PHOTOS! Disc Brake Conversion

[josephmichael09]

Whats going on guys?

Every season i get closer and closer to finishing my disc brake conversion. I went through a bunch of dumb moments. We've all been there. Buying things we don't need and the wrong tool for the job, but hey, we'll probably end up using that tool later on anyways.

Here the walk through of my build and what went on.

Enjoy.

First off!!! if you're going to remove the coil make sure you take all precautions!!! Don't have your car in neutral, put the parking brake on, chock your real wheels, and put your car on jack stands!!!!!!

I started off removing the old drum brakes from the spindle (after removing the driver side drum brakes and spindle, i realized that i didn't actually have to remove the brakes for what i am trying to do). You will see what i mean later on.


I purchased a ball joint removal tool from Harbor Freight. I know i'm going to get a bunch of bull dookey about buying tools from there, but sometimes you make due with what you got. GIven the chance i'd probably buy a better quality tool. The tool felt very sketchy as if it were going to brake or slip off and cause an accident.


For the upper ball joint, the ball joint removal tool worked better than the pickle fork IMO(in my opinion).


Also, make sure you remove the lower bolt from the shock absorber. I did mine after removing the upper. Learn from my mistakes guys!

[josephmichael09]

After separating the upper ball joint from the steering/knuckle I shot the upper shaft bolts with a penetrating oil and backed out the nuts



Make sure you put the shims in the same exact place and orientation back on the studs as not to mix them up...

[josephmichael09]

Just my luck. Not sure if this was my fault of if they were already cracked. My Guess is " my fault." When i had the jack underneath the lower control arm. I did not lift the jack enough and when the upper ball joint broke free, i heard a bang. Well... this is what bang looks like. Regardless, i will be putting in brand new springs.

[josephmichael09]

You'll soon learn what i mean by "Just my luck."

"Hey, how about you separate the lower ball joint first?" Yea... yea... I got it next time.

So next time, how about you separate the bottom ball joint first eh? Don't do what i did.

[josephmichael09]

Here's a peek at the drop spindle kiti got in from ECE(Early classic Enterprise).
This is the mounting bracket for the brake booster. This is what you see from inside the cab.

This is the side of the bracket you see from inside the engine bay.

Boom baby!! That's the beast of a booster.

[josephmichael09]

This is a pretty nice feature from the kit i purchased. The pre-bent break lines are labeled. Not sure about the fitment but we'll soon see

[josephmichael09]

Alright, back to the grease!
This is behind the passenger side brake assembly with the tie rod removed. There is a bracket that needs to be removed to get to the lower ball joint with the pickle fork.

Same view. Better lighting.

[josephmichael09]

I don't have any pictures of the u-bolts holding the lower shaft assembly or removing the steering components, but i'm sure you guys got it.

[josephmichael09]

This is what you need to remove the rivets out of the upper control arm. Drill bit, some lubricating oil so your bit doesn't overheat, a cold chisel, and a chase punch.

Drill out the center of the heads being careful not to damage the control arm.

Then take the chisel and beat the effin- ish out the head of the rivet.
Finally, you take a chase punch and chase out the stupid piece of shhhhh.....tuff through the hole and remove the upper ball joint

[josephmichael09]

I wanted to get out of the grease after dealing with the removing the ball joints from the control arms. So I decided to paint the firewall behind the booster and paint the Booster itself. The booster got a bunch of little specs of stuff on them. I honestly think it was because of the primer can sprayer tip getting clogged and started spewing clumps.

You can see how nice the flat black looks behind the booster. I'm wondering if that's a good idea considering that flat black shows up more imperfections (What do you guys think?)

I'm beginning prep on upper control arms.
I wire wheeled them to remove any loose paint, dirt, and grease. Then, soaked them for a day in a water vinegar solution

[josephmichael09]

This is how the uppers looked after the vinegar bath. I'd say it looks pretty darn good!


