro (drum brake rear car). This is the kit I have on my car that I just drove 18hrs one way to the HAMB drags. Works great.
Saw somewhere where Mopar Performance has ball joints with 1/2" or 1" extensions for use if the spindle mounts are closer than the original.
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