70 Duster front drum to disc conv.

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DSTR 340

DSTR 340

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I have a 1970 Duster 340 that has manual drum brakes in the front. If I am not mistaken it should have disc brakes as the standard option. I would like to convert them back to disc brakes and was looking for suggestions on how to go about it. Is their a good after market kit that I could pick up to fix the problem. Or would I be better off finding a donor car and taking them off it. Keep in mind my car is a real H code car and I don't mind making some improvements from stock as long as they are not too radical. It’s not matching numbers but has a date code 340 block, the original heavy duty 4 speed trans and 8 3/4 rear with 3:91 gears. Oh and I want to keep the 5x4 small bolt pattern that the car has.
 
I haven't done the swap yet myself, but I'm pretty sure (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that discs weren't mandatory on your car, but were an extra cost option. Meaning your car most likely came with drums in the first place.
Secondly, if you want to keep the 5x4 bolt pattern, you will have to find a donor car with discs with the small bolt pattern. I believe all aftermarket kits are the larger bolt pattern. But again, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
You're right 70DartMike. DSTR 340's car in all liklihood came with the drum brakes. The common swap from later disc brake setups are 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern. Junkyards and the aftermarket are both sources for swap. If you don't make any changes to the rear then you end up with wheels with two different bolt patterns. You have a much smaller selection of wheels with the 4" bolt pattern. The switch to the larger bolt pattern is worthwhile, IMO.

This page over at BBDart is a good primer for the swap: http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/dbconversion.shtml

Moparts has one too but some of the "requirements" are debatable:
http://www.moparts.org/Tech/tech/pages/abody.html
 
i have a 1970 duster 340 that came with factory non power disc brakes. the factory pieces were junk on my car so I ended up taking drum spindles i had and call stainless steel brakes for there conv. the force 10 kit that allows the choice of small 4 in pattern which i have or big just a stud change on the rotors. it was like $1500 or so was a while back. and as far as wheels call coys the will make a sweet set of 17 for around 1500 with tires.
 
A 70 Duster 340 should have come standard with disc up front.
 
Thanks for the input guys. The reason I want to keep the small blot pattern is I have new cragar s/s wheels and brand new tires on her. From my research I found that all Duster 340 came with front dsic. brakes as the standard. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to make the change. Since I can see their is some debate I will see if I can find my answer by decoding my build sheet. Thanks for the help.
 
Wilwood has a kit for 10" drums that come with both the sbp and lbp patterns drilled in the rotors. I'm using this conversion on my car currently and running sbp wheels. Available from Summitt and ebay.
 
DSTR 340 said:
Thanks for the input guys. The reason I want to keep the small blot pattern is I have new cragar s/s wheels and brand new tires on her. From my research I found that all Duster 340 came with front dsic. brakes as the standard. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to make the change. Since I can see their is some debate I will see if I can find my answer by decoding my build sheet. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Not true in 1970.
 
crackedback said:
All 70 Duster 340's were suppose to have Disc up front. Same as Swinger 340's.

In 71 it was an option with drums being standard up front.
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Book it, my brother was a Chrysler saleman from 1968 - 72. Factory sales - factory order books from Chrysler show the following:

In 1970, Plymouth introduced the Duster 340 for $2,549 base MSRP, with factory standard manual(non-power assist) Kelsey-Hayes disc brakes.

In 1971, Plymouth made disc brakes on the Duster 340 an extra - cost option.
 
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