Disc. Brakes 1966 ?

[Anthony Dippolito]

Does anybody no how I can put Disc. brakes on my 1966 Ambass. DPL, The drums brakes are killing me,I am hoping ther are interchangeable parts from other years that will work THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP ! !

[gill66]

Yes, if you can find a donor AMC Concord 1978-1988 with disc brakes, you will have to take the whole upper control arm and lower control arm off and it will bolt right on to the 66 ambassador.
Troy

[farna]

Gill, try 79-83 Concord or Spirit brakes. The 77-78 models have something different about the rotors -- they are expensive and hard to find. I haven't been able to determine the exact difference though. There were no two wheel drive AMCs after 1983. 84-88 Eagle calipers will work, but the brackets and rotors won't.

You DO NOT need the control arms. In fact, 79-83 control arms and steering knuckles WILL NOT FIT the 66. AMC used one design for the big cars (Classic, Ambassador, Marlin, Rebel) from 1962-1969, another slightly different one for the small cars (American, Javelin, AMX) from 64-69. Earlier models used different suspensions along the same lines (big and small cars). Beginning in 1970 the front suspension was redesigned and all cars used the same design.

To put late model (79-83 Concord/Spirit/Pacer) brakes on an early car, you need to unbolt the spindles and caliper adapter. You'll also need the caliper frame (the piece that bolts to the mount), as rebuilt calipers only have the piston body assembly. All AMCs use the same bolt pattern for the spindles back to at least 1950. Bolt the late model spindles and caliper mounts to the 66 steering knuckle. You may need longer bolts, but they will bolt up. I've done several of these conversions. The only thing you really need is a banjo bolt brake line and bolt. 79-81 calipers use a Ford Escort EXP (85?) bolt and hose. 82-83 calipers are a GM design and will need a 83-88 Eagle or Jeep Cherokee hose and bolt. Alternately, you can use a 90 degree brass fitting that will screw into the caliper and mount the standard brake hose. I've done it both ways. When you use the 90, you'll need some copper sealing washers. I had to use one washer under one 90, two washers under the other to get the 90 turned where I needed it and sealed.

The 90 or banjo hose is required to clear the steering knuckle of he older cars that weren't designed with disc brakes in mind, or had the old Bendix four piston brakes (66-70). Alternately, you can use 70-72(?) AMC brake hoses, but they are getting hard to find. These have a couple inches of hard line on the brake end that can be bent to clear the knuckle. This won't work on the 82 and later GM calipers as they use a different size fitting. The older calipers use the same fitting as the drum brakes.

You can use other years of AMC discs, and 74-79 Matador brakes, but the rotors for all the others are getting expensive and hard to find. That's why I only recommend 79-83 Concord/Spirit/Pacer brakes. These also have the advantage of being able to use you drum brake master cylinder. The residual pressure valve must be removed from the front brake reservoir outlet, but otherwise the master is the same. The other years and models use a larger caliper piston which requires a larger bore master cylinder.

There are a few other little things to consider, but I'll leave it at this for now. This appears to be an old thread anyway. Not much traffic on here, but that might be because there hasn't been many AMC people about!!

[samabhi111]

Does anybody no how I can put Disc. brakes on my 1966 Ambass. DPL, The drums brakes are killing me,I am hoping ther are interchangeable parts from other years that will work THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP ! !

I don't know, it is even possible or not. I think you will have to do some major changes for that.

[farna]

Same as my previous post -- use 79-83 AMC Concord/Spirit/Pacer brakes. No modifications necessary, just swap everything from the backing plate on the drums and from the caliper bracket on the discs out.

Better yet, go to www.scarebird.com and order their AMC disc brake kit. It will work with ALL AMCs. Scarebird just makes a bracket and seal adapter. They send you a complete list of other, common auto parts store parts to complete the setup along with the original application and part numbers. You buy new GM hoses and calipers, Ford Ranger rotors and seal. Along with the cost of the Scarebird kit you end up spending just under $400 for brand new front disc brakes.

The only thing is you need to have a 1" bore master cylinder. The 66 with drum brakes has the right one. Remove the residual pressure valve from the front brake outlet of the master cylinder and you're all set! Do this by screwing a small screw 2-3 turns into the little hole in the center of the outlet. Pull straight out on the screw with a pair of pliers and the tubing seat will come out. There is a small spring and plastic (or hard rubber) piece behind the tubing seat. Remove those then push the tubing seat back in and you're all set. If you have problems with the rear brakes locking up during hard stops on wet or otherwise slick pavement, you will want to install a proportioning valve in the rear brake line. You probably won't notice it on that heavy a car (Ambassador) unless you really have to slam on the brakes hard (panic stop).

