I want to convert my 56 vicky to front disk brakes. I plan on using original spindles, drilled/slotted rotors and no power booster. I know a lot of this is personal preference, but does anyone have strong opinions for me to do something different than this combo? I already have a duel master cylinder. Thank you.
Thanks for the link. I really dont want to fart around machining stuff or pulling stuff off junkyard cars. I'm not rich but my old bod is too wore out to do a lot of things, so I'm springing for a kit. I'm not interested in dropping the front - just want to stop better. As far as no booster, I really dont have a good reason, I just dont like the looks of them and dont think I need it. I can always add it later if I think I need it. Thanks guys
i dont like the look of the long ugly booster that is as long as the engine. but mine dont look as bad not that any of them look good.
Is there any advantage to changing spindles except for lowering? I put new ball joints in a few years ago so they're good.
Doc - a lot of the Ford "Big Car" spindles and Kelsey Hayes disc brakes have been used for the purpose you want over the years. A big Lincoln, Thunderbird or Country Squire Wagon from the sixties would work just fine as a donor. The parts are often cheaper than the small car spindles because the greed factor hasn't set in................. Shelby used those big brakes to good effect on the racing Mustangs - beats using those skinny rotors off the small cars. Rotors didn't warp as bad when you really pushed them hard. The big car parts are heavier than the Mustang/Maverick/Granada stuff - but pro road racers used them anyway, despite the weight penalty. The big car uprights have the same inclination angle to their geometry - its about 8º seen from the front - and most all of them use the "big pin" lower joints. There is a lathe center on the lower ball joint mount that tells you where the spindle lies - on the small cars that pivot is found up higher on the inside of the knuckle (which is lowering the car) and the overall ***embled height (ctr to ctr of both balls) is a shorter distance on the small cars as well - to allow putting small discs on 14 inch wheels.
I just ordered this http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/Br...dor,+Fordor+Coupe,+Convertible+&+Wagon&whl=15 Pretty new on the market but i used wilwood before and they are nice
there are 3 main reasons for using this kit 1. The wilwood kits use a very nice 4 piston caliper which gives a much better progresive braking than old fashioned 2 piston ones . 2. They look tons better and having spent a lot of time and money having my front suspension re made from stainless with a coil over set up i didnt want to bolt on something that looks like it has been lashed up using some 1970 s pimpmobile brakes on home made brackets . 3. The US mail service .. i talked to drop and stop and they only use US mail and dont want to use UPS or another courier . the kit i want is for OEM spindles so is in fact 2 disks 2 calipers and 2 brackets with a handful of bearings ect . this comes in at a touch over 550 dollars which is ok HOWEVER the US postal service wants 500 dollars shipping to send them to the UK and it will take 3 weeks to get here ??? i can order the wilwoods here in England and so they actually cost less than the very basic 2 piston Drop n Stop set up and they are here is 2 days . Having built a few f100 s in the past using both wilwood and oem style brakes i can say that the wilwoods are greatly superior and have an excelent spares back up
The reason we change spindles on these cars is because the newer spindles bolt on and have the disc brakes. I know I did mine nearly 15 years ago. In those days the junk yards were still full of Granada's. It was an inexpensive swap that took away drum brake fade at current highway speeds. I kept my old ball joints. There was an article I kept on how to do it from the Y Block magazine. If interested, I will email it to you. It may be in the sticky notes here too.
Wow bashnaka - you could probably come visit and take them back with you cheaper lol, Thanks for the info guys - great knowledge base here. I'm looking at this on ebay. Anyone have an opinion on kit or seller. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-1955-1...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d0caa6d78&vxp=mtr
I didnt want the granada spindles as they have the steering arm in the wrong place for my rack and pinion system as the 55 spindles have bolt on steering arms it means we can fabricate stainless arms that end at the corect point for the rack and have zero bump steer and as the lower A arms are being fabricated from stainless we can build in the one inch drop usually gained by putting a spacer between the lower spring perch and the arm plus i am using acoilover adjustable system so 3 in drop altogether
I did this kit with my stock spindles. It went on very well. I don't think the stock wheels fit after, but I went to 17 inch wheels and Aerostar springs, so it worked out very well. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-1955-1...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c7137c477&vxp=mtr
One more question: I installed a dual master cylinder a few years ago. Do you need a different one for disk front / drum rear or any valving for the disk conversion? Thank you
I have a power booster but had to install a regulator for the rear brakes. I found an adjustable one on eBay. It took some test drives to get it set right for the rears. I ***ume that it is reducing the rear pressure vs the pressure going to the front discs. My rears are original drums. There is a photo in my album that shows the black reducer with a knob on it.
yea thats a proportioning valve. Its been a while since I built my streetrod but in the back of my feeble mind it seems like i installed some kind of in-line valve - one for front and one for rear. And I was thinking there may be a difference in master cylinder requirements going from front drum to disks. Or maybe its some kind of 60s flashback I'm having
The Jalopy Journal
