1. Brake & Wheel Systems
  2. 5x100 to 5x114.3 Conversion
L-body

Tools

Disassembly/Reassembly

Axle Nut Socket (don't remember the size, but it was over 1 1/4" I believe. Had to get a unique 3/4" socket driver and set for this.)
15mm wrench
10mm wrench
Cotter pins
Plyers
Flat blade screw driver
Bearing grease

Modification

Brake line flaring tool
Cut off wheel
Dremmel or similar grinding tool
1/2" drill bit (used multiple bits)



Brakes Chosen

In search for converting my car to rear disc brakes, I went to the parts yard and started looking to see what all was available. The Sebring looked to be a good fit, but it was nothing more than the same configuration that we have with our cars that came with rear disc. I needed something with a large 5 lug bolt pattern, but wasn't sure what was going to work. What drove me to decide to go to a larger bolt pattern was the wheel fitment that I wanted for the car. The wheel color for the Enkei RPF1 (matte black) was only available in 5x114.3 with a +35mm ET, while the 5x100 came with +35mm and +48mm ET in silver, but not available in our bolt pattern in black at all unless it was special order. I considered painting or powdercoating the wheels, but I decided the larger bolt pattern was the way to go and then started looking in the yards for cars that would be good donors. I looked at an AWD Caravan, but it wasn't going to work. I then saw a 1999 Chryler Concorde LHS. Car comes with rear disc brakes that has the larger bolt pattern and after viewing the brakes from a side angle, I felt there was opportunity to work this piece into something we are more familiar with. The pics below got my brain thinking it could be done if the rest of the rear assembly didn't have that huge mass of metal there on the end. Granted, it also made me think INDEPENDENT REAR SUSPENSION!

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Front

The swap to the larger bolt pattern for the front was easy. I had already upgraded to a dual-pivot K frame (not required, btw) and I also upgraded my spindles to that of the 91+ Daytona and other cars. This was originally done for two reasons. First, larger brakes. Yes, you can do this with the minivan calipers that are a direct bolt on, but that's just the brake pad. This option allows for an 11" rotor up front. Second, serviceability. I'm sure some people can swap them out on any car quick and painless, but the ones for the Daytona SEEM easier to work on. Lastly, the hubs are swappable and serviceable, MUCH easier than the stock stuff for the L bodies or earlier cars for that matter. On the cars that don't have the bolt in hubs, you have to pull the entire knuckle, take it to a shop or press them out yourself and then have them pressed back in. This also means an alignment. And while you should always 'align' your car after working on the front end, you can pull a hub and swap it out by simply loosening the axle nut and 4 bolts that hold it in place. I'm sure some of this was simply preference, but it made sense to me.

The process to swap the front from the 5x100 to 5x114.3 bolt pattern was less than 15 minutes per side and I did not have to re-align the car after this. I could go back to 5x100 up front in the same time and keep my alignment if I wanted or needed to, maybe to run slicks or stock wheels for whatever reason. Regardless, advantage 91+ spindles.

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Rear Assembly

The rears were a little more tricky, yet very simple. As much as this was the more critical part, it was the easiest. Took them to a machine shop, told them to cut off x amount and then machine down the rest flat or even. These guys work on Porsches all the time, so they knew what to do.

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Axle Modification

The rear brake assembly did not fit against the rear axle for the L body, so I had to remove some of the metal from the top of the axle. Originally I thought this was going to be more than it was, but turns out it was a very small amount that had no structurual support for the wheel. Once this was cut down, I test fit the backing plate to confirm it cleared and it did. This is where I used the cut off wheel to trim down the axle. The red line is about what had to be done, the yellow is what I thought had to be done.

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New Rear Spindle Modification

The other item related to the new spindles that were cut down was matching the bolt pattern of Concorde 4-bolt offset config to that of the stock L body config. The overall diameter of the bolt configuration was larger, yet very similar. If you set the new spindle against the stock config, you can see that the lower two holes match up, but the upper ones do not. And if you match up the two upper holes, THEY line up and but lower ones do not.


This is where I had to use the 3/8" drill bits to drill out the threads for the holes. I used all kinds of lubricants to keep the bit cool and even tried to go very slow when drilling, but still went through 3 bits. I also used a Dremmel to take off little amounts from the holes slotted (just the upper two) and for the backing plate.

Originally I was going to weld up the two upper holes an then drill and tap these to fit, but instead I decided to drill out the threads on the spindles (since the original setup on the Concorde had the brake assembly bolt up to the hub, these holes were threaded) and test this fit. It was better and closer, but still needed some meat taken out of the hole, so I slotted the top holes enough to fit, making sure not to remove too much metal. I don't have any real tools to do this sort of thing, so I used a Dremmel and it took a little longer than desired. Looking at the stock L body spindles, the meat around the holes was about the same amount for both, so I wasn't worried.

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This also required that the brake assembly where the discs mount to be slotted in these holes as well. This is the backing plate that holds the drum part of the brakes and fits over the spindle when fully assembled. I did a little at a time and made sure the fitment was tight.


Brake Line Modification

This was the part I wasn't thrilled about doing. I've used a brake line flaring tool from AZ and to say the least, it's cheap. My friend was doing his stuff OFF the car and had a hard time getting it to create the right flares, so doing it on the car (couldn't get the small lines off to do it off the car!), was daunting at best. However, after trimming the line down and CAREFULLY bending the line by hand (I wouldn't reccommend that. Replace if possible), I was able to bend the line as I wanted, flare the end for the fitting and use the Concorde's stock bracket and fittings to marry up to the stock lines. The REALLY frustrating part was that I forgot to put on the fitting before I flared the line, so I had to cut a good flare I had just done (first time no less) and re-flare it again! So stressful.

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And a while ago, I had purchased some stainless steel lines from Clay Cooke who had purchased them new from FWDP. They were sitting around and after messing with the fittings to see if they were the same size, they were so I used these for the rears. Gave plenty of room for travel and flex to keep things from binding.

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E-Brake Fitment

The other piece that was seemingly going to be difficult turned out to be very simple; the e-brake. It required no modification and simply required taking the old e-brake cable and slipping it into the assembly. Voila! it was done! I would reccommend inserting the brake cable prior to assembly, otherwise the cable is REALLY tight and can be a little difficult to get it. Ours has the e-brake cable enter the brake assembly at the bottom, whereas these are at the top.

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Final product installed.

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