67 Valiant drum to disc conversion questions

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cgray521

cgray521

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So when I bought the Valiant, the seller included manual-disc spindles, calipers, and rotors. (their origin unknown). So far I have swithed to 72 Demon upper control arms with large ball joint, cleaned and painted (inspected) the rest. The parts I've been buying are from a 74 Swinger w/v8, and they all appear to be a good fit so far. But now the caliper is in front and the brake line wont reach (which one to buy?), and I have no idea what master cylinder to buy. (I will be using a Ford 8.8 drum brake rearend and adjustable proportioning valve.) Also what is the torque spec on attaching the upper control arm (a-arm) to the frame?
 

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you might want to try unbolting the lower ball joints and flipping them around on the spindles so you can swap them side to side to get the calipers in the rear....if that makes any sense at all......kinda had to explain i guess
 
For brake hoses, try a '76 Volare or '73 up Duster with disc brakes. The Duster hoses don't have a lot of slack. The Volare hoses are about 2 inches longer but they have a retaining bracket crimped on them that should be removed/trimmed as you want. You can also swap the spindle/brake assemblies side for side which puts the calipers toward the rear. Just make sure that the bleeders on the calipers are at the top. The Duster hoses will work fine for this. The master cylinder that I prefer is for a 1974 Charger with manual disc brakes. It doesn't feel like you are stepping on a rock when you apply the brakes. Never torqued the control arm bolts. I just tightened them up with 2 wrenches when the alignment was done and weight was on the suspension.....
 
in theory that makes sense but then the lower attach points for the tierods would hit the wheel, and the caliper would head inboard and not even come close to the rotor. these parts are very 'one-sided'...pun intended...lol...also the lower ball joints come as units with the arms and all and cant be mounted backside in. Thanks for input though.
 
cgray521 said:
in theory that makes sense but then the lower attach points for the tierods would hit the wheel, and the caliper would head inboard and not even come close to the rotor. these parts are very 'one-sided'...pun intended...lol...also the lower ball joints come as units with the arms and all and cant be mounted backside in. Thanks for input though.
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well shiat......seemed like a good ideah in theary i just know when i did my disc brake conversion i ended up getting my hole setup off an 81 dodge diplomat
 
ok, my apologies to Jimmy, I was over thinking this. So a side to side swap of the spindles, but the lower ball joints stay put. that actually makes sense. so log as there is no clearance issues between the lower ball joint assembly and the caliper mounting 'horseshoe', and there is no vertical suspension geometry issues as far as the upper/lower ball joint angles go. So now I guess the question is, do I HAVE to or NEED to do that, or will all be well with some longer brake lines and just leave the calipers in the front?
 
cgray521 said:
ok, my apologies to Jimmy, I was over thinking this. So a side to side swap of the spindles, but the lower ball joints stay put. that actually makes sense. so log as there is no clearance issues between the lower ball joint assembly and the caliper mounting 'horseshoe', and there is no vertical suspension geometry issues as far as the upper/lower ball joint angles go. So now I guess the question is, do I HAVE to or NEED to do that, or will all be well with some longer brake lines and just leave the calipers in the front?[/QU

in theary you should be able to leave the ball joints on the side they are supposed to be on... and just swap spindles side to side is what i was trying to say.... its worth a shot any way....i dunno
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I was just hinking about how nice it would be to have the money to just buy one of them 'bolt-on' tubular-rack-n-pinion k-members with all the bells and whistles...but we all know they are stupid expensive. I never understood how a guy could spend 4 grand on something like that...and I just figured it out. Its not the price of the parts, its the savings of the mental anguish and possible psychotic episodes involved in some parts of junkyard builds.
 
cgray521 said:
I was just hinking about how nice it would be to have the money to just buy one of them 'bolt-on' tubular-rack-n-pinion k-members with all the bells and whistles...but we all know they are stupid expensive. I never understood how a guy could spend 4 grand on something like that...and I just figured it out. Its not the price of the parts, its the savings of the mental anguish and possible psychotic episodes involved in some parts of junkyard builds.
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so true....i just make everyting for my car..hell i even fabbed up my own sheetmetal quarter panels lol
 
Ok. So anybody else gonna chime in? Still questioning which master cylinder to use. AND does anyone see a problem with leaving the calipers front mounted and using a (neatly) longer brake line?
 
I have a '69 Valiant. I put my calipers towards the front. If I am not mistaken you also have to if you are gonna run a sway bar. I know I am gonna put one on mine. You can also look at my build I have a picture on their of my master cylinder I went with a new style with adapter. Works great.
 
You'll need to use the UCA from a 73 or later A-body. Otherwise your shopping list looks good. You'll also need a MC and a brake balance valve from a '73 or later A-body as well.

I would say that you need to get the master cylinder and brake balance valve from a 73 or later disk brake car. However, I've found them on drum brake cars as well. You need to inspect what you've got to keep from buying the right stuff twice.
 
.[/QUOTE]
I would say that you need to get the master cylinder and brake balance valve from a 73 or later disk brake car. However, I've found them on drum brake cars as well. You need to inspect what you've got to keep from buying the right stuff twice.[/QUOTE]

Not to hihjack but a question, I can understand how a master cylinder would be set up for disk/drum, but the brake balance valve? I have looked at these and they just seem to be a block, no balance valve. Am I missing something?
 
I have the prop valve to go with the setup I have, but since so much is unknown about the requirements of the rearend I'm using, I am gonna use an adjustable one. The stock prop valves do look like jsut a block, but they arebiased internally. I dont know about Mopar, but the chevy ones of similar vintage have a check ball inside them. I am gonna look at that master cylinder photo (s). I'm just gonna run some lines that I guess i will make myself, up the lower-outer frame rail, then connect to the caliper from there. Not too worried about a sway bar at this time, but that stuff can even be fabricated to work just fine. I do think my lca's have the bolt-hole though. and for the other guy, the uca's I have are correct, at least the way its coming together for me so far.
 
The system I harvested for the Demon off of a 75 disk brake Valiant and the system that came on my 73 Custom, drum brakes, were the same. That included both the master cylinder and the proportioning valve. The disk brake MC is an easy spot with the front well being so much larger than the rear. The proportioning valve is a different matter. At first glance they look the same. Look closely.

You'll probably have to download the image and enlarge. I guess unless it's a hot babe or an NSFW type photo, I'm not allowed to get a large image downloaded. Good to know where our priorities lie.
 

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Yeah, swapping the spindles and everything mounted on them from side to side will work. You have to leave the Lower ball joint where it is though, it'll mount to either spindle just fine. But then you'll have the cool look and somewhat better balance in keeping the car level under braking. But you already know this. As for a master cylinder, just get a double reservoir one from a later model, you'll be fine. Good luck on it.

You actually, if you want to save money on this, don't even need the larger ball joint on top. Dr. Diff, makes a little sleeve that allows the small balljoint up top to fit in the spindle. It's about $30.
 
2 Darts said:
The system I harvested for the Demon off of a 75 disk brake Valiant and the system that came on my 73 Custom, drum brakes, were the same. That included both the master cylinder and the proportioning valve. The disk brake MC is an easy spot with the front well being so much larger than the rear. The proportioning valve is a different matter. At first glance they look the same. Look closely.

You'll probably have to download the image and enlarge. I guess unless it's a hot babe or an NSFW type photo, I'm not allowed to get a large image downloaded. Good to know where our priorities lie.
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I enlarged it but it isn't very clear. Do you have a link to the original?
 

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