Front Disk Brakes: B-body vs E-body

[onebad440]

Has anyone installed large front disk brakes on the front of a 71 B-body? The only ones I can find are Wilwood and Stainless Steel Brakes, and both of those kits are 11" rotors which is too small for my application.

Baer Brakes lists a 13" kit for the 71 E-body but no one there can tell me what the difference is between the mounting for an E versus B-body. They dont have any listing for the B-body in 1971.

Wilwood's front kit shows the same part number for both the E and B-body application. How can Baer's kit not be "universal" between the two?

Can someone tell me if there are any differences? I cant find part numbers for the steering knuckles to see if they are the exact same. I'm tempted to buy one and see what the differences are in person.

thanks!!!!

[CrazyMoparGirl]

http://www.moparaction.com/Tech/arch...arts_list.html

Try that link, it should help you out

[AndyF]

I have 13 inch Viper rotors and calipers on my B body so sure, it can be done. The easy way to get 11.75 rotors is to use the '73 or later A body disc brake knuckles. Then use factory calipers or you can use one of my kits to put either Wilwood or Viper calipers onto that rotor.

If 11.75 isn't big enough for you then you'll need to go with the Baer kit or something custom. Baer makes good parts but they don't know diddly about Mopars. They don't even know what vehicles their kit will fit!

Andy from ARengineering.com

[dave571]

I'm pretty sure it was baer who told me there was no rear disc kit for my van.

They do show kits for the rear of some of the car applications(I think)

I guess they didn't/don't know that the backing plate mounting on the 8 1/4 and 8 3/4 are the same, regardless of what body it's in.

[onebad440]

thanks for the feedback everyone. the article in Mopar Action was very helpful.

AndyF... do you have a link to a site that would show info or details about the kits you mentioned you have? I'd also like to see a pic of the Viper gear on your 71.

thanks.

[72Challenger]

AndyF,

Now you're confusing me. In an earlier post you stated that the A-body drum brake spindles were required for the Viper caliper conversion because of the mounting bolt pattern, now you say the disc brake spindle will work. Please clarify.

Also, what does it take to use the Viper rotors?

[AndyF]

Sorry for any confusion, it is just that there are several ways to do these things. The Viper kit that we sell uses '73 or later drum brake knuckles with 11.75 rotors. The Wilwood kit uses '73 or later disc knuckles.

The Viper setup that I built for my car uses a custom hub in order to correctly locate the Viper rotor. We do not sell this as a kit since it would be too expensive for this market.

The point is that there is a lot of interchangability when working on Mopar musclecar front suspensions. Basically anything from '62 to '72 will interchange and many items up until the RWD cars were all gone will interchange.

I still recommend the '73 to '76 A body setup as the best factory brakes, especially when outfitted with the bigger 11.75 rotors. If you want more than that then call us or Baer. Or if you have a lot of money call Brembo!

www.ARengineering.com

[onebad440]

thanks for the update and confusion buster. The link provided earlier for the Mopar Action site shows tons of part numbers and interchange items.

I will check out your site tonight when I get home.

I checked out Brembo and had no luck for a package kit. Baer or Brembo (one of the two) had a nice set of rotors only, but that sticks me with the stock caliper.

I think I'm going to find out the difference between the 71 B body and E body knuckles. From there I think I can adapt the Baer kit unless I see something hot on your site.

Do you have a pic of your set up with the Viper calipers and rotors? I'd just be curious to see how it looks and also what your wheel and tire combo is.

thanks.

[AndyF]

Sure, there are some pictures on my site of the Viper stuff on my car. I'm running custom built Fikse rims on my car. 17x10 in the rear, 17x8 up front.

[cuda66273]

Andy...I'm going through Woodburn this morning ...you got to meet for a few minutes?

Don