Budget Big Brake Upgrade Completed

Today I took a little time to complete the Budget Big Brake upgrade on the left side of the car. Much the same as the right side, here are a couple of photos.

Larger 11.75" rotor installed:


Fully assembled with the caliper and pads reinstalled:

Brake Upgrade - Right side

Even though I got a late start today, I was able to get some work done on the Aspen. I was able to complete the budget big brake upgrade on the right side.

Budget Big Brake Upgrade

A little bit about the Budget Big Brake upgrade. The Aspen came from the factory with 10.87" front disc brakes. These were essentially the same brakes available on A-bodies (Duster, Dart, Valiant), and earlier B- and E-bodies as well as M- and J-bodies (Diplomat, Fifth Avenue, Cordoba, Imperial, Mirada) through the 80s. In the mid 70s, Chrysler's larger cars received larger 11.75" rotors. These included B- , C- and R-bodies. These 11.75" rotors are very easy to swap over to the Aspen.

From the junkyard, I snagged a pair of caliper mounting brackets from a 1980 Dodge St. Regis. I also ordered new rotors for the same car. Those are the only extra parts needed for the swap. Everything else (caliper & pads) are the same between the St. Regis and the Aspen, so I am able to reuse those parts.

Front wheel removed. Here you can see the aluminum spacer that I run to mount up the 17x8" Mustang Bullitt rims.


A straight-on shot of the stock brake rotor.


Here is a comparison shot of the 11.75" rotor from the Dodge St. Regis (left) and the 10.87" rotor from the Aspen (right).


New 11.75" rotor installed. Also replaced the wheel bearings with new.


Stock Aspen caliper and pads installed on the new 11.75" rotor.



BEFORE: Stock 10.87 rotors:

AFTER: New 11.75" rotors:


The new rotors fill out the 17" rims a little better, and should provide some additional stopping power. Tomorrow after softball I'll do the left side.

The Mailman Delivers

Much to my surprise this afternoon, the new brake rotors that I ordered arrived via UPS today. I wasn't expecting them until next Monday, so I was pleasently surprised. This means that I get to do my brake upgrade this weekend.

Here is a photo of one of the shiny new rotors:



As I get the brakes installed, I will do a more thorough write up of the modification.

Trans linkage installed

Tonight I was able to take advantage of some of the extra daylight and worked on the car. I got the hole cut in the floor to allow the linkage to go through, and mounted up the linkage pivot to the floor pan. Next up; welding up the center console brackets, installing the floor shifter, connecting the shift linkage to the transmission, and disconnecting the column shifter from the trans.

Center Console Mock Up

On Saturday, the weather turned really nice so I decided to start with one of the projects, installing the center console (picked up from eBay) and converting the car from a column-shift to a console-shift. First, out came the front bucket seats and the console my dad made for me many years ago. Then, some of the interior trim came off to gain access to the carpet. With the carpet removed, I was able to get a view into the 30+ year old floor boards.



Being a daily driver for so long, and only sitting in the arid desert climate has been good to the Party Wagon. The floor boards are in great condition. I've seen some F-bodies where the carpet was the only thing holding the floor boards together. There is just a little bit of surface rust on the passenger side floorboard, but nothing major.





I put the console in for the first mock up . I realized that I'm going to have to pull the rear portion of the carpet too, which means more interior trim will have to come out and the rear lower seat cushion will also have to come out. I'll try and get to that tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. Supposed to be light showers tomorrow. Fingers crossed.