Imagine this scenerio: You put lots of money and time into restoring your Mopar, and on the maiden voyage someone turns in front of you. You slam your foot on the brake pedal, but the car actually feels likes it's going faster. Will you stop in time? Mike Paremski, who's handling the Paddock Project Charger at his shop, Michael's Auto Body in Winter Haven, Florida, had this exact thought.
To ease his mind while driving the '69 Charger, Mike decided a disc brake conversion was in order. A call to Stainless Steel Brakes Corporation procured a front (PN A156) and rear (PN A155) disc conversion kit, ensuring the car would have the stopping power of a modern-day vehicle.
Stainless Steel's conversion kits are refreshingly complete. The front comes with slotted 11-inch rotors and single piston, full floating calipers, while the rear kit consists of slotted 11-inch rotors and four piston, fixed mount calipers. In addition to the rotors and calipers, both kits include brake pads, flexible lines, wheel bearings, hardware and instructions--all the necessary ingredients to make installation as simple as possible.
Follow along with us and see for yourself how simple and effective the Stainless Steel Brakes kits are.
Normally we would start by...
Normally we would start by removing the front brake drums and all the brake components right down to the spindle. In our case, the suspension was completely removed during the car's restoration process and the drum brakes weren't reinstalled. In order to remove the old backing plate and install the new caliper mount, the two lower bolts holding the spindle to the lower control arm were removed. The new caliper mount was slid onto the spindle and new longer bolts were installed through the mount, spindle, and lower control arm. Two additional bolts were installed from the backside into pre-threaded holes in the new bracket.
One great feature of Stainless...
One great feature of Stainless Steel's front disc kit is that there isn't a need to change out the front drum spindles with disc brake spindles. With the use of a spacer sleeve (arrow) the new disc brake system fits perfectly.
Stainless Steel Brakes supplies...
Stainless Steel Brakes supplies all new Timken bearings, which we packed with disc brake-compatible grease before installing.
Here, the rotor was slid onto...
Here, the rotor was slid onto the spindle and the new bearings were installed. Don't forget to torque the retaining washer and castle nut to factory specifications.
Next, we installed the flexible...
Next, we installed the flexible brake line, brake pads, and pad retaining clips on the caliper.
To complete the front conversion,...
To complete the front conversion, the caliper bolts onto the brackets and the flexible brake line is connected to the steel line.
Moving to the back of the...
Moving to the back of the car, we started by removing the brake drum and all the old drum brake components.
In order to remove the backing...
In order to remove the backing plate, the axle must first come out. This is accomplished by removing the five axle retaining nuts through the access hole in the hub. Once these bolts are removed, the axle slides out with ease.
After being mounted and bolted...
After being mounted and bolted in place for a few decades, the backing plate can get stuck onto the axle housing. Tap it with a hammer and it will pop off.
Stainless Steel Brakes supplied...
Stainless Steel Brakes supplied us with longer studs for the axle shaft bearing retainers. These new studs need to go through the axle tube flange and the caliper brackets. The old studs can be removed by either pressing them out or knocking them out with a hammer.
Once the new studs were installed,...
Once the new studs were installed, we added a flat spacer over the end of the axle tube. This spacer takes the place of the old drum backing plate and will keep the axle shafts properly positioned in the housing.
We carefully slid the axle...
We carefully slid the axle back into the rearend housing, aligning the bearing retainer plate over the longer studs.