I know it isn't period correct but I would like to convert to front disc brakes on my 57 Monterey. Are they the same as the Ford Fairlane or if someone could help me out that would be great. Thanks
Scarebird was sold to new owner(s) in recent years. This is what came up under Mercury. He used to be quite a good source for conversions. The kit below may work with a Galaxie/Fairlane spindle swap. I would be leery about "one size fits most" kits that are all over eBay. https://www.scarebird.com/shop?sear...ury&fitment_model=Full-size&fitment_year=1961
IF they can still be found. Most Granolas have come back to haunt us from overseas. OP, join the '52-'59 Ford Forum, I know there are a couple of guys with '56 Mercurys.
On Hemmings. Q: I’m looking for a power-disc-brake conversion for a 1957 Mercury Monterey M-335, but I still want to maintain the 5 x 5-inch bolt pattern. It could even be an independent front suspension set up, if necessary. Are there any companies I can contact that would have the complete changeover kit for this Mercury? Buddy Wenners Via Hemmings Facebook page A: The front spindles and control-arm ***emblies are shared by most 1957-’64 Ford, Edsel and Mercury full-size vehicles (except Park Lane); however, the 5 x 5-inch bolt pattern is specific to 1957-’60 Mercury and 1958 Edsel. There are many complete changeover kits available for the 4.5-inch bolt pattern. Superior Automotive Products offers a kit for 1957-’67 Fords and Mercurys. Master Power Brakes offers two power-boost-***ist kits for 1954-’72 full-size vehicles using either a 7-inch or 8-inch booster housing. Master Power Brakes, Dearborn Cl***ics and Larry’s Mustang and Thunderbird Parts (1954-’57 Ford catalog) offer similar kits; however, all of the rotors in these kits have the 5 x 4.5-inch bolt pattern.
I kept mine simple, no power booster and certainly not a complex-modern distribution block. See how simple that the pre-1971 systems were, be like those guys.
The Ford kits will fit, but all will have the smaller 4.5-on-5 bolt pattern which won't match the rears. The 5-on-5 pattern is an orphan at Ford, not used on very many cars. You do have options however... Buy a Ford kit and have the rotors redrilled for the 5-on-5, but you will need different wheels as the stockers won't clear the calipers. If custom wheels are in the mix, you could buy multi-pattern wheels for no redrilling. I know that Cragar makes some that can fit both 4.5" and 5" bolt circles, there's probably others. Or have the rear axles redrilled for the 4.5-on-5 pattern, that will open up wheel choices a bunch. You may be able to swap Ford axles/drums for your Merc bits, saving the machining costs. One last option; Lincolns (both Continentals and Marks, not the smaller Versailles) used the 5-on-5 pattern from '61 through '79, do a junkyard sweep for a '70s model and snag the complete front brakes (including spindles) off of it. I'm ***uming the spindle architecture is the same, you'll have to verify that, but if it is there's your disc brakes. Parts are still available for these, although they are somewhat more expensive (it's a Lincoln! LOL). You might want to grab the disc brake wheels while you're at it.
I'll add another choice. Ford and Mercury also used the same brakes/bolt pattern as the Lincoln on the full-size cars '73-78, one of these will be easier to find (and the parts will probably be cheaper). Happy hunting! This info was harder to find....
Just to briefly mention and hopefully no one gets their ******* in a wad ... 1957/1960 MERC SPINDLES and CONTROL ARMS are unique to MERCURY.
I took some measurements on a '76 Lincoln Mark IV spindle I have so you can determine if this type would work for you. They are based on the 70's Torino ch***is. 11.8" rotor with 5x5 pattern, 3.11" caliper piston. Steering arm is about 7" rear steer, 5/8" tie rod from the bottom. Spindle is 8-3/4" tall. Upper ball joint is 5/8" Lower is 7/8", typical big/mid size Ford of the time. Mark IV wheels were a 15x6 Aluminum dish smoothie with a screw on center cap.
Yes they are.... although they're not as different as you might think. Those were also used on the '58 Edsel 'big' models (Citation/Medallion, not the Ranger/Pacer). I'll bet you'd find that the difference is a larger lower ball joint. Back in the early '80s I wanted front discs on a '56 Ford Ranch Wagon I have. There weren't any 'kits' yet, you had to 'roll your own'. So with that in mind, I headed for the wrecking yard with an OEM '56 Ford spindle in hand. What I found... Spindle architecture. From all that I looked at, I found that Ford used the same basic architecture on the full-sized cars from '55 all the way through the '70s at least. What did change was the various hole sizes and wheel bearings. The tie rod and upper ball joint holes were close enough to work, the fly in the ointment was the lower ball joint hole. It was too large for the earlier ball joints. I then looked at the intermediate models (Granada). Here the holes were usable, but the architecture was different. I don't recall the exact measurements, but they were not as tall, so there's some loss of suspension travel. The steering arms were shorter, so steering geometry changed (faster steering). And the steering stop pads were in the wrong place. I ended up using the full-size spindles and had a couple of tapered shims made to 'adapt' to the smaller early ball joints. If I were doing it today, I'd build an adaptor to use a later press-in ball joint with the stock a-arms. Brakes. One reason I p***ed on the intermediate/Granada spindles is they have smaller brakes. The big Ford brakes are .8" larger diameter and used larger pistons in the calipers. One thing interesting here is the big car spindles used a removable caliper bracket and they interchange '68-78, not an option on the smaller ones. This is good because Ford changed the caliper design in '73. The '68-72 calipers used the pin/bushing/spring mounting hardware which was known for wearing the pads unevenly sometimes. In '73 they switched to the sliding caliper to fix that, so with a bracket swap you could use the newer calipers on the earlier spindles. '73 also brought the 5-on-5 bolt pattern, but if you need the smaller 4.5-on-5 pattern it can be done by using a '68-72 spindle with a '70-72 rotor. It's important to note here that the rotors follow the spindles because of different inner wheel bearings, so if you need the 5-on-5 pattern, you'll need a '73-78 spindle. The '73-78 full-size Fords and Mercs aren't exactly restoration bait (yet) so if you can find a donor and get the parts cheap enough, rebuilt calipers and new rotors are available making this a possibly much cheaper alternative without any 'proprietary' parts. 'Back in the day' if you wanted the ultimate in front brakes, a swap to '65-67 Lincoln discs were it. These were 'big' 4-piston calipers, and Ford actually sold a kit to install them at one time as an upgrade for the Boss 302 Mustang. Impossible to find now of course, but if your choice is running in that direction, the Wilwood kits will offer that level of performance.
73-87 chevy c10 is same bolt circle and inner wheel bearing. Outer is chevy a3 and mercury a2 so little modification needed. Those are big good brakes.of course you have to build bracket for caliper. And i dont know if this conversion is even possible.
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