I have a early 1983 I bought it with 72k mi. Use the car to commute into work occasionally and drive the heck out of it. Quickly found out the old Dunlops did not have what it takes in traffic around Houston. I did the brake conversion. I went with the larger on from Steel Tech. I will not get into the pros and cons of who's is better but I will tell you it took about 6 weeks to get and not everything came in at once. Quality I was happy with. I have put 5k miles on them and have been happy. If you have any play in the kingpins I will tell you that bigger brakes will let you know it is there. I just wish for a lighter assembly but did not have the time to fab up stuff as others have done.
I am getting some pulling to one side now I believe one of the reman calipers is sticking. Will look more into that.
I would suggest doing 2 things when installing this kit.
1) do not use the lock washers provided to secure the adaptor bracket to the kingpin. These are "pre failures" in the racing world and you do not get enough grip length out of the bolt. Use a lock washer that is known as a British Lock, which has a smooth outer ring with serrated teeth that point inward to the bolt. Do this along with loctite. Or just use the bolt with the nut and loctite.
2) Before installing the adaptor bracket get a 45° 1/8npt grease fitting for each side and install on the lower rear of the kingpin as the straight fitting that is there is inaccessable once the bracket is on. It will need to be located at the 4 o'clock position for the left side and 8 o'clock for the right side.
Oh and finally the bracket/caliper have a very close clearance to the rim so watch where you put stick on wheel weights as they may come quickly off when you get the car back on the ground. Don't ask me how I know this.....
Front Brake Conversion
in 1965-83 Avanti
Posted
I have a early 1983 I bought it with 72k mi. Use the car to commute into work occasionally and drive the heck out of it. Quickly found out the old Dunlops did not have what it takes in traffic around Houston. I did the brake conversion. I went with the larger on from Steel Tech. I will not get into the pros and cons of who's is better but I will tell you it took about 6 weeks to get and not everything came in at once. Quality I was happy with. I have put 5k miles on them and have been happy. If you have any play in the kingpins I will tell you that bigger brakes will let you know it is there. I just wish for a lighter assembly but did not have the time to fab up stuff as others have done.
I am getting some pulling to one side now I believe one of the reman calipers is sticking. Will look more into that.
I would suggest doing 2 things when installing this kit.
1) do not use the lock washers provided to secure the adaptor bracket to the kingpin. These are "pre failures" in the racing world and you do not get enough grip length out of the bolt. Use a lock washer that is known as a British Lock, which has a smooth outer ring with serrated teeth that point inward to the bolt. Do this along with loctite. Or just use the bolt with the nut and loctite.
2) Before installing the adaptor bracket get a 45° 1/8npt grease fitting for each side and install on the lower rear of the kingpin as the straight fitting that is there is inaccessable once the bracket is on. It will need to be located at the 4 o'clock position for the left side and 8 o'clock for the right side.
Oh and finally the bracket/caliper have a very close clearance to the rim so watch where you put stick on wheel weights as they may come quickly off when you get the car back on the ground. Don't ask me how I know this.....