1967 Plymouth Barracuda Aerospace Components Disc Brake Replacement

The Aerospace four-piston calipers are made in the U.S. and designed so that the pistons retract when the brake releases. Unlike factory brakes and other aftermarket systems, the Aerospace rotor pulls the pad away from the rotor, greatly reducing friction.

The disc brake kit for our Dana 60 rear was also complete, including the necessary brackets and shims to ensure proper caliper position. Again, we found all of the parts to be top quality, and everything needed for the installation was included in the kit.

Our parts were ready in a couple of days, so we took the Barracuda to Inline Performance Specialists in Bushnell, Florida, to borrow one of their lifts. Technically, this job is of average difficulty and can be performed with basic hand tools.

We began removing the heavy factory brakes from our car, weighing everything as we took it off. Up front, one of the '73 up factory rotors weighed nearly as much as the entire Aerospace front kit.

By weighing the items we took off the car, and weighing the Aerospace kits, we calculated a savings of 50.46 pounds from the front of the car and 36.10 at the rear. At a total weight savings of 86.56 pounds, mostly unsprung weight, this conversion will definitely equate to quicker elapsed times and better front to rear weight transfer at launch.

Prior to installation, the front and rear rotors can be assembled. Be sure that all the parts are clean and use red Locktite on the fasteners.

With the rotors and calipers installed, the wheels can be bolted in place to check for any clearance issues. We actually had more clearance than the factory brakes gave us, so the wheels came back off so we could connect the lines and bleed the brakes.

In the rear, the axles must be removed so that the drum brake backing plates can be detached from the rear-end housing.....

....The rear caliper brackets can now be pre-assembled and installed with the axles.

To center the caliper over the rotor in the rear, shims are used between the axle retaining bracket and the caliper bracket. We were able to achieve perfect caliper spacing with our kit.

With the rotors and calipers installed, the wheels can be bolted in place to check for any clearance issues. We actually had more clearance....

....than the factory brakes gave us, so the wheels came back off so we could connect the lines and bleed the brakes.

To connect their calipers to your car's brake system, Aerospace Components offers flexible lines in various lengths....

.....as well as an assortment of fittings. We had no trouble finding the correct parts on their website to finish our installation.

With the lines all connected, we turned the steering from lock to lock checking for clearance, then bled the brakes using this cool vacuum bleeder. This is a simple tool, allowing one person to bleed the brakes from the calipers or wheel cylinders.

There's no doubt that in addition to saving weight and offering great performance, the Aerospace Components just look trick......

....With our installation complete, we loaded the car up and headed back to the track to see the results of our labor.

Following the Aerospace instructions, we made a couple of easy passes, accelerating to about 100 mph then braking rapidly to seat the brake pads. After re-checking all the fasteners and looking for fluid leaks, we found no problems and decided to drop the hammer.

After experimenting a little with tire pressure and burnout technique, we decided our Hoosiers needed just over ten psi and liked a moderate burnout. We knew we were likely to run quicker elapsed times than ever, but we were surprised by how much quicker.

Leaving the line conservatively with the trans-brake, our Barracuda launched hard and ran a 1.36 60-foot time, nearly a tenth better than our previous best 60-foot. Additionally, the car stopped noticeably better, giving us more confidence to race at tracks with short shutdown areas.

In far warmer weather conditions than we'd seen during our baseline passes, we made a best pass of 6.01 seconds at 117 mph in the eighth mile, with a best 60-foot time of 1.34 seconds. At more than two tenths improvement, there's no doubt these brakes not only made our Plymouth stop better, but made it faster as well. Not bad for a modification you can perform yourself in a day.