Will K
New Member
Hello everyone. I'm sorry to say that in terms of my experience and knowledge I'm more Ford guy than Mopar. But I have inherited a 1960 Plymouth Valiant which was originally bought new by my great grandmother and has stayed in the family. My dad passed about 5 years ago in the midst of a brake project, and I took the parts he had acquired and put everything together after going through a bit of figuring out because he had bought wheel cylinders and brake shoes and hardware to convert to self-adjusters.
A few brake bleeding attempts later, I concluded that where I thought he had replaced the master cylinder, maybe not, because that seemed to be where it was leaking. I decided it would be a good time to upgrade to a later dual master cylinder, which I bought a new one for that purpose.
And then I decided this may be a car my son might potentially drive occasionally, and I decided to go with a Scarebird disc brake conversion. Trying to keep it low cost...
Along the way I've learned things the hard way, such as the left hand thread studs and the peened over studs that open up holes if you go brute force and press them out hydraulically, and then the difficulty of finding wheels with the 5x4" bolt circle.
I really feel like I could use someone that knows these suspensions to tell me about my options. I am going up in size to 14" wheels and I've acquired 4 steel wheels off of 1967 and 1970 Dodge Dart cars I've found in a junkyard in northern Michigan. Unfortunately one of those wheels was rusted through at the outer bead, I've gotta look for another one.
Here's where the help I need comes in: my 1960 Valiant 9" drum brake hubs are no good. I reamed out the holes and had to use studs with larger splines, but these aren't long enough to use with the disc brakes from the Scarebird conversion. I have a pair of front hubs from a 1967 Dart, but it had 10" drum brakes - so it uses larger bearings and isn't a bolt on for my 1960 spindle.
My northern Michigan junkyard has 3 or 4 early Plymouth Valiants, but I don't know if any of them will have viable hubs. I know on one car, the suspension has been removed. I know on one or two others the front end is partially embedded in the ground. Yes if I find one, that solves my issues. I'm not counting on it.
Is there any combination of parts that can bolt on from the 1967 with 10" drum brakes? (even if it means I'll have to get a different Scarebird disc brake conversion bracket) (or other options I might look for)
A few brake bleeding attempts later, I concluded that where I thought he had replaced the master cylinder, maybe not, because that seemed to be where it was leaking. I decided it would be a good time to upgrade to a later dual master cylinder, which I bought a new one for that purpose.
And then I decided this may be a car my son might potentially drive occasionally, and I decided to go with a Scarebird disc brake conversion. Trying to keep it low cost...
Along the way I've learned things the hard way, such as the left hand thread studs and the peened over studs that open up holes if you go brute force and press them out hydraulically, and then the difficulty of finding wheels with the 5x4" bolt circle.
I really feel like I could use someone that knows these suspensions to tell me about my options. I am going up in size to 14" wheels and I've acquired 4 steel wheels off of 1967 and 1970 Dodge Dart cars I've found in a junkyard in northern Michigan. Unfortunately one of those wheels was rusted through at the outer bead, I've gotta look for another one.
Here's where the help I need comes in: my 1960 Valiant 9" drum brake hubs are no good. I reamed out the holes and had to use studs with larger splines, but these aren't long enough to use with the disc brakes from the Scarebird conversion. I have a pair of front hubs from a 1967 Dart, but it had 10" drum brakes - so it uses larger bearings and isn't a bolt on for my 1960 spindle.
My northern Michigan junkyard has 3 or 4 early Plymouth Valiants, but I don't know if any of them will have viable hubs. I know on one car, the suspension has been removed. I know on one or two others the front end is partially embedded in the ground. Yes if I find one, that solves my issues. I'm not counting on it.
Is there any combination of parts that can bolt on from the 1967 with 10" drum brakes? (even if it means I'll have to get a different Scarebird disc brake conversion bracket) (or other options I might look for)
