Converting to Disc Brakes

I started this adventure with the intention to hold off on converting to disc brakes until it was absolutely necessary.  I figured I'd get the drums turned and buy new shoes.  Previously I had taken out the transaxle and needed to clean up the rear brakes from the oil that came out the axles and pretty much coated the entire brake drum area.  So...the bad news was they couldn't turn the drums because they were already beyond the safety specs allowed.  New drums would cost $60 a pop.  Add the cost of shoes and other misc items and now we're just over half the cost of upgrading to disc brakes.  I thought long and hard and my wife, Lord love her, she said my "safety was more important than a couple hundred dollars.  Get the new brakes!"

The rear brakes were ordered and I started to take the drums apart.  When I got to the front brakes, wow!!! And I thought the back brakes were bad.  Talk about a bucket of rust!  BTW, I bought the BugMeVideo for brakes which did a great job of pointing out that the front driver's side threads are backwards.  Righty is loosey and lefty is tighty.  Good thing I watched that video first.

Here's the rear passenger side.  You'll need a 14mm to take off the four backing plate bolts.  The new brakes comes with a new seal kit so the old gaskets get replaced along with the o rings.

The backing plate had a 11mm bolt that took off the brake line connection.  Did I mention the kit comes with new brake lines too?

You'll also need to replace the grease seal.  Here's what it looks like after you pound out the old with a screwdriver.  Make sure you clean out the little hole at the bottom with a pipe cleaner.  You can use the old seal and a block of wood in a press to put the new seal in.

The only way to mount this new bracket is at the 9 o'clock position or the 12 o'clock position.  I went with the nine.  I checked the new brake line and it seems to stretch OK to this position. What you didn't see was the effort to get everything together - new bracket, o ring, spacer, new gasket, four plate screws, etc..

Bright and shiney!  Now it's time to put on the caliper.

Two bolts and it's on, easy enough.  Notice the bleeder is on top.  THIS IS IMPORTANT.  There is a guy with a video on Youtube saying EMPI brakes are awful.  Read the fine print which says he solved the problem on the samba site.  After 15 pages I got to the part where he "solved the problem."  He installed the calibers the wrong way.  If he would have read the directions..... The only hang up at this point is the top bolt of the caliper unscrews so you can slide in the brake pads.  If the bolt washer isn't lined up right, the caliper won't close.  You won't notice this unless you are looking from the backside of the rotor.  There should only be a slight amount of resistance to close the caliper with the new brake shoes.

Finally, the adapter nut goes in the caliper before the new brake line attaches.  Failure to do this will strip the caliper.

OK, now comes the emergency brake.  Good thing I have a wire puller. : )