Mike Pittinaro outlined a way to get the elusive
rotors for the Budd disk brake system on his website.
Simply put, Mike was able to adapt commonly
available 86-92 Toyota Supra rotors to fit the Imperial hubs.
I am in the middle of this modification with
myself, with the only difference being I am going to remove .380 instead of .400
from the hubface, to get away from some shimming issues that Mike had, though it
wasn't a huge hassle, he just installed some washers on the caliper mounts. The
main reason for all this hassle is that replacement rotors for 66-69 Budd brake
systems are made out of unobtainium, and are usually very expensive and rare. I
had reported here earlier that Stainless Steel Brakes were able to reline and
rebuild my original calipers with stainless and overhaul the pair for $418,
but you may not want to go to this expense, IF you can find a standard
overhauled set of calipers or if yours are just in good shape.I just didn't want
to put used calipers on my newly made rotors. I plan to keep my coupe, so
went a little extra on this step. I mainly went this way so my car could be more
closely kept to original, and if I need to do the brakes again, the rotors will
be cheap and the calipers already in good shape. I hope to finish the project
once I get the kids back in school from Christmas vacation, and I have some time
to find a machine shop here in central WV that can handle the machining process
of lathing off .380 from the hubface. I have heard of people using the
non-Imperial Chrysler brakes, but this requires swapping the steering knuckle,
and you will have the wheel bolt pattern issue to deal with.
Phil <><
|