Help Me with Complete Brake Replacement Please

[rarichard]

I have a 74 swinger /6 that I need to completely change the brakes on. currently has the small bolt pattern drums all around. What is the most cost effective way to get this done? Where should I source the drums, shoes, cylinders from? I also need to replace all the brake lines, so where should I get them?

Or, is this a time to do a disc brake swap for almost the same price? I don't know. I bought the car last year to go to cruise nights with my dad and want to safely bring my 4 and 6 year old out to the shows too. Any help is appreciated. here is the car in question:

 

[Vs29H1B]

One recommendation:

If you decide you want to go large bolt pattern, contact Doctor Diff (his name is Cass) and he can fix you up with everything you need for the conversion.


Try this website for Dr Diff's contact info.:

http://www.doctordiff.com/


If you stick with the SBP, try Rock Auto.

 

[RustyRatRod]

If you intend on keeping the car a slant six, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to throw money away on a disc brake swap, IMO. Those cars are so light and the engine will not accelerate fast enough to need anymore brakes than it does right now.

I did brakes for YEARS on literally everything imaginable under the sun. The one piece of advice I can give you that's better than any other BS is, do ONE side of each axle at the time. In other words, do the right front, then the left front and the rear the same way. This way, you have an assembled pattern to go by all the time when reassembling. Not a thing wrong with a good drum brake system. They've been used for over 100 years and are still used today. In good shape they work well.

 

[VDART]

the 9" brakes with the finned drums & dual m/c are much better than the single pot 60's cars-- I sold a 73 or so duster with these & it would stop very nicely compared to the earlier version. Lawrence

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

the 9" brakes with the finned drums & dual m/c are much better than the single pot 60's cars-- I sold a 73 or so duster with these & it would stop very nicely compared to the earlier version. Lawrence

1974 would have 10" drums even on the drum brakes.

 

[rarichard]

I will make sure to measure to be sure but for now the car still isn't out from the cover yet. I definitely plan on keeping the slant six as is so if drum brakes are cheaper that will probably what I will do, obviously keeping the SBP at the same time. I did check Rockauto and Raybestos branded drums were basicly 30 ish with shoes at 15 ish and other parts pretty cheap too. I will probably try to do the brakes myself.

For brake lines should I buy a pre-bent kit or just have them bent on site? Should I be worried about the MC situation at all since everything else will be new? thanks for the help

 

[BillGrissom]

If you do have 10" drums, you are luckier than me since they don't make SBP rear drums for my 1965. Rockauto shows rear drums for 1974, but 2.5" wide. I recall mine are 1.75" wide. They don't list front 10" drums. Yours must be wider than mine. Indeed, your rears might work as my fronts. I think you will have plenty of braking and with everything new and clean, it should brake evenly, not the horror stories some report of bad drum brakes (i.e. poorly maintained).

Insure you install the shoes correctly. Check if some have shorter linings. If so, they go on the fwd side of each wheel. If you miss this detail, it will pull to one side. You might consider switching to DOT 5 silicone fluid, like me, and your days of rusty internals will be over. Great for an occasional cruise car.

The cheapest disk conversion is Scarebird's. Only ~$110 for a set of plates to mount calipers. You buy the common Toyota and GM parts locally or ebay. I think they make one for your 10" drum spindles, so nothing difficult to change, just a bolt-on.