Disk brake help

[Thanos]

So after being sick with a respiratory infection for 3 weeks, not to mention the 40 an below rainy weather, I finally felt well enough to work on the Demon again. I'm tearing into the front end but I need some help identifying/ advice on the front brakes. I don't know if this was a conversion to disk or if its original. This 71 Demon originally had a 225 with A/C now a 318 (I had to find a vacuum tree and heater valve to get the vents working and heater works properly so I do have the port to add in a booster), small bolt pattern with all right hand bolts (lucky for me it was engraved on the wheel nuts). Rear drum brakes size at this time unknown. I think the disks are 11" disks but I could be wrong. Its hard to measure them on the car. Did these come original to this car? It does not have a booster. The disks look to be in good shape and the pads have plenty of meat on them. I'm looking at doing a front end rebuild with a PST Polygraphite Super Front End Kit ($439.00) from ebay and I don't want to run into any trouble. I have done a rebuild like this before but it was on my unmolested 70 Duster with all drum. Pic shows what I'm working with, I sprayed it all down with Liquid Wrench.

Thoughts? Advise please.

 

[Thanos]

Ok well I'm gonna tear into it this weekend. I already ordered the parts and will deal with problems as they come up. I already found the upper ball joints are loose and someone removed the outer cams on the upper arms. Oddly enough I found the cams in the ledge forward of the upper arms, same as with my Duster. I wonder if this was some regular practice on these cars? All the other rubber from the dust covers on all tie rods/ball joints to the forward strut/ lower arms are rotten. But luckily no metal degradation like on my Duster. No fill welding needed.
I don't have a front sway bar to deal with. I know this is off topic for brakes but can anybody recommend a sway bar for a stock Demon/ Duster? While I'm in here Id rather just do the upgrade.
And while I'm on the subject of brakes can anyone suggest a booster or what I need to do to add one in for a car with disk without booster? I have looked over the rear and there seems to be a check valve of sorts for the rear drums. I'm really flying blind here. If I have to buy redundant parts I don't mind. I want this car safe for my wife to drive if she needs to. Sounds crazy but I want her to be able to drive it if she needs to with the ease of a modern car. Yes I still love her more than my Demon even if she doesn't think so.

 

[Ree.e]

I did a front end job on my 71 Demon a year and half ago or so. My car had gone through some changes before I got it too. Had a different K member. The kit I got had some wrong parts because I ordered for a "71". The k member was from a 73 up. If you tack front pads to parts store ( how I found out what I had) and ask for 71 and they don't fit ask to compare to 73. I would do this before ordering kit... There is probably another way to figure but I am newer into this too.

 

[Ree.e]

I am also going to order front sway bar from pst. I have seen power booster kits at summit. Come with booster , master cylinder and proportions get valve. And whatever else needed.

 

[mvh]

Those would not be the original brakes. A 1971 with disks would have the 4-piston Kelsey-Hays calipers, and your slant six car would probably have had drums. Those look like the 73-up brakes, and I'm pretty sure they are large bolt pattern.

Since they seem to be mounted toward the front of the wheel, normal A-body sway bars probably won't fit. The 73-up A-bodies had a different sway bar design and a different K-frame. This is the problem you get with swapping parts. You can reverse these to mount toward the rear by switching side to side. Then a 67-72 sway bar would fit. I like the Hellwig hollow bar.

 

[mvh]

The power brake booster is just something you add behind the master cylinder. It does require a different push rod. And the vacuum hose, of course.

 

[BillGrissom]

Most people w/ front disks like a power booster, as even tiny cars today have. Cheapest is a $140 setup on ebay. Used isn't very wise since factory boosters are getting rare and hard to rebuild. Some here are OK w/ a manual MC. If so, the smallest bore you can find is best (15/16"D). You can also install a later 2-bolt aluminum MC if you use a $30 adapter plate (ebay). I put an MC (ABS) from a 95-99 Breeze on my 64 Valiant and the pedal wound up in the same place (search for photos).

 

[Thanos]

Thanks for all the advise. OK seems I really need to determine if I indeed have a 73 set up, that's how its looking.
The only reason I thought this was a small bolt pattern is because I was tire shopping and the guy mentioned if I wanted bigger tires for rear I'd need to go to a 15" rim and I had a small bolt pattern. Apparently Goodrich doesn't make the 255/r14/50's that I had on my Duster anymore. What are the measurements between bolts on LBP and SBP?
I didn't know I could move the calipers to rear of wheel. Is it a simple swap of Left to right or is more involved and is there any advantage other than I can add a sway bar?

 

[TrailBeast]

Moving the calipers will locate the bleeders to the bottom of the caliper requiring they be removed from their brackets for bleeding (but it does work for adding a sway bar)
You have to swap the brackets from one side to the other to do this as well.

The 72 and down OEM K member has a opening through the front of it for the sway bar to pass through, and this is an easy way to tell what K you have even if the motor mounts have been changed to the newer type.

Those look like 73+ BBP brakes to me, and this is how you measure wheel stud patterns.

I hope the caliper in the picture is loose from the hub, because it's out of place the way it sits.

 

[Thanos]

Moving the calipers will locate the bleeders to the bottom of the caliper requiring they be removed from their brackets for bleeding (but it does work for adding a sway bar)
You have to swap the brackets from one side to the other to do this as well.

The 72 and down OEM K member has a opening through the front of it for the sway bar to pass through, and this is an easy way to tell what K you have even if the motor mounts have been changed to the newer type.

Those look like 73+ BBP brakes to me, and this is how you measure wheel stud patterns.

I hope the caliper in the picture is loose from the hub, because it's out of place the way it sits.

Yeah those are still bolted on. Problem? I don't mind starting all over on a rebuild as long as its right. There is a channel that runs thru the front of the K member. :???: Seems I need to do some actual tearing down and running to the parts store. I cancelled the PST kit until I can figure what I have. As it sits now it goes straight with no pull and brakes function well so something must be right. Upper ball joints are defiantly worn and all boots are torn. Bushings are all dry and cracked. Looks like my "weekend job" it gonna turn into a few weekends. Ill just start with the bushings and work my way out from there. Thanks everyone!

 

[Thanos]

Just wanted to update. Its all done! Yup, somebody had done a upgrade on this. The front was a 73 an up. Went with the PST kit with all rubber bushings. All went well until the passenger side...I noticed when taking off the passenger disk there were 2 washers on the spindle. THAT was because the inner bearing seal was missing. Had to make an emergency trip to 3 part stores for the inner, then outer bearings and another for the seal. Had to cut inner bearing off spindle. Rear was also changed out. Had 10x1/2" shoes. Next day I got in the new calipers and rear brake cylinders with spring kit. Got a master cylinder that was suppose to have a bleed kit (but didn't). Used a whole 32 ounce bottle of brake fluid to flush and bleed but brakes work excellent now. I also found a few aftermarket sway bars that will work with my setup but haven't bought yet.