[68ragtop]

Anybody know if the aftermarket brake caliper brackets are all made by the same company? Ordered a bunch of brake parts, lines & clips from inline tube recently & I am really crabby with the caliper brackets. Installed fine, but after getting the wheels on & rolling the chassis, something sounded wrong. I panicked & once I removed the front wheels I was horrified to find my tirelesly restored wheels all scratched up from the brackets that don't fit inside. My car is a 68 drum car, but I converted it with all the 69 single piston parts.

I could order another set from ames, on my next order from them but don't want to find out they are they same POS's I just bought.

Now I have to redo both front wheels. I am not happy to say the very least........

[68ragtop]

I modified them & got them to fit with clearance like the original set I have did.

Had to bend some & reshape the tabs. That part was pretty easy, but now refinishing the backsides of my wheels will not be.

I am still very unhappy about that. Im guessing the only one who has had this happen...

here's a before & after & and arrows showing where the brackets scraped up the the wheels.

[gto4evr]

what rims are you running? Original 68 stuff? JC rims were for drum brakes, and JA for the discs. the rim hoop is smaller on the drum versions. and won't fit on a disc setup so if you have original rims, they'll hit no matter stock or aftermarket. I ran into that myself the first time I converted to discs. Later rally rims didn't have this issue so if they're later codes then I can't comment since I never used aftermarket parts on any of my disc conversions.

[68ragtop]

I do still have the correct 68 wheels, JC's I believe they are & if I recall they would not fit with the disks & to be honest I never tried them. Still unrestored in storage. years back I bought some 69+ 7" rally II's & put those on & I had no clearance issues with the factory 69 caliper brackets.

I replaced the brackets with the aftermarket ones because the finish on the originals was not very good. Had them replated years ago & they were too rusty to start with to get a nice looking finish in yellow cad.

I'll have to look at the wheel code on the wheels that are on the chassis. I only know they cleared with no problems before changing the mounts, so I never even considered there to be a problem, or that they could be the wrong wheel for disks.

I'll post the wheel code when I get home later today.

[Verdoro 68]

I had to do the same to my repro calipers brackets to get them to fit my JC code RIIs. It's pretty tight in there.

[gto4evr]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

I do still have the correct 68 wheels, JC's I believe they are & if I recall they would not fit with the disks & to be honest I never tried them. Still unrestored in storage. years back I bought some 69+ 7" rally II's & put those on & I had no clearance issues with the factory 69 caliper brackets.

I replaced the brackets with the aftermarket ones because the finish on the originals was not very good. Had them replated years ago & they were too rusty to start with to get a nice looking finish in yellow cad.

I'll have to look at the wheel code on the wheels that are on the chassis. I only know they cleared with no problems before changing the mounts, so I never even considered there to be a problem, or that they could be the wrong wheel for disks.

I'll post the wheel code when I get home later today.

okay, it's definitely an aftermarket issue then, I was just checking since the way I read it, you'd just changed it from drums to discs and it was a new issue.

yet another example of aftermarket not right. If they go through the hassle of making it, then at least get the clearances right! I understand how some corners need to be cut to make repop stuff so it's never exact, but in this case, that doesn't' fly with me when it just doesn't fit at all without mods.

[68ragtop]

Well, to be honest I am not too upset with modifying them. Didn't take long.

But I did spend endless hours refinishing both sides of my wheels, including filling any left over pits marks, etc. PPG single stage flattened to 60% gloss, etc. Now two of the wheels are scraped bad. I will have to re-do them. That is what's really got me ticked at the moment. Good Thing my kids were not in the garage when I pulled the wheels back off. I was not pleasant....