A body Brake swap

[Andrew Lyttle]

I have a 71 plymouth duster and would like to convert to disc brakes in the front. i am not to sure what car to rape all the goodies from to do the conversion.
I found a 318 74 dart SE sadan in a junk yard. it has the disc brakes and the bigger spindal. and still has all the brake components for the swap. I just need to know if the parts will bolt on without much trouble. Also the rearend looks to be a 8 3/4 will this bolt on to my earlier a body? If not then what car should I look for to do the conversion? Thanks for the advice.
duster dude

[dewme5]

yeah, the 74 stuff will do it. just need to grab the spindle, rotor, calipers, master cylinder may as well check out the proportioning valve while you are at it.

as for the rear, if it's an a body rear, it will fit an a body (there is a little differance between the a body cuda's, and the dart/duster versions, but for your swap, it's a direct bolt in. (center section drops out of the front right?) It will however, change your drive shaft length. You are either going to have to shorten yours (about $100), or get a new one made (about $350). if you have the 2 piece drive shaft, or something smaller then 3", you should really look into just getting a new one.

[George G. Leverette]

Why not drop the K-member and all of the other suspension components do a complete R & R and replace the entire setup. You will have the spool mounts for the engine , eleminate that twisted drag link and the sway bar goes through the K-member. The rear end is probably an 8 1\4 with 10 bolts holding the oval shaped rear cover in place. If it is a 8 3\4 it would have the small bolt pattern or conversion axles, 72 was the last year for the 8 3\4 in A-bodies. Either way score the drive shaft to eleminate the locating and modifying headache. The front end brake change will also convert to the big bolt pattern wheels. This is a dooable swap that will provide better braking, easily located replacement parts and big bolt pattern wheels are easier to find. Good Luck.

[Dart]

Actually '72 was not the last year for the 8 3/4 in the A-body. I have seen 73-74's with the 8 3/4 with the large bolt pattern!! Genrally those are VERY hard to find.

One note: the track width of the '73-74 disc set up is about 1" wider so the sway bar will not work on the '71 or earlier.

Also you will need the upper control arm from the '74 as the '71 has the upper control arm with the smaller ball joint. The disc set up uses the larger ball joint.

The spool mounts are a lot easier to use and the point about the K-frame swap is right on. I swapped the whole shebang form a '73 duster to my '70 Dart. You should think about doing all of the front end (ball joints, control arm bushings etc.) while you have it apart. Don't forget to also grab the rotors (even if trashed) for cores at the parts store.

If you don't have disc now make sure that you grab the proportioning valve also. The drum one won't be correct, but it will work in a pinch. The configuration (depending on year) on the brake lines may be different, so an easy fix is to leave the one on your car and buy an adjustible proportioning valve from Mopar for the rear.

[Firelord]

Swap should work. The bolt pattern is different, but it work. One word, unless you want tyo carry two different spare tires, change out the rear axle too. It is also band brakes, but I believe the drum went up from 9 to 10 inches. You will want to get all the wheels. The rear end should be an 8 1/4". All my documentation indicates that the 8 3/4" was gone in all a bodies by 1973, but Dart may be right. It is easy to the the 8 3/4" from the 81/4" because the frist one doesn't have bolts in the back and the latter should have 10 bolts.

[AndyF]

The best disc brake swap information is at www.moparaction.com in the tech archive section. Eberg runs the 11.75 rotors on his Valiant and he runs 155 to 165 mph on the track!

This year in the One Lap he competed with our Viper conversion kit on the 11.75 rotors. Watch Mopar Action for more details on the kit.

[Andrew Lyttle]

my duster already has the original 318 will I still need the k-member? thanks again.
duster dude

[Doobiemon]

I am making the same swap on my 73 Duster. It had a six cylinder with 9 " drum brakes. I also raped a 74 Dart. You will need the upper control arms also, and new brake hoses. As far as the rear end goes, it is probably not a 8 3/4. If it is, Moser engineering makes a set of a-body axles with the large bolt pattern. My 8 3/4 is out of a 72 Duster. The axles sell for 195.00 a set, the studs , an extra 25.00 I think. I am also going with the "Green Bearing" set up, eliminating the end play adjustment, and saving around 100.00. They are on sale at Mancini Racing until the end of the month. I think I paid 78.00. That's the route I am going...good luck!

[cuda66273]

I see your from Portland also...ever get down to Woodburn?