I did search the archives and found a kind of vague answer to my question, so hear goes. Can the newer 240 calipers with vented rotors be adapted for use on the 140 series, more specifically the '73 model year? The reasoning I found was something about imperial thread pitch versus metric on new calipers?

It appears that you can swap to the 164 calipers for vented rotors and use the newer style rotors for 240's, slotted, drilled, however. I can only imagine that the hole spacing on the newer 240 calipers is different than our 140's?

I'm in the middle of a brake job, snapping off lines and ripping hoses left and right, and I'm seriously considering going to the local pick'n'pull and grabbing a rotor and caliper off an 80's 240 and seeing just how off it is, but if someone has already done this, please stop me now. I will succomb to the inevitable fate of solid rotors (160 series calipers are too expensive) and crawl back into the hole from which I came.

I priced to have brake lines made at a local hydraulic shop, this is just for the fronts with 4 lines:

standard rubber - 86 bucks before tax
stainless braided with teflon lining - 120 before tax
--
'84 302 wagon '73 142