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68 American disc brake upgrade |
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jdarosa
AMC Nut Joined: Oct/31/2014 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 264 |
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Posted: Aug/04/2021 at 11:09am |
Hey everyone. Just picked up a 68 American 440 4dr, 4 wheel drums.
I want to upgrade to disc brakes, either Scarebird (easy to find replacement parts, expensive) or source from an AMC (harder to find). The car currently has 14” steel wheels. Do I need to go up to 15” for front discs? Thank you in advance. Jeremy in Oregon
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1968 American 440 – 232/AT 4dr
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Trader
AMC Addicted Joined: May/15/2018 Location: Ontario Status: Offline Points: 6916 |
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There is also this package that will fit your 14" rims.
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tomj
AMC Addicted Joined: Jan/27/2010 Location: earth Status: Offline Points: 7555 |
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Scarebird should work fine with 14" wheels.
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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5 http://www.ramblerLore.com |
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jdarosa
AMC Nut Joined: Oct/31/2014 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 264 |
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Thanks Trader and Tomj. Went with the scarebird kit and their hubs.
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1968 American 440 – 232/AT 4dr
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Hemirambler
AMC Apprentice Joined: Jan/18/2012 Location: Ohio Status: Offline Points: 197 |
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Just for reference, I swapped discs onto my '64 American from an '81 Concord. I was AMAZED how easy it was. Pretty much a complete bolt on. The only "modification" (if you could even call it that) was I had to file a small notch into the brake hose tab so I could use the disc brake hoses. Talk about simple and all AMC parts. I bought the complete spindle assy as the spindles are a tad longer for disc brakes, but how cool that the AMC engineers used bolt on spindles. Made it so nice to upgrade.
Jacin in Ohio
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1964 American Convertible (stock)
1964 American Hardtop (Not Stock) |
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farna
Supporter of TheAMCForum Moderator Lost Dealership Project Joined: Jul/08/2007 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 19692 |
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Using AMC parts from a 79-83 Concord or Spirit (or Pacer) is fine, but rotors are getting hard to find and prices will go up accordingly. 81-83 are the best -- Delco low drag calipers. All 79-83 use the same rotors. This is why I recommend the Scarebird kit. It also uses a Delco (GM, Chevy I think is specified) low drag caliper. 79-80 use a Bendix sliding caliper... actually what I have on my car. The Scarebird kit wasn't available when I converted mine in 2000. I've installed the Scarebird kit on a couple cars since then for others.
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Frank Swygert
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SKIDSEL
AMC Fan Joined: Aug/10/2021 Location: New Freedom PA Status: Offline Points: 1 |
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Have you used/installed this AMC Lives brake conversion kit. A couple of the upgraded components were shipped to me without the "upgrade", tt seems like one of the spindles wasn't machined correctly as the rotor won't fit perfectly on the spindle - could also be the bearing, also the installation bolts were too short.
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jdarosa
AMC Nut Joined: Oct/31/2014 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 264 |
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No I did not…although I thought about it. I ended up going with the Scarebird kit. Getting to the install soon. That sounds…not good.
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1968 American 440 – 232/AT 4dr
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