This is the primer i am using. Nothing special. I'm pretty sure you guys have a different approach here. Let me hear your ideas.

[josephmichael09]

I strung an extension cord from my facia board to the fence and boom. Spray painting line.

After paint i hung them in the garage to dry!

[josephmichael09]

Sorry for the dark photo. This is the fire wall after i wire wheeled and painted the underside.

Everything was sprayed with a flat black. I am not too concerned with the finish as this is the underside of the vehicle

[josephmichael09]

I'll worry about changing out the shocks later. Until then, this is what's happening.

[josephmichael09]

Everything is beginning to come together.

[josephmichael09]

Here are the lower control arms with staged lower ball joint and shaft. They are not fastened to the lower control arm yet.



The pictures from here and before were all over the course of several months of having time and the finances. From here on forward is from this weekend on(11/6/2015)

[josephmichael09]

Alright so we are now caught up! Now i can focus on the truck again. That is until the holidays pass over.

One thing about the lower control arms that is different from the uppers is that i had them sandblasted. I did not get a photo, but i had a friend of mine sandblast them at his job. I don't know too much about cleaning after sandblasting, but i think i will do fine. I just needed them primered before the rain this weekend so that they don't begin to rust.
And that is what you see here. Hopefully the weather is a bit more forgiving next weekend.

I didn't take as many pictures here due to the greasyness ,but if you buy the kit, open it up and try this rebuild yourself, it's pretty explanatory.

Here are both assemblies. The castle nuts are not tightened to spec.

I just ordered the springs and still need to order the u-bolts for the lower shaft. I need a bit of help about the u-bolts. I would like to search the internet for an alternate solution. I feel like the automotive industry are stealing from us by selling 2 u-bolts for $20.00.

Once my springs come in and i buy the u-bolts, i'll be able to attach the lower control arm and bring it all together. Then run my brake lines, bleed the master, purchase new tie rod ends and sleeve, and do a final check to wrap up some loose ends.

[Chevy Fleetside]

http://www.classicparts.com/1967-91-.../#.Vj-TyF5dHX4 $7.95 . These are the later model ones that are bigger. You can drill your holes bigger and use these or you can order the stock ones for $4.95 here http://www.classicparts.com/1963-66-.../#.Vj-UJF5dHX4

[Indian113]

Keep up the Good Work and Pictures! Thanks

[slepysal]

Good job !! I used the same HB tool when I did mine. It worked like a charm .

[Northwest Outlaw]

getting ready to do this for my '61, following for inspiration and information

[josephmichael09]

Originally Posted by Northwest Outlaw

getting ready to do this for my '61, following for inspiration and information

Right on man!!! Nearly all of the information that I got was from user sixTsix. He helped out with all of my questions... You should check out his suspension build. Early classic enterprise has some pretty nice kits. Comes with everything you need!

I'm going to be posting pictures of where I am currently at... I just ran my brake lines, and honestly I'm not to satisfied with it so I'll most likely rerun my lines. Just a heads up: having a tube bender and double flare tool and knowing how to use them really helps out in this part of the process...

[Northwest Outlaw]

Originally Posted by josephmichael09

Right on man!!! Nearly all of the information that I got was from user sixTsix. He helped out with all of my questions... You should check out his suspension build. Early classic enterprise has some pretty nice kits. Comes with everything you need!

I'm going to be posting pictures of where I am currently at... I just ran my brake lines, and honestly I'm not to satisfied with it so I'll most likely rerun my lines. Just a heads up: having a tube bender and double flare tool and knowing how to use them really helps out in this part of the process...

I got the McGaughys disc conversion and spindles kit all together, sitting next the Boomstick waiting for my nerves to build up and actually start. The brake lines are what i'm worried most about, and the '76 MC and booster i'll be hooking them up to. But, why else did i start this project!

[61_FL_Apache]

Great write up.. Never thought of the vinegar and water solution for cleaning up parts. What was the ratio of the mix?

[garmar]

Great writeup!