68 Cuda Convertible Brakes

[babalui56]

Re-storing a 68 cuda, Pulled the front end apart for a complete rebuild. Found Single piston claipers on the car. I want to buy a complete FE kit but i want to be sure of what I have.
Here is some data.
Front disks are 10 3/4 in @ 15/16 in thick Bolt pattern is 4 1/2 in
The A arms have a 1 5/8 hole for the upper ball joint.
The casting Number on the Caliper is KH86188 then a 339 underneath
I am looking for a caliper rebuid kit, dustshields etc. I have included pictures of said components.
So the question is what exactly do I have. Has this car been upgraded with an aftermarket kit. The manual i have show all the disc brakes to have 4 pistion claiper and the Discs are all over 11 in. Will take any help I can get.
Oh and on top of that the rear drums on the 8 3/4 rear end is 11 in drum with 2 1/2 in pad. but there were 2 " pads in there. Hmmm?

 

[cudamark]

Looks like the '70-2 B & E-body brakes.

 

[1970Duster]

You have the 73+ front in which is far superior to the 72- front end. Get yourself a set of later B Body caliper adaptors and you can run the 11.75 rotors without even changing the brake fluid. Out back, if you have the 11 by 2.5" setup, just use that setup and you'll be just fine. It will stop the car just fine with big drum and big rotors, plus its easy to do.

 

[rob_robinson87]

That is the 1973+ disc brake upgrade. If you are rebuilding the whole unit, you will need 1973 upper ball joints, 1973 disc brake lower ball joints, calipers and pads. Everything else should be 1968 unless they upgrades the center link, steering box, etc... they didn't have to.

 

[cudamark]

It's not the '73-up brakes.....those have one piece rotors. The ones in his photo are two piece.

 

[rob_robinson87]

Oh, and yours is the pin type, not the slider (like the A-bodies would have had). Here is a picture of mine with the slider calipers. Notice that I switched the spindles so my calipers are on the back. Makes room for a front sway bar. You will need F-body hoses if you do this.

 

[rob_robinson87]

hmmm.. are you sure? Can a better picture of the rotor be posted? It may just be the step down showing up like a second piece... see my photo of my rotor.

 

[hemi71x]

Looks like the '70-2 B & E-body brakes.

As cudamark stated:
Those are 1970-72 B & E body Kelsey Hayes, single piston disc brakes.
Buy, or order, your parts accordingly.

 

[rob_robinson87]

Cool, never seen a set used in a disc brake upgrade!

 

[cudamark]

Nothing wrong with them except it's getting hard to find replacement rotor plates the last time I looked. Everything else should be readily available. At one time, it was either Wagner or Century that was making a one-piece replacement rotor but I think it's been discontinued also.

 

[rednesss]

Do convertible brakes stop better than hardtop brakes???:-s:-s:-s:-s

 

[wjajr]

Do convertible brakes stop better than hardtop brakes???

Depends if the top is up or down…

Er, no ---- LOL

Braking ability is determined by size of rotor, and pad in concert with size of rotating mass of wheel and tire, and weight of vehicle. The brakes you have will be fine.

There is no difference between convertible and sedan brakes. However KH four piston disk brakes were an extra cost option over four wheel nine inch drums in ‘68.

 

[rob_robinson87]

My barracuda originally came with 10" drums all around. They had a baaaaad case of fade in traffic. I know my disc upgrade was way worth it. Too bad it took all through highschool and college before I figured that one out. It did make me drive carefully.

 

[rednesss]

Depends if the top is up or down…

Er, no ---- LOL

Braking ability is determined by size of rotor, and pad in concert with size of rotating mass of wheel and tire, and weight of vehicle. The brakes you have will be fine.

There is no difference between convertible and sedan brakes. However KH four piston disk brakes were an extra cost option over four wheel nine inch drums in ‘68.

Rhetorical

 

[2 Darts]

Do convertible brakes stop better than hardtop brakes???:-s:-s:-s:-s

:sign3: < JK

Actually they do, but not because of the brake hardware. The convertible has a greater proportion of its weight over the rear wheels. Also, the rag top model is heavier. Wagons are king in this department. (Same reasons)

 

[babalui56]

Thanks for all the responses.
So what I gather is that I have a 1970 to 72 B/E body Kelsey Hayes brakes. And I can order parts as such.
It is a 2 piece rotor. See new photo.
So that said. I have already purchase new upper control A arms because if you look at this latest picture you will see that the last nut job welded the upper ball joint to the A arms ( and poorly I might add) so I am replacing the arm and ball joint.
So here is the key question, since the hole for the ball joint is 1 5/6 inch diameter for an A body and the brake Spindle are for B/E body, what upper and lower ball joints do I order?
I still have all the parts to compare but this stuff is not sitting on shelves up here.
I assume that all the other parts will be A body.
One suggestion made by Robinson87 is that I can swap the spindles for the Sway bar to fit. There was no sway bar on the car but all the holes and brackets are there. Don’t know id there is an interference for yet, So is this actually doable? Interesting.
Again thanks for all the help and replies.

 

[cudamark]

You'll need the '73-6 A-body upper control arms and the ball joints for them. If you even think you might install a sway bar in the future, mount the spindles so the caliper is in the rear. One less change you'd have to do later.

 

[babalui56]

So I finally Figured out what is going on. By looking at the pictures you will see that the Previous nutjob used to 68 drum upper control a Arms. Blew a hole in them with a torch and welded in the upper ball joints. Sheesh. Should have picked up on this eariler.
Anyway now i have a set of A body upper contrrol armns I cant use and need a set of (As cudamark said) a set of 73 to 76 a arms. with the large ball joint (5/8 nut vs 3/8) It also looks like the spindles will reverse easily. All other parts have 5/8 nuts. Is this in line with the 68 or has this been upgrades too. Want to buy the right parts this time.
Thanks again all for the support.

 

[2 Darts]

It looks like Bubba was busy with his welder on the LCAs. The sway bar mount that is welded on is aligned for an aftermarket bar. Most aftermarket bars used a tab that attached to the lower shock mount. Your guy, to his credit, put in something a bit more substantial.

Here's what the factory sway bar tabs looked like on the LCA.

 

[BillGrissom]

Speaking of sway bar bracket add-ons, I wonder why nobody has tried bolting to the strut rod at the LCA. I know some will scream, "will bend the strut rod", but that is the way the sway bar in my 65 C body attaches and appears to be a factory design.