First I mounted the new power booster and dual-chamber master cylinder. It only took about half an hour and that included attaching the linkage to the brake pedal assembly. Running the new brake lines to the rear drums proved to be a little more of a tedious task, so I left their final installation for later. With a pile of shiny new parts calling my name, I couldn’t help but start bolting everything else together.

The new brackets to adapt the stock spindles to accept rotors and calipers bolted on easily after only a few minutes of playing with the alignment. As you would expect, the kit was complete with all the necessary hardware. There was one bracket bolt on each side that was hitting the lower control arm when the wheel was turned all the way in either direction, but a few minutes with my trusty reciprocating saw took off the excess thread, eliminating the problem.

After greasing the new bearings, I set them into the rotors–the fit was perfect, and torquing the castle nut onto the new spindle seated them with no problems. After tightening the nut down, I backed it off to its proper position, as per the instructions, and gave the rotor a few good spins to ensure proper installation.

Now here’s where I hit the first snag: before mounting the calipers, I checked fitment of the hoses and found that they weren’t quite right.  The install instructions mentioned a possible need to file down the metal ends on the hoses–after a few minutes with the die-grinder, both hoses mounted nicely.

The driver’s side caliper bolted on with ease and I figured I was home free–that is, until I tried to mount the passenger side caliper. I immediately noticed that the caliper wasn’t seating right, and on inspection, found that it was hitting the new mounting bracket. Once again some slight modification took care of the issue–I used the bench grinder to take off about 1/8 of an inch from three high spots on the caliper housing. I was pleased that after the modification, the caliper mounted perfectly without a second trip to the bench.

With only a few hours into this project, securing the new hard-lines and bleeding the system was all I had left to do.  I must say, I did a fair amount of standing-and-looking–after 43 years of four-wheel drums and the dangerous single-camber manual master cylinder, this ’66 Impala finally had the stopping power it needed to handle the 383 stroker motor that Jen and I were building.

After all the hard lines were securely in place, Jen helped me bleed the master cylinder then the brake lines. There was one small leak at the banjo bolt where the driver’s side brake hose meets the caliper, but it was easy to tighten up.

The only other unforeseen consequence appeared when I went to put the wheels back on–my Impala’s 14-inch Camaro rally rims no longer fit! The car was due for new wheels and tires anyway, and 15-inchers cleared the new calipers easily. But be sure to consider that you may have to budget for bigger wheels and tires when you’re doing this conversion.

I’m pleased to report that a year later the brake system hasn’t had any issues. There’s been no need to add fluid and I’ve been very happy with the improvement in the stopping distance, and the car’s stability under hard braking. With the old stab-and-steer four-wheel drums long gone, the Impala now has sufficient braking power to bring its nearly 4000 lbs to a quick halt.

Check out pictures of my new stock-spinal power disc brake conversion kit after the jump.

Dodge may have canceled their plans to build a Challenger convertible, but you can’t stop the aftermarket. Coach Builders Ltd. will chop the top off the new Challenger for $16,000. The topless Mopar is reinforced via strut bars hidden inside the trunk, and includes an acrylic polyester cloth hydraulic top, matching fabric headliner and a heated glass rear window. The green SRT8 they are bringing to SEMA also sports a Vortech supercharger, a KW coil-over suspension kit and 22-inch Foose Challenger wheels. More pics after the jump. Via TopSpeed.com

This has to be one of the darndest things I’ve ever seen: it’s a 2002 Ford Explorer that runs on two 500-hp hydraulic motors, which are in turn supplied by a hydraulic pump powered by a 1.9L VW TDI motor that runs on biodiesel at a constant RPM. Hydraulic pressure is built up by the pump to 5100 psi, stored in high-pressure accumulators, and then discharged to turn the hydraulic motors. A project of some very brainy students at Cal Poly, the Explorer runs a 10-second quarter mile, does 0-60 in 3 seconds, and still gets 35 mpg. If I was more of a engineering geek I might be able to explain it better—hopefully there’ll be some more info on the ride page as this awesome project develops. We’re exepcting to see this monster at the Ultimate Track Car Challenge in in June, so stay tuned!

With fuel prices increasing, I have recently been wondering if the car companies are doing all they can to develop alternative fuels. According to Today Tonight, Ross Blade from Harcourt Australia has started to produce his own electric car, the Blade Runner. Based on a Hyundai Getz, it’s been recognized as Australia’s first zero-emissions car by the CSIRO. For the conversion, Blade removes the motor and exhaust system and replaces it with an electric motor that’s powered by two banks of batteries. With a range of 100 km (62 miles), the Blade Runner’s main market will be those living in urban areas; however, at a cost of $35,000, it’s expensive for a small car. Of course Blade is not the first person to attempt this, but if an individual working from a shed in a small country town can produce a funcitonal all-electric car, then why aren’t the large car manufacturers doing the same? Personally I have my doubts about Blade’s car. Generally the batteries for electric cars are expensive to replace and they do more harm to the environment than good, and don’t even get me started on that wonder of modern marketing which is the Prius. However, Blade does deserve a round of applause for showing what could be possible for the large car manufactures if they really tried.

Jake Von Slatt bought this 75-passenger school bus on eBay for two grand, then did a full motorhome conversion using a lot of recycled materials and advice from a few online conversion guides. Now, the inside looks like something out of Better Homes and Gardens. Nuts to paying a mortgage and property taxes, I could totally live in one of these! All I’d have to do is figure a way to build in mobile garage space. Check out Jake’s video on his project here, and see more pics below the jump, and read about the conversion at his site. And to gets started on your own, check out school bus listings on eBay!

Via Auto Motto

I grabbed my favorite little local rag this morning to find one of my favorite types of car pics above the fold: the "standing in the empty engine bay" shot. The remarkable thing about this one is that it was Neil Young standing in the empty engine bay of his 1959 Lincoln Continental. He’s working with UQM Technologies and H-Line Conversions to put a "bio-hydro-electric" series hybrid drivetrain in what is pretty much America’s largest production car ever. The 1959 Continental Mark IV is a whopping nineteen and a half feet long, keeping it out of countless garages built in the 80s and 90s. The "Linc-Volt," as Young is calling the car, will debut in a documetary that Young is expecting to start shooting in April. The biodiesel-fired ICE from H-line will drive a 200bhp/480ft-lb UQM electric motor that will supply the power to the transmission. The conversion has already started, and H-Line has a couple of pictures of Young up on their website as the work was getting started. Young follows in the alternative-fuel footsteps of rocker Willie Nelson, who now runs his entire road crew on biodiesel.