Aero front disc brake conversion

[MarkH]

I've been looking wishfully at Jeep front disc brake conversions for a couple years, thinking there'd never be enough demand for an Aero kit.
Called tech support at Wilwood on a whim, they had nothing for an Aero but pointed me to Mark over at https://scarebird.com/ , a company that specializes in custom designed & fabricated disc brake brackets for vintage cars that utilize current off the shelf rotors, pads & calipers.
Mark said to send a steering knuckle, spindle & hub and he'd see what he could come up with. I also included a wheel just to make sure everything would clear. Mark had me take measurements for my pedal ratio and thinks the master cylinder will work. I'll probably put a couple inline back pressure valves to keep the back pressure correct for front disc, rear drums

Just got my brackets today, they look fantastic. Here's a few photos, Marks original mock-up, my new brackets and the instructions.
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Don't know what his website price will be, we made a deal so he can keep the parts I sent (except for the trunnions)

I did a front disc brake upgrade on a '58 Healey many years ago and it improved the braking considerably.

[joefrazer]

Are you swapping in a bigger engine? I ask because the brakes on my 54 Aero were more than ample to haul the 226 equipped car to a stop in short order.

[MarkH]

The only engine modification I plan is a Brazilian dual carb head on my original 161 F-head.

I don't doubt your 226 has good brakes and mine were pretty good too. I did a brake job on my Aero when it was my daily driver in the mid 70's. I worked at a shop that did brakes, I turned the drums, fitted fresh shoes, replaced leaking wheel cylinders. I can remember standing hard on those brakes a few times and always making the stop, but closer than was comfortable.
If I ever get my car back together it's definitely going to be a driver, and now days, every car around me in traffic is going to be equipped with disc brakes. I did this in the 70's with another 50's car that came stock with 4 wheel drums that later year models were equipped with front discs. After the upgrade there was a striking improvement in braking ability. Even though that car isn't stock now, I've never regretted it.

[r1lark]

Good looking kit. I have not purchased anything from Scarebird, but I have only seen positive comments about him and his products on the HAMB forum.

[Aeroman]

Have not heard of Scarebird before, but let us all know how this works out. Jim Turner of the Studebaker Club has been selling disc brake conversions for all manner of Studebakers for many years. I wonder if he could help. Also, Ramblers used a similar set-up to the Aero, perhaps there is something there?
Glad your car is coming along, Mark. Lew Retzer sent me some recent pics of it. That's an incredible amount of work and expense for a car you've only owned for 35 years!

[MarkH]

 Thanks for the tip, I might have to do some tweaking on front/rear pressures, probably get some good pointers from him.

 Mark over at Scarebird told me the spindle bolt pattern was the same as some AMC applications. Just guessing but I suspect he wanted to trade for the steering knuckle & spindle to have on hand for a possible AMC 5 lug hub set-up for Aero customizers.
 My car has been progressing in fits & starts.......... pay as you go style. Every now & then I'll chew the fat on the phone with Lew and send him some pics just to stay in touch.
 This project has certainly made me ponder just how much it's worth to bring my rusty first car back to life. The effort and expense certainly defies any pragmatic logic. On the other hand, in 2 months I'll have had it 42yrs and have wanted to restore it since the day I got it.

[Corsairdeluxe]

The 64 ambassador backingplate hub and the whole match will fit on the henry J spindles almost like store bought. Mac Well has used this set up fof many,many miles
 It follows that if scarebird has a kit for the 64 Ambassador(he does)then it fits the Henry J.I have been aware of scarebird for a while but have not had the aoccasion to check this out.

[Corsairdeluxe]

The use of your original master cylinder poses many questions.You will need 2#check valves for the rear and at least theoretically you need to remove the check valve from your master cylinder to allow the discs to retract.HOWEVER... If your master cylinder is much lower than the discs then the fluid MAY drain back.If you leave the check valve in the master cylinder,you stand a chance of overheating and warping the discs.

Best of luck

[MarkH]

I haven't run down the details for the Aero master cylinder yet but from what I've read, most drum brake master cylinders have the check valve you mention at 10lbs back pressure to eliminate excessive pedal travel. Discs only require 2lbs, anything more and they won't completely release.
I'm thinking I'll need to remove the master cylinder BP valve if I have one, and since the MC is so low, fit an inline 2lb valve to the fronts and fit a 10lb valve to the rears.......... if the Aero drums require that pressure

I haven't searched much but if I found a dual piston MC for an Aero I'd probably go for that, bypass these issues and have a safer split system. Still may need a proportioning valve, especially with S10 calipers.

When I did this on the Healey the only thing I changed was the knuckles, spindles, brakes, bleed the system and everything worked great. Looking back, that was likely dumb luck since it was all factory parts from a very similar but later model.