Does Your Mopar Need Bigger Brakes?

  picture by Christian Arriero

By Johnny Hunkins

Does Your Mopar Need Bigger Brakes?

With the gentrification of old cars that began in the 1980s and continues today, many vehicles that were considered junk before are now—because of their affordability—are seeing the performance spotlight. So, while one might expect a 1970 ’Cuda to be a good candidate for a disc brake upgrade, it might not be so obvious for a more utilitarian car like a same-year, Slant Six Duster.

Does your Mopar need a complete four-wheel disc brake conversion?

That depends. For those who prize originality or rarity, and expensive disc brake conversion or upgrade package may have the effect of lowering the value of a car. That said, restoring a vintage brake system to acceptable operation with all NOS parts may not be easy, cheap, or fun. And even if you don’t mind the hassle of restoring vintage brakes, it's likely you will not enjoy their performance. 

This route is clearly for the prized classic that is seldom driven, and even then, don’t expect it to stop as quickly as the beater Toyota in your driveway.

Just up the ladder from stock brakes are more modestly priced disc brake conversion with calipers having one or two pistons. Besides doing a better job stopping than drums, discs effectively even out the imbalance between the left and right sides. People who swap from drums to discs almost unanimously report straighter braking performance, a big confidence booster.

While there are many companies that offer entry-level disc brake conversions, often kitted together from proven OE parts, a much smaller cadre of companies offer what can be described as maximum-effort street systems and pro-level race setups. Costing thousands of dollars, they represent a big investment in any ride, and in occupant safety.

Baer Racing has been building these kinds of brake kits for 30 years and has.

01 Baer’s Pro+ 6P kit, shown installed on the front of Christian Arriero’s 1974 Plymouth Duster.

At a glance: 1974Ply mouth Duster brake system

• Baer Remaster master cylinder (part No. 6801298RP, $395)—Direct-fit replacement for the stock Mopar master cylinder, available in 15⁄16-, 1-, and 1 1 ⁄8-inch bore diameters. Chris’ car has a 15 ⁄16-inch-diameter unit for unassisted manual brakes. 

• Baer 14-inch Pro+ 6P front brake system (part No. 4261270, $2,445)— Six-piston, 6P calipers with 14-inch, two-piece, slotted, drilled, zinc plated rotors. D.O.T-compliant dust and weather seals and uses the common D0731-type pad. Includes billet aluminum hubs with prepacked premium bearings and synthetic lube. Will fit inside Chris’ front 18x10-inch Weld wheels.

• Baer 13-inch Pro+ 6P rear brake system (part No. 4262149, $2,395)—Six-piston calipers with 13-inch, two-piece slotted, drilled,zinc-plated rotors.

Same 6P calipers a front system. All 6P rotors are preassembled with NAS high-grade stainless hardware. The unique backing plate acts as a caliper mount and also houses a one-piece park brake shoe assembly. Stainless braided hoses are also included. Easily fits inside Chris’ rear 18x11.5-inch Weld wheels.

02 Baer’s 6P brake systems fall in the middle of offerings by the company, and both the front and rear kits are represented in this photo. All Baer’s kit components are made in-house at the company’s Phoenix, Arizona headquarters, or are sourced within the USA. We’ve installed Baer kits before, and we like how everything is included in the kit, right down to the last fastener.

03 At first, it may be hard to recognize what’s part of the Baer 6Pkit, and what is part of the Reilly

Motorsports Alter King Coilover previously installed. The spindle shown is from RMS and is based

on a MustangII design. (For this reason, the kit part number showed in this story is different than one for

Mopar-Body with a true Chrysler spindle.) For this kit, there are two caliper brackets, one to mate to the

Mustang II spindle (shown), and one to mount the caliper to this innermost bracket. Why this is the

case will become apparent shortly.

04-05 It’s critical for the included bracket mounting bolts to get a dose of blue Permatex Threadlocker.

These get torque to dto70ft-lb.

Sources

Baer; 602.233.1411; baer.com

WeldWheels; 800.788.9353;

weldwheels.com