What kind of brakes are these

[ron@crall.com]

I pulled the chassis out from under my recently acquired 71 yesterday to get an inventory of parts needed to put it back on the road.

The front breaks are foreign to me, not Studebaker for sure, I assume a conversion. Can anyone identify what they are and what calipers and rotors are used?

The rear has flanged axles and again these are not Studebaker parts. Any idea what car these parts came from?

[Gunslinger]

Those are definitely brake adapters and different rotors and calipers. There's been several brake kits available over the years...the Turner kit another whose name escapes me. The Turner kit uses Ford rotors ('68-'69 Mustang) and GM calipers and pads ('90s S-10). It's probably a Turner kit as it's the more common of the two.

The rear may be factory as Avanti Motors switched to a different rear drum system sometime in 1971. Your car may be one of the first to use it. I believe it uses GM brake shoes but I'm not sure where the drums were sourced.

[Avanti83]

Ron

If you haven't found Bob Johnstone's site here is a link. He has documented about anything to repair/modify Studebakers and Avanti's of all eras. Here is a link, I use it quite a bit on my 74 and 83 Avanti's. http://www.studebaker-info.org/rjtechoct2014p1.html#DBRAKES

As Bruce said, the most popular Front Disc Brake setup is Jim Turners, the other one is Steeltek by Dave lavesque. I have Jim's on my 74 and Dave's on my 83. The rears are possibly a Caprice shoe and maybe a Chrysler drum but my memory fades. Dave is essentially out of the business but his website may remain on the great byte bucket in the sky. Tom sbca96 on this and the SDC website also makes adapters to adapt larger Mustang discs to Avanti's. He has a lot of pictures of his mods also.

For reference, I'm sweetolbob on the SDC website and have a fair amount of Avanti stuff there. The above info could keep you out of trouble for a while as there's a ton of info on those sites.

Bottom line, I'd scrap the setup you have and just use the Turner setup unless Tom has produced more brackets. Personally I don't see much worth saving on yours, brake wise, which is why my 74 has a new setup.

Bob

Edited August 7, 2015 by Avanti83

[warren55]

Yes, the rear looks like the factory brake setup, which is mostly available parts. Early Corvette brake shoes, Ford Fairmont or Mustang brake cylinders, and Jeep CJ5 spring kit. I can give you specific years if you need.

The drums are a little bit of a mystery. I think Bob is right about Chrysler, but I think they still need some modification. I have never found a direct replacement and luckily mine seem to be in fine shape!

[ron@crall.com]

It appears that the front brakes are Turner units with the left front rotor replaced with a Studebaker one to allow a wheel to be mounted. Turner provides good parts information so rebuilding them should be pretty simple.

I have the rear drums, hope they are within service limits, it appears replacing them may be an issue.

Warren, any details regarding the rear brake parts would be appreciated.

[mfg]

The rear brake assemblies on your '71 were used on '71-'85 Avantis, and a good cross at the parts counter is '78-'82 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup truck rears. (Brake shoes, wheel cylinders, hard ware kits)

[ron@crall.com]

Super, thanks Ed

[warren55]

The rear brake assemblies on your '71 were used on '71-'85 Avantis, and a good cross at the parts counter is '78-'82 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup truck rears. (Brake shoes, wheel cylinders, hard ware kits)

I'm certainly not saying you are wrong, but my research sent me to the wheel cylinders from an 1982 Ford Mustang, the shoes from an early Corvette (I think 59 to early 60's) and the brake spring kit from an early 70's Jeep CJ5. A lot of vehicles used the Dana 44, so there could be several choices.On the wheel cylinders I know one of the critical points was the bore size. Mine seem to work just fine.

Edited August 12, 2015 by warren55