Front disc brake conversion (Scarebird)

lol

Well, the Fairmont M/C is the same length, within a 1/16. This Ford F150 is 8 1/8" or so. I actually have to try to put it in to see if it will fit. Maybe this weekend. The more I drive this one, the better it feels as the pads and rotors wear in. Still too soft of a pedal, though.

Hey, how did you retain the pushrod in the piston? The mechanics of it will not allow the push rod to come out of the master, which is good, but it is not right. I currently have a spring rigged up to hold the pedal down, but would prefer some sort of clip or something to keep the rod in the piston.

Keith

I've been driving it for a couple weeks while I repair my daily driver. The brakes have 'bedded in' a bit and feel much better. Still, I would not recommend the 21mm M/C for the CPP brakes as it is not as stiff as I'd like and it takes quite a bit more pedal than I like. 1" AMC M/C may be OK and I may yet try that as it is a simpler install (the M/C is the same length as the 21mm). I have not had time to trial fit the 1.065" M/C, yet.

Braking is so much better than stock! I recommend it!

I ordered the scare bird brackets and the recommended parts. Mitsu rotors, s10 calipers, caddy hoses and the 80 fairmont mc with the pedal rod.

Can someone tell me what proportion int valve to use? I'm clueless here

I used the CPP adjustable one. That way, I have a brake light switch as well.

You do know you will have to slot the holes on the Fairmont master Cylinder as it is too narrow for the studs on the firewall.

Which pedal rod did you get?

I got a mc from rock auto that came with one. Not sure how to post a pic but here's the link


http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=259339&cc=1127630&jnid=519&jpid=6

I do not know how well that will work. The Buick has a yoke/clevice whereas that has a loop. I'm sure you can make something work. I'm curious what you end up doing.

This is what I basically made:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Wilwood-33013914-Universal-Push-Rod-Kit,136383.html

The first post says that you need to replace the top bolt with a slightly longer bolt but Im finding it to be the opposite. My factory bolt is too long and bottoms out before getting anywhere close to tight against the bracket. Am I missing something here?

lol

No need to apologize! I greatly appreciate the info so far, just making sure I wasn't missing anything.

Thanks!

I'm using exactly what that parts list says and the caliper is not going on. With no caliper on I ran the bolts through and they don't clear the rotor... Beyond frustrated

It sounds like my experience. I sent them a drawing of the bracket I made so they could locate the holes correctly. Apparently, they did not use it. If you want a model and drawing of what I made, let me know and I'll send them to you. If you bolt the caliper to the bracket, does the caliper clear the bracket?

Keith

It was an area on the caliper that needed to be ground off

Flat-Foot wrote:It was an area on the caliper that needed to be ground off

I made a drawing of a bracket which would clear the GM caliper I got. Just curious, would the drawing in the link clear the caliper you bought?

GM Metric Caliper Bracket

Keith

I think so, the notch in the caliper spot looks like it would allow the stock s10 caliper to set all the way down

in case anyone was wondering.... Stock 15" wheels don't clear the caliper...... Ask me how I know!!

Time to source some different front wheels. What's the correct back spacing I should be looking for??

FlatFoot,

Did you modify the Scarebird bracket to get them to install? You mention that you ground off a pit of the caliper to fit the caliper to the bracket, but also that the bracket was causing the pins to hit the rotor.
Are you running power or manual brakes? If you are using manual brakes, what did you end up using for the pushrod?

Keith in Chicago

I'm using manual brakes, Still figuring out the pushrod.

I ground a "nub" off the caliper so it would settle all the way down and the holes would line up. The caliper bolt tolerance is really close but once the calipers were settled in it clears.

I also had to notch calipers where the line attaches so it could exit to the side and not be wedged up against the spindle.

I used a 1980 Fairmont manual disc/drum brake MC with a prop valve that has a residual valve for the rear drums. Nice deep pocket for the pushrod and a period look. Had to widen out the mounting holes a little but it fits good. Recommended by Scarebird. Pretty short. Pic is of my Cutlass which is a little different plumbing than the Buick, no light.Only had to knotch the frame flange a little.

I have the exact same proportioning valve. Glad to know it worked good for you. Has anybody run into any problems because of the way the master leans down so much? I was thinking about making a shim to level it out a little bit more.

Just wanted to post this in this thread. I have had a pulsation since I put the discs on. I was inspecting things and the LF hub is bent. Like about 0.020" at the disc.

I removed the studs like it says in the technical bulletin, drill out the head with a 9/16" drill bit and tapped them out with a mallet. The deformation was at 2 of the studs and it was in the  direction of the swage that was used to hold the drum on the hub. In other words, I could not have done it when I pressed the new studs in as it was the wrong direction. The studs came out easily with a mallet tap, so that was not really possible as a cause, either. I am trying to remedy this by setting it up on a lathe and facing, but just mentioning it here as you may want to check if you have a pulsation on hard braking.

Edit: I set this up on a mandrel in a lathe and machined the face while the hub was running on the bearings. Pulsation gone. Thinking about this more, I am guessing that someone, at some time in the past, tried to press these studs out without knowing that they were swaged from the front. It may even have been Dad or myself back 30 years ago. Regardless, I took off about 0.008 to 0.010 and it is true again.

Keith

Hi,
My 18 year old son bought a 63' Buick Skylark in November. We bought the Scarebird disk brake conversion plates, the Mitsubishi Galant rotors and the Chev S10 calipers (as recommended). Can you tell us what kind of rims to buy to fit over the calipers and on to the new rotors? Would it be rims from the S10?
Thanks for your time.

I think the S10 wheels are 5 lug so unless you convert to a 5 lug hub they won't work. I think the easiest is to go to a 15" 4 lug wheel spec'd for disk brakes. Wheel Vintiques has them available in the "Smoothie" line, primed for around $60each for a 15x7 or you can order a 15x6, need to spec backspacing. I like 15" because of the wide range of tires available, both 13" and 14" have very limited tire selections with the selection getting worse, 13" won't fit the disc brakes while there are some 14" that will. Look at 60's Mustang wheels for the 4 lug pattern and be sure to get disc brake wheels if you go that route. If you want to spend more you can get Centerline alum for about $250ea and I recently saw a posting here or on the Jetfireforum about another alum wheel in 4 lug with a nice period look for about $150ea I think. I got steel and painted them.

See the posting in On Topic, "New Wheel Sizes" further down the page. page 3 shows the alum wheels.