Technical I need good disc brakes on my Willys but I hate the look of new parts!

Volvo hubs and I think I had to machine 1/4 inch if I remember correctly. But the Ford spindle is larger with what I am doing now.

 

Have you thought checking a brake disc catalog to see if you can find solid disc similar the vented disc in the picture that would be suitable for you could use on your Ford hubs.

 

You might want to measure up some off a Volvo 240.

 

I have not but I will probably just fabricate brackets and pick up parts here and there and figure it out as I go.

 

Please keep us updated as you go along.

 

This is kinda cool!

AMC

 

I run the Vovo 122's on my coupe. They work just fine.

 

Looks like the calipers bolt directly to the hub, are you using Volvo rotors?

 

Willwood makes several styles of hats and bolt on rotors .
Hats- https://www.wilwood.com/Hats/HatList?wid=3&appid=5

Rotors-https://www.wilwood.com/rotors/RotorList1?appl=&material=Spec-37 Iron

 

I did that 35 years ago on my Henry J. Was a real common deal in the 70s and mainly forgotten in the 80s

 

I'm guessing partly because the supply of Rambler bolt on spindles was dwindling, a lot of car trailers were built with them back then, a friend of mine built a handful in the early/mid 70's.

 

The only drawback I see is that it lowers the ride height 2.5 inches. Does the AMC caliper sit in front of the rotor?

 

Around here we had a great AMC dealer so their were lots in the yards. I am sure it varied by area. Yes, they do make great trailer spindles!

 

I used bolt on rear wheel stub axles off of front wheel drive car on my trailer similar to the AMC stub axle. Might be worth having a look around your breaker yards for something similar. You could Google "rear stub axle" to find something suitable

 

Dodge minivan or something similar might be an option?

 

Hey, Drumyn29;
The amc brake article that was posted, was done that way to get that 2.5" drop(+ instant *large* discs, cheap), instead of using a dropped axle & some of the issues that come w/that. You wouldn't *have* to use the extra plate welded onto the spindle back, just drill the holes to mount the amc spindle in the same plane as the ford. & of course, make a caliper bracket correctly for the offset needed. There's a thread on an amc here, that one of the guys notated the difference in the various amc spindles. There are, I think, 4 different spindles depending on brakes. Bradings' idea is probably better, as more is avail.
Marcus...

 

If memory serves me, one of the original Volvo brake articles was by Jake Jacobs in R&C in an series called “New Angle Anglia”. It had a simple caliper adapter and bearing spacer and swap. So simple that even I could figure it out and used them on my old hotrodA roadster.
4 1/2" BC.

 

Yes, running the Volvo rotors, the same setup that Hotrod A posted. He shows a better view. I personally like them and I guess they could be considered traditional as they were used in 1966 and before? Coincidentally, I just finished a complete restoration on a 1966 Volvo 122S and it has the same brakes and they work great! There are parts available but would likely need to be ordered.

 

in my junk pile i think i still have a front suspension disk/rotors and power rack n pinion steering gear setup from a wrecked 78 amc pacer if that helps anyone. free… come pick it up. ford bolt pattern.

 

I think I may go with Volvo rotors and machine the Ford hub to work with it. At this point I am considering Airheart calipers, does anyone have any opinions on stopping a big horsepower Hemi with Airheart calipers?

 

Unless you're looking at trying to stop the car while you've got the gas pedal to the floor, the engine's output isn't directly relevant. The most important factors are the weight of the car, the road speeds you're anticipating, the diameter of the tyres, and the diameter of the brake rotors.

You want big rotors and short tyres. The bigger the rotor relative to the tyre, the less force you need at the caliper. On the front of my DD I've got about 9½" rotors on 22½" tyres. They aren't great brakes. The common fix is to go to 11" rotors, with brackets to shift the stock calipers out a bit. That increases braking power by 15-20% without touching the hydraulics.

 

My worry is what happened to this guy. He cross's the finish line and hits the brakes, looks like he has too much front brake, so the back of the car tries to become the front of the car and around it goes. Watch at the 2:00 minute mark!

 

I've just spent a good half-hour speculating about this, running the video at quarter-speed. I shouldn't want to hazard a theory. At 2:36 he's clearly countersteering, but the car isn't correcting its course. Without knowing the anti-dive setup of that chassis I don't know whether to expect to see any attitude changes under braking. I don't think I'm seeing any. There isn't enough information there.

Edit: the rear already seems to be stepping out from about 2:03 on. The rear wants to steer the car to the left. I don't know why.

 

Thank you for your input, greatly appreciated.

 

Guy says it was air getting under the car @ 150mph.

 

Hey, drumyn29;
Those should work ok. You can always take some braking out w/an adj proportioning valve. Since you want the front to lock lightly just before the rear, you don't always want all the front brake you can possibly get. Although too much is easier to deal with, rather than too little. The volvo should work dynamite, & the Airhearts should be just as good, not to mention trick, as they aren't seen much anymore. Not many folks will know what they are. . Do it!. .
Marcus...

 

I had that exact problem with my '36 Willys coupe back in the day. The problem wasn't too much front brakes, it was too much rear brakes with lack of traction in rear tires. I had converted the manual tiny Willys front drum brakes to hydraulic with junkyard slave cylinders (high schooler, cut me some slack!!) so effectively had no front braking. On the rear I had '56 Olds drum brakes that worked very well. Finally I was running farm implement tires because they looked like slicks. With that ridiculous combo, any hard braking caused the rear wheels to lock up, lost rear traction, and the rear wanted to flip to the front like in the video. Front brakes are designed to do 60% or so of the braking to avoid that failure so good front brakes won't cause that problem but poor ones sure will.

 

Spray the new calipers and brackets flat black. They'll hide better and look old quicker.

 

volvo rotors, 48 ford hubs, airheart calipers

 

Nice setup. Have to remember 122s are 4.5 PCD as some of the Volvo's are 4.25 PCD.