Finned vs smooth brake drum

-
TAK65 said:
Two ebay vendors seem to have them.
Click to expand...
Let me pose this question. Let's just say for a minute you get industrious. You swap over some early A body disc brakes, master cylinder and proportioning valve. IF an inspection discovers it, what's the worst they'll do? Fine you? One time? If not much, it might be worth it.
 
I would however, see if anybody else has done a 10 inch conversion in a 13 inch wheel before I ordered parts and paid shipping to only find that I couldn’t use some thing, and then be stuck with it someplace where nobody else could use it either.
Though someone with 14 or 15 inch wheels would be a potential sale.
If nothing else, I do like the air ducting option.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Let me pose this question. Let's just say for a minute you get industrious. You swap over some early A body disc brakes, master cylinder and proportioning valve. IF an inspection discovers it, what's the worst they'll do? Fine you? One time? If not much, it might be worth it.
Click to expand...

A fine would be just fine :D
..no, it will fail the inspection and the only way to pass is to convert back to drums. A guy I know just did that a few years back, had a nice VW van with historic plates, converted to front discs and then converted back to drums. So no way I'll risk that.
 
TAK65 said:
A fine would be just fine :D
..no, it will fail the inspection and the only way to pass is to convert back to drums. A guy I know just did that a few years back, had a nice VW van with historic plates, converted to front discs and then converted back to drums. So no way I'll risk that.
Click to expand...
That makes zero sense since you're making the car safer for the road. Oh well.
 
9 inch

finned drums 5 on 4 inch PCD

Repro Finned Rear Brake Drum, Spring, & Clip Set : SV1-VG FITS Chrysler Valiant | eBay

finned drums 5 on 4.5 inch PCD

Repro Finned Rear Brake Drum & Spring Set VH-CM FITS Chrysler Valiant | eBay

provided drum depth is ok these will fit. Mopar in stud spaceing and centre bore
9 incn US and canadian drums fit my aussie car so aussie drums should fit a US Canadian mexican derived car

i.e the stuff that ended up in spain as local production or CKD Kits via chrysler Europe in Belgium ie spanish dodge desoto fargo.

designed for Track Pack Pacer and Charger RT in Oz
part of the gear homologated for raceing in 1970-72

the best improvment to mopar brakeing in my view is disks on the front and work on bias, either narrower rear cylinders or an upgrade to later rear brakes to get rid of the 60s duo servo design.

taller tyres bigger rolling radius at the back also helps.

let the front disks do the job properly without having to back off becasue the rears locked up in an alarming way.
your experince may differ Bitumen/TarMac highway or Concrete highway tyres water and temperature play a part

Dave
 
Last edited:
Dave999 said:
9 inch

finned drums 5 on 4 inch PCD

Repro Finned Rear Brake Drum, Spring, & Clip Set : SV1-VG FITS Chrysler Valiant | eBay

finned drums 5 on 4.5 inch PCD

Repro Finned Rear Brake Drum & Spring Set VH-CM FITS Chrysler Valiant | eBay

provided drum depth is ok these will fit. Mopar in stud spaceing and centre bore
9 incn US and canadian drums fit my aussie car so aussie drums should fit a US Canadian mexican derived car

i.e the stuff that ended up in spain as local production or CKD Kits via chrysler Europe in Belgium ie spanish dodge desoto fargo.

designed for Track Pack Pacer and Charger RT in Oz
part of the gear homologated for raceing in 1970-72

the best improvment to mopar brakeing in my view is disks on the front and work on bias, either narrower rear cylinders or an upgrade to later rear brakes to get rid of the 60s duo servo design.

taller tyres bigger rolling radius at the back also helps.

let the front disks do the job properly without having to back off becasue the rears locked up in an alarming way.
your experince may differ Bitumen/TarMac highway or Concrete highway tyres water and temperature play a part

Dave
Click to expand...


How about front drums for 9 inch ?
 
One more concern; does anyone KNOW for sure if the finned 9" front drum will fit in an early 13" rim? Not really into ordering another thing that does not fit.
 
Be very certain that the image you see is that of the actual drum, not merely a stock photo. You won't want to purchase a drum based on a photo with fins, and discover upon receipt the photo doesn't represent the actual drum. There are some Centric drums out there for sale that use the same photo for several applications.
 
TAK65 said:
One more concern; does anyone KNOW for sure if the finned 9" front drum will fit in an early 13" rim? Not really into ordering another thing that does not fit.
Click to expand...
As long as you have 3/4" or so between your current drum and wheel, you should have enough clearance.
 
