Junkyard F body vs New A body?

-
Alecb

Alecb

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 13, 2020
Messages
83
Reaction score
83
Location
Sacramento
At my local junkyard is a 77 dodge Aspen, with disc brakes. I can get the spindles, calipers, rotors, etc for not too much money. Or I can buy a $450 kit for an A body disc brake conversion from eBay. Which would be the better deal? Budget friendly Original parts that I can refurbish? Or spend the money and get brand new parts?

mopar A B E body cuda charger disc brake conversion | eBay

2ABDBC75-809E-4F77-81E8-855AD53F47C0.jpeg
 
dano said:
Depends on the condition of the rotors and calipers?
Click to expand...
From what I could tell, there was an inch of dirt and road grime. I would get new rotors and completely take apart the calipers.
 
If you go with wrecking yard parts any auto parts store can get you parts

Customer aftermarket who knows
 
That new kit may be the way to go....by the time you buy new rotors, pads, calipers etc you will have more tied up in them...and those new parts look like mopar parts anyway. Keep in mind that kit doesn’t come with the upper control arms you need and joints....I’ll have to keep that kit in mind if it will fit a 1966. I can also get the used parts from a Volare but new sounds better as long as most of it’s over the counter stuff
 
66340SEDAN said:
That new kit may be the way to go....by the time you buy new rotors, pads, calipers etc you will have more tied up in them...and those new parts look like mopar parts anyway. Keep in mind that kit doesn’t come with the upper control arms you need and joints....I’ll have to keep that kit in mind if it will fit a 1966. I can also get the used parts from a Volare but new sounds better as long as most of it’s over the counter stuff
Click to expand...
I have a set of tapered metal sleeves that allow the small ball joints to fit in the larger hole.
 
Alecb said:
At my local junkyard is a 77 dodge Aspen, with disc brakes. I can get the spindles, calipers, rotors, etc for not too much money. Or I can buy a $450 kit for an A body disc brake conversion from eBay. Which would be the better deal? Budget friendly Original parts that I can refurbish? Or spend the money and get brand new parts?

mopar A B E body cuda charger disc brake conversion | eBay

View attachment 1715685741
Click to expand...
Ebay kit does not include upper A-Arms and Ball joints for A-body cars.
 
Alecb said:
I had that thought. It would be a good place to start
Click to expand...

Pull the rotors to be sure the spindle hubs the bearings ride on are good. I bought a set onetime and one was trashed by a ran to too long bad wheel bearing.
 
The kit looks compete and OEM.

I would ask what vehicle the parts would be from.
 
Cheaper to refurb the F body brakes. Rock auto is the cheapest way to go. Brand new bendix pistons, seal kits, pads, rotors, bearings, dust seals etc.
 
I pieced a kit together... would have been cheaper to buy a complete kit.

Go with a scare bird kit or dr diff kit.
 
Alecb said:
At my local junkyard is a 77 dodge Aspen, with disc brakes. I can get the spindles, calipers, rotors, etc for not too much money. Or I can buy a $450 kit for an A body disc brake conversion from eBay. Which would be the better deal? Budget friendly Original parts that I can refurbish? Or spend the money and get brand new parts?

mopar A B E body cuda charger disc brake conversion | eBay

View attachment 1715685741
Click to expand...

Anytime you find a FMJ car in a wrecking yard you should pull the rotors and wipe down the spindles so you can see if they are good. If the spindles are in good shape then grab the knuckles. Nothing else is worth grabbing unless the rotors are brand new. Nobody reproduces the tall FMJ knuckles so I'd grab them when you find them. Everything else can be purchased new.
 
DentalDart said:
I pieced a kit together... would have been cheaper to buy a complete kit.

Go with a scare bird kit or dr diff kit.
Click to expand...
I disagree with the ScaryBird kits. If you have something that's a still fairly common in the boneyard. A factory engineered setup, your better off with it with that than something that uses a hodgepodge of **** like Chevy Celebrity rotors that you have to redrill making them a one off, and Toyota Previa van calipers. The F body rotor also fits A and M body. Same PN from 1973-1989, ditto for the pads, , bearings, seals, hardware. 1976-1989 caliper seals, pistons etc. Ditch them SBP wheels anyways. More choices in BBP anyways.
 
Alecb said:
At my local junkyard is a 77 dodge Aspen, with disc brakes. I can get the spindles, calipers, rotors, etc for not too much money. Or I can buy a $450 kit for an A body disc brake conversion from eBay. Which would be the better deal? Budget friendly Original parts that I can refurbish? Or spend the money and get brand new parts?

mopar A B E body cuda charger disc brake conversion | eBay

View attachment 1715685741
Click to expand...

