NOVEMBER 2019 CARCRAFT.COM 45The aluminum hub requires the ’73-or-newer wheel-bearing size, so we installed a set of
knuckles from a Volare. The late-model knuckles are taller and use the large upper ball joint,
so we upgraded to the late-model upper control arms from Firm Feel.
The Baer rotors are a lightweight two-piece
design and are drilled and slotted. We
installed factory brake pads sourced from
the Dodge dealer. Doctor Diff provided the
correct brake hoses with the kit.
Baer recently introduced a line of
billet master cylinders with integrated
proportioning valves and a choice of bore
sizes. For this project, we went with a(^15) ⁄ 16 -inch-diameter bore size, driver-side
outlets, and added the optional prop valve.
The offset adapter shifts the master cylinder
away from the valve cover by^3 ⁄ 4 inch.
The offset adapter attaches to the original
firewall studs, then the Baer master
cylinder attaches to the adapter. Doctor
Diff supplied the offset adapter and the
matching pushrod.
The Baer proportioning valve attaches
directly under the master cylinder and
comes with the necessary brake lines and
hardware. We installed a line-lock on the
firewall and bent new brake lines for it.
Inline Tube had everything we needed to
plumb the entire brake system. It is great to
be able to source brand-new brake lines for
a project rather than spending hours trying
to restore 40-year-old parts.
big enough to drag down a speeding
Viper, so they should handle our Duster
without any issue.
The rear brakes are the classic Ford
Motorsports Explorer disc-brake kit.
Ford doesn’t offer this kit anymore, but
similar brake kits are available from
multiple aftermarket sources. This is a
very popular setup, with a thin, solid
rotor and an internal drum-style emer-
gency brake. One potential issue with
the Explorer rear-disc kit is that the cal-
We went with one of
Doctor Diff’s heavy-duty
Viper kits up front. The
kit includes 13-inch
Baer rotors, custom
aluminum hubs, and
billet caliper adapter
brackets. The Viper
calipers and pads were
ordered from our local
Dodge dealer.
iper piston size is rather large at
48 mm. To keep the front-to-rear brake
bias correct, the front caliper pistons
should have roughly twice the area of
the rear piston. Our Viper calipers are a
four-piston design with 42- and 38mm
pistons. With those piston sizes and
the 13-inch rotor up front, the brake
bias worked out to roughly 60/40,
front to rear. For the Duster, this bias
should be OK, because we have large
sticky tires on the rear and a fair
amount of weight on the rear tires.
Since we don’t know exactly how the
brake balance will work out, we
equipped the car with a proportioning
valve. The proportioning valve will
allow us to tweak the rear line pressure
once we have the car on the road.
While we were under the car, we
added a new set of upper control arms
from Firm Feel. The Firm Feel control
arms will provide us with additional
caster, and they come loaded with new
bushings and ball joints, so that saved
us some time. We also installed a new
billet master cylinder from Baer. The
Baer master cylinder has the correct
bore size to work with our four-wheel
disc brakes, and it has a clever inte-
grated proportioning valve. With these
parts installed, we’re ready to put new
wheels and tires on the car and get her
back on the ground.