TAK65 said:
Yeah, basically. When you register a car here as a "historic vehicle" it has to be pretty much as it left the factory, or at least could have done. So as a Dart was available only with 9" drum brakes in 1963, that's what I'm stuck with. They also told me I have to get rid of the back seat belts which I just stuck under the seat and pulled them back again later. And I had to get a special certificate (and pay some extra, of course) to get an approval for 185R13 radial tyres as the only option in 1963 was 6.50-13 tyres.
The reason for "historic" registration is you only need an inspection every 5 years, no emissions regulations and the insurance is very cheap.
Click to expand...
So, you can convert to a dual master cylinder, but, you can't use a later better factory braking system? Yeah, that makes sense.....
 
TAK65 said:
I think so too, but will a 10" drum fit in a 13" rim? They WILL check if the tire size matches the one on papers so I wouldn't dare putting on 14" wheels.
Click to expand...
I found that the original 1963 13" wheels don't work with the '65 and newer 10" drums. The '65 and newer 13" wheels will work with the 10" drums though. The difference in the wheels is the stamping of the center hub part of the wheel. You can tell the difference easily by the slots in the wheel. Wide slots are the early version that don't work, the narrow slots are the later ones that do work. You might be able to grind on the wheels to get clearance, but, I never tried to do that and don't know if you can gain enough to make it work or not without compromising the integrity of the wheel.
 
TAK65 said:
One more concern; does anyone KNOW for sure if the finned 9" front drum will fit in an early 13" rim? Not really into ordering another thing that does not fit.
Click to expand...
You might run into the same clearance problem that I mentioned when using early 13" wheels with the later 10" brakes. You would need to get outside measurements of both to compare and to see if you even have a chance at them working.
 
cudamark said:
So, you can convert to a dual master cylinder, but, you can't use a later better factory braking system? Yeah, that makes sense.....
Click to expand...
You're not allowed to do that either, I just took a risk assuming they'd be stupid enough not to notice.
 
bcschief said:
How about front drums for 9 inch ?
Click to expand...

here we go 9 inch for the front in 4 inch pcd
Front Brake Drum, 9" : suit AP5 AP6 VC VE VF VG FITS Chrysler Valiant | eBay

R and s Series austrlian valiant (61/62 plymouth valiants imported in kit form all US parts )
Aussie production Ap5 up to VF series used 9 inch drums with 4 inch PCD
VG was the cross over year
VH- CL used 9 inch with 4.5 inch PCD but most had disc brakes...

so if you want 9 inch drums front or rear with 4 inch PCD serach VE Valiant on australian sites

if you want 9 inch drums front or rear with 4.5 inch PCD search VH valiant on australian sites

if you want finned 9 inch drums for the rear in 4 inch PCD look up VF VG valiant Pacer

if you want finned 9 inch rear drums with 4.5 inch PCD search VH valiant charger RT R/T

if you want disk brakes for the front on a small balljoint car the easiest to fit on a small ball joint car would be aussie disk stub axles and VJ valiant rotor hub caliper and bracket the stubs hubs and rotors are mopar specific but the calipers were used on mopars and GM holden and hence are still widely available and as usual 30% cheaper from the GM shop.

an aussie disk brake stub takes small balljoint and small bearing hub.

US brackets for slider calipers bolt on, its a 3.5 inch centres mount on the stub exactly like a US stub.

most aussie stuff is mid 60s A body all they did 1970/71 was move to the bigger PCD

numerous different calipers were used
VE solid rotors unique caliper
VFVG/VH solid then vented rotors Kelsey hayse pin slider on a bracket
VJ onwards Girlock slider bracket like a claw with plates to hold on floating claiper much Like USA A M body but just different enough to ngate mix and match
later used a PBR caliper

all cars had 13 or 14 inch wheels

Valiants in Oz

loosly grouped around US content and start off close to US models

R/S 61 62 (plymouth Exner design)
Ap5 Ap6 looks like an early baracuda (A P stands for australian production versions 1-5 were fins n chrome 50s cars based on dodges.. too early to worry about)

VC 67

VD obvioulsy not used nobody wants a car with VD

the dart like bodies
VE 68
VF 69
VG 70

Unique aussie designed A body front with mid 60s B body width rear end cars

VH/CH 71
VJ Cj 74
VK 76
CL CM to the end of production in 81/82 used bigger brakes and PBR calipers

for people in countries where you need to import parts anyway..if you go hunting in Australia you will find early A body compatible parts

keep in mind total production of aussie mopar cars 61-82 amounted to about the same as 1 model year in US. small retail market = higher prices

this may have errors i live in the uK and was last in Australia 20 + years ago.... use a mid point model VE 4 inch pcd and VH 4.5 inch pcd to search.

keep in mind this is Chrylser/Mopar nobody redesigned anything unless they had to..... satellite companies in far flung places just used last years US technology unless local content rules dicated say...a local axle or a transmission....like in OZ

australian drums never had the big flared cooling skirt that some early a body US ones did

Dave
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top