How do we know that answer? We don't know what the asking price is for the used stuff, NOR do we know what your mechanical abilities are. So this is a useless question "so far" unless you want to add some information.
 
AndyF said:
Anytime you find a FMJ car in a wrecking yard you should pull the rotors and wipe down the spindles so you can see if they are good. If the spindles are in good shape then grab the knuckles. Nothing else is worth grabbing unless the rotors are brand new. Nobody reproduces the tall FMJ knuckles so I'd grab them when you find them. Everything else can be purchased new.
Click to expand...

Spindles, caliper mounts, dust shields, and spindle nuts is typically what I grab, unless the rotors have some meat on them and can be turned.
 
moparmat2000 said:
I disagree with the ScaryBird kits. If you have something that's a still fairly common in the boneyard. A factory engineered setup, your better off with it with that than something that uses a hodgepodge of **** like Chevy Celebrity rotors that you have to redrill making them a one off, and Toyota Previa van calipers. The F body rotor also fits A and M body. Same PN from 1973-1989, ditto for the pads, , bearings, seals, hardware. 1976-1989 caliper seals, pistons etc. Ditch them SBP wheels anyways. More choices in BBP anyways.
Click to expand...

Why? You can opt for him to drill them for you. How can readily available late model disc brake parts be a bad thing? I'll wait right here. And don't give me the "cobbled together" bullshit, because those kits are very high quality. I've installed a few. Have you?
 
RustyRatRod said:
How do we know that answer? We don't know what the asking price is for the used stuff, NOR do we know what your mechanical abilities are. So this is a useless question "so far" unless you want to add some information.
Click to expand...
I’d say my mechanical skills are competent enough to take these old parts and refurbish them for my car. Spindles are $32 ea, calipers are $20 ea, brake rotors are $15 ea. I would probably do the smart thing and get new rotors and other wear parts. I’m just trying to figure out if it would be better to get brand new parts because safety, or if I can get away with junkyard parts.
 
Alecb said:
I’d say my mechanical skills are competent enough to take these old parts and refurbish them for my car. Spindles are $32 ea, calipers are $20 ea, brake rotors are $15 ea. I would probably do the smart thing and get new rotors and other wear parts. I’m just trying to figure out if it would be better to get brand new parts because safety, or if I can get away with junkyard parts.
Click to expand...

Whether you decide you want to use them or not, I would grab it ALL for those prices. JMO.
 
Alecb said:
I’d say my mechanical skills are competent enough to take these old parts and refurbish them for my car. Spindles are $32 ea, calipers are $20 ea, brake rotors are $15 ea. I would probably do the smart thing and get new rotors and other wear parts. I’m just trying to figure out if it would be better to get brand new parts because safety, or if I can get away with junkyard parts.
Click to expand...

Do the smarter thing and MEASURE those rotors. They may well still be good. Those older cars had much larger tolerances so they could well have meat left on them.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Why? You can opt for him to drill them for you. How can readily available late model disc brake parts be a bad thing? I'll wait right here. And don't give me the "cobbled together" bullshit, because those kits are very high quality. I've installed a few. Have you?
Click to expand...
I'm talking about mix n match parts from different manufacturers other than chrysler, rather than getting stuff that was designed for a chrysler product, and readily available as a direct bolt on fairly cheap. How many FMJ body cars did they make from 1976-1989 Rusty? Millions of em that's how many. The parts arent that hard to find. You said cobbled, I didnt. I said a hodgepodge of different parts. No where did I say the scarybird brackets were cheap ****. No doubt they are well made, and fine for applications where the stock disc brake upgrade parts dont exist, like putting disc brakes on a drum vehicle from the 40s or 50s.

For A bodies, the FMJ stuff fits right on as a bolt on with the right UCAs and lower ball joints, and theres less guess work for future owners as to what's there when the vehicle changes hands multiple times over the years. Toyota previa calipers and pads if I have to guess probably change design multiple times over the vehicles lifespan, and theres a pretty narrow year range to get these from. FMJ calipers on the other hand are the same from 1976-1989, ditto for everything else. This makes all those parts inexpensive and plentiful. Only reason for a scarybird conversion is staying with SBP wheels, and not wanting to pony up the cash for a harder to find KH 4 pot caliper swap. I have read with the scarybird conversion You need to upgrade to at least 14" wheels if doing that. I have heard in some cases the scarybird swap hits the inside of some 14" rims.

You mention that they will drill the rotors for you. Well thats super great and dandy when your the guy doing the kit. But 10-15 years down the road when that car has changed hands a few times, and maybe somebody now owns it and needs rotors and has no clue what they were off of, or where to get replacement ones that are drilled to fit. Rockauto, raybestos A,FMJ rotors will be around long past the time that i'm 6' under ground.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top