1965 Buick Special drum to disc with 14"? possible? need help

**CITSTNK** · 03-25-2014, 11:53 AM

I have a 1965 Buick Special convertible with the 225 V6 and 14" wheels.

I *thought* I could buy any drum to disc conversion kit for an A body and then buy the 14" wheels with the right back spacing from here-
http://www.ss396.com/chevelle/FM-1790AS.html
and the wheels - http://www.ss396.com/chevelle/NCE-8985.html

BUT - when I called them and checked to make sure, they said the reccomend using 15" wheels with that conversion kit. (I wanted the correct power kit that would look right for the car with the 11" booster, Delco etc) Then they said I might be able to use it if I grind a little off the caliper brackets to fit my 14" wheels, and maybe won't have to buy new 14s to begin with.

I believe that in 1965 power brakes with discs up front, drum rear was an option on the Special/Skylark/GS - but not sure about the wheel sizes. If you ordered the power setup, did the car indeed then come with 15" wheels? OPGI and YearOne claim to have a kit that will allow you to utilize your 14" wheels, but it doesn't look OEM to me at all.

Any thoughts or help on this is appreciated.

I also want to get a full front end suspension rebuild kit for the car, but now I need to go measure my lower control arm bushings to see if they are 1.9" or the bigger ones (so I can decide what kit to buy) Don't know what's on there, but I think I am going to go with 7/8 everything and regular bushings and hope it's right?

OH - and finding a good radiator for the car has been impossible as well. I don't want to get one of those plastic cheap-O ones and I figured that any of the 300-400 CU V8 brass/copper radiators will fit? TA Performance is expensive, but I also am looking at US Radiator models. Could use some help here as well.

So, brake conversion, suspension, and radiator are the 3 things I'm needing to get...just in info overload lately and the more I read from vendors...the more confused I am about what will fit, what won't, and what I really need.

TIA for your time here.

Cary

**bobc455** · 04-03-2014, 01:34 PM

Your car is probably equipped with "drum only" 14" wheels.

There are other 14" steel wheels that will fit, however.

If you are near New England, I might have some that would work.

One of the best things I ever did for my car was have my local radiator shop build me a custom copper/brass radiator. It wasn't much money for what I got. (By the way, what I got was a custom-made five core radiator with 13" fins/inch that could cool a locomotive)

-Bob Cunningham