I have been keeping an eye out for a late 40's to mid-50's Ford/GM that I could cruise in and customize. I stumbled across a 1951 Kaiser that is in my price range and a driver. However I know little to nothing about Kaisers. My question is: Is there an aftermarket for these ie, how would I go about putting disk brakes on a Kaiser? I would want to drive the car and traffic is heavy enough around here that it would definitely need them. I did a little bit of searching and came up with nothing. Only other thing I can imagine doing is grafting the subframe of another car underneath it, which is something I wouldn't really want to do. Anyhow, thanks for reading.
I don't know of any aftermarket hot rod parts for Kaisers. They are a cool car with a distinctive body style, but are not supported by the aftermarket. For your purposes you would be much better off with a Ford or Chev.
Search the Kfoc for info. There is a bit of an aftermarket, but not much, and there are some ingenious owners.
I cant find it now, but I vaguely recall someone else on here cross referenced bendix part numbers and was able to use OE parts from various cars to get better four wheel drum brakes on their kaiser. not discs, but with a good dual master cylinder it would sure make a difference in drivability. IF you are seriously considering the kaiser, a kaiser specific forum might be full of the info you want. those guys dont just restore them, they drive them all over
You didn't search hard enough here. There's a bitchin custom, and detailed build thread for one, and its pretty cool. Sorry I can't help with a link, car was good enough for magazine coverage, and I think even TRJ.
correct me if im wrong, but the blue one that was a four door turned into a coupe had a custom frame and no stock front end components. i believe the OP is asking if there is a bolt on aftermarket kit for front discs. edit: you could always send mark at scarebird a spindle and other neccessary parts and have him work out a combo of off the shelf components for you. ive used scarebird in the past and was very happy with the service.
I don't remember if it had a custom frame, but if so, then not much help, although would be worth a look for inspiration.
Yeah I have found a 50 Ford and this Kaiser that fit the bill. The Ford looks a little more solid then the Kaiser (rust wise from pics). The Kaiser has the look I want right off, but I tend to hotrod my stuff and I know it will end up faster. The Ford has a Flathead V8 in it, which is insanely cool, however I would have to do some visual changes to it to get it where I want it. It does seem to be the better of the two. Which I just found when I went to look for pics that the ad has been taken down on the Kaiser, perhaps the owner sold it or changed his mind. The Ford is still up though.
Don't know what the Kaiser guys do, but something that's been around since the early 70's at least is; using AMC front spindles, calipers & brackets, + rotors. There are 3 different spindles; drum, solid rotor & vented rotor. I don't remember how to tell them apart w/o the rest of the brake attached anymore, but the spindles unbolt from the vertical arm. Just use the whole assembly. Saw off the spindle snout, & drill the holes to mount the AMC spindle. Use grade8 bolts at least, better if you can find some AMC nos spindle bolts. There is decent support for AMC parts now. I used the vented rotor version on a '47 Ford 1/2t pu, worked darn nice. You might be able to adapt the whole front crossmember, if the Kaiser frame rails aren't too wide & the width of the AMC track is narrow enough. Can be set-up to be bolted in, after trimming - due to amc design. I used a pacer front end under the 47pu. Wasn't pretty, but worked killer. For a 40's-on, full-fendered car/truck, I'd happily do it again. FWIW. Marcus...
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