Don't worry about the reservoirs of the master cylinder being the same size. Older disc brake MCs have a larger one for the front discs so you don't have to check the fluid often -- really not at all. If you check fluid level at least once a year you're fine with the drum MC in this case. Engineers wanted to idiot proof the fluid level, so they made the front one larger to ensure you have brakes even if you never check it. Newer models often use same size reservoirs.

[mikeross]

Almost same case as mine.. I had to look for new drum brakes for my car and then it took me months to get those pieces. Really hard to find in our area.

[farna]

That's one reason the Scarebird setup is so attractive -- it uses off-the-shelf parts that are readily available. They went through a lot of time finding parts that would work then making the adapters to fit them up just right! I don't think a Scarebird disc setup would cost much more than all new drums and hardware. Roughly $400 for everything, but that's new hoses, rotors, bearings, seals, calipers and pads.

[archebald23]

yes, i cant agree more.. i have the Scarebird setup on my car, it never gave me any problem on looking for parts i need like a Control Arm, you can easily find parts.

[ema]

yes, i cant agree more.. i have the Scarebird setup on my car, it never gave me any problem on looking for parts i need like a Control Arm, you can easily find parts.

I agree with you Archebald. It's really easy to find body parts for a Scarebird setup. But it got me thinking, does that mean that they easily break down that is why they got plenty of replacements for it?

[farna]

For one thing, body parts have nothing to do with the Scarebird setup. Scarebird makes a caliper mount and a seal spacer, and uses a Ranger or Celebrity rotor and standard GM caliper and hoses. A complete list of parts with numbers and original application come with the kit. I think just the older kit uses the Ranger rotor, the newer one has a different bracket that should fit any AMC and uses a Celebrity rotor. Just let them know if the car was originally a six cylinder or V-8 and they'll send the right one.

Front suspension parts are easy enough to find for AMC applications because the same were used on many models for many years. There is an exception or two, but they break no more than any other make does. Body parts for the 66 can be hard to find as there are no reproductions and few NOS pieces, though they do pop up from time to time. If a parts car comes up and you have a place to keep it it's not a bad idea -- or get it then strip and store as much as you can before scrapping the rest.

[bibby03]

@farna, that is very informative. my friend has 1966 Ambass. DPL and he experienced difficulties looking for body parts.
______________________________________
Live a good life.~ aromatherapy candle

[farna]

You can't just go out and order parts from just about any vendor like you can for some model Ford/GM/Chrysler cars! The less popular models are more like the Ramblers. Javelin, AMX, and 66-69 American parts are easy enough to find, the others can be tough. The two best Rambler vendors are Galvin's (www.ramblerparts.com) and Blaser's (www.blaserauto.com). There are other specialty vendors like Peter Stathes (www.amcrambler.com) who have a limited number of items. You can find an AMC/Rambler vendor list at Eddie Stakes' site -- www.planethoustonamx.com.

[catwalk7382]

Antiques are always expensive.

[armandjones82]

Though an antique car is expensive, restoring it with different car parts like disc brakes and others would be very much hard to think and to ponder upon. But having it restored is a great idea at least. But be sure to check it all out if the odds will be good.

[farna]

True, and it's not really "restored" if different brakes are installed. I wouldn't consider changing the brakes if it's a valuable car in restored condition. "Restored" means back to like factory new, or at least period correct. Most use the word for any car that's put back on the road that at least looks close to original, even with major modifications (such as a modern drivetrain). One of the rodder magazines came up with "restified" for that -- a combo of restored and modified, but I digress!!

Few Ramblers are valued over $20K, most of them are more mundane sedans valued under $10K in the value guides with a few notable exceptions. So for a everyday model that's being used for a cruiser/driver the added safety of disc brakes outweighs the originality factor in my book. The original brake setup can always be stored in a safe dry place for later if/when a true restoration is desired. My 63 Classic wagon was built from the start as a driver and has several modern modifications. I don't see ever really restoring it, but I have the factory drum brakes stored anyway. The original drivetrain needed full rebuilding and was sold to someone who needed it to restore a car, but an original type could be found and installed.