Yes, I searched. I have been searching for a week. Yes the customer wants discs. He'd like the on all four spots, but will settle for the front. I have no intention of arguing with him. His logic is sound. So, does anyone know of a route to doing this that does not change the front wheel bolt pattern? It seems that all of the commercial kits that I can find drop the bolt pattern from 5-on-5" to 5-on-4-1/2". Calling does not seem to help. I have yet to find a sales person who knows the product. Many kits include the '58-'59 range in the literature, I do not know why, as the parts would not be the same. 1958-1959 Edsel Corsairs share the "big" Mercury chassis from the same era, which has the bigger Ford pattern. After that, they share the "small" Ford chassis and small Ford pattern. This is not possible to do on the rear, with discs, or otherwise, due to the packing plate bolt access hole in the axle flange. He does not want two different patterns, or to carry two spares, or a wheel adapter. He is fine with a pattern change, if it is on all four. Is he just stuck with wheel adapters on the rear? Anyone? Beuller?
I have always wondered if one could swap spindles from a later car, getting discs in the bargain. However, it would mean the Edsel would have to have ball joints, and a lot of junkyard crawling. Sorry, not real helpful. Cosmo
Yeah, there is not much in the way of "real" junkyard crawling to be had here. The land is too expensive. Just about all of the yards left are high-turnover dismantlers, specializing in late-model stuff.
My uncle did a disc brake swap on his 59 Edsel wagon. I believe he used 78 t-bird spindles, rotors, etc. @FalconMan do you remember the parts Al used? Also, he did end up using the later Granada wheels all the way around to clear the center hub of the rotors and the backspacing was different between the stock Edsel wheels and the Granada wheels.
The T-Bird and Granada have the 5-on-4-1/2" pattern. The '58-'59 Edsel Corsair has the 5-on-5" pattern. I am not a fan of machining wear items.
Some mid seventies full size Fords and Lincolns used a 5 on 5" pattern. I know my dads '76 Marquis was. No idea if those discs could be adapted or not. I'm assuming the center bore on the original Edsel wheels would need to be opened up a bit.
I am not overly concerned about the wheels, as long as I can find properly sized steel ones, that will accept the wheel covers.
I wonder if I could use Marquis slip-on rear rotors over the stock front hubs, and make up some brackets to hold GM Metric calipers.
Edsel brakes are the same as full-size Ford brakes. I would check out Scarebird first. His brackets are really nice. For the fronts Wilwood makes a nice swap kit for between $600 & $700. On eBay, look up Tom's Classics. He has some nice kits, power or manual.
the late 1970's ( 77 up) caddy seville ( the one that used the f body type front sub frame ) , used a 5 on 5 BP on the rear discs plus a d52 size ( d122 e brake ) rear caliper , then basically you could make some backing plates from 3/8 steel the calipers are $100 each . Rock auto has the rotors for $30 bucks each also can you cut the spindle down to retro fit a set of GM rotors ??
www.classicdiscbrakes.com says Edsel. See if 5 on 5". If not ask if Ford rotor. If Ford ask if possible to swap to '74-'78 Cougar, Marquis, Galaxie, Thunderbird, or Lincoln rotor.
I had no idea that Edsels have a 5 x 5" bolt pattern. Was this only the wagons and cars with the larger axles?
Again, 1958 and 1959 Edsels shared the large Mercury platform. After that, they shared the smaller Ford platform.
When I was doing the 57'-64' Ford/Merc disc brake conversions, I would have my machinist redrill the front rotors to the 5 on 5 pattern (when required) with new studs installed. Done lots of conversions like that! That would probably be your best option.
Just 1958 Edsel cars had the 5 x5 bolt pattern. 58 wagons and all 59 and 60 Edsels uses the smaller 5 x 4.5 pattern.
Not quite...In 58 there were four models series and the wagons. The Ranger and Pacer series shared the same platform as the Fords but had the 5 x 5 wheel bolt pattern. The wagons (Villager, Bermuda, and Roundup) also shared the Ford platform and used the 5 x 4.5 wheel bolt pattern as the Fords did. The other two model series in 58 were the Corsair and Citation. These shared the Mercury platform and had the 5 x 5 wheel bolt pattern. In 1959 and 1960 all Edsels shared the same platform as the Fords of that year.
Do not buy anything from Toms Classic or there real name Auto City Classic. Very cheap parts with bad designed systems. All they do is adapt the same master and valve for every vehicle. There brackets do not fit correct and needs adjustment. it did not work on my vehicle due to the large bore size of the Corvette master they give you.
...?... 250,000 miles? Must not do a lot of stop light to stop light driving, or you were down to the cooling fins when you changed them. A rotor on any vehicle that is driven is a wear item. Other wise it's a museum piece. -Dave
Rottenleonard.com has drill guides with all of the components to change bolt pattern from 5 on 5 to 4 1/2 or 4 3/4 or those 2 bolt circle to 5 on 5 so you could change later disc rotors to orginal bolt pattern. Hope this helps. Bill
I have his jigs to do exactly that, already. They won't work on the rear axle, due to the access holes in the axle flanges. There is nowhere for two of the five studs to go.
73-79 lincoln continental has the large 5x5 bolt pattern. The center hole may be the only issue though. Another option would be to replace the rear axles and backing plates with that of a 1960. I beleive they have the wider rear axle and the 5x4.5 bolt pattern. Then use the easy to find ford 5x4.5 discs in the front. Good luck.
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