I am to the point of installing the brake hoses but appears that I will have to change where the hose conects to the frame. Is this the norm or do I have the wrong calipers. It looks like I will have to put brackets in front of the control arm.
Probably the norm for this conversion,,I reposition the hose brackets on the '54 wagon when we added disc brakes. HRP
I did just have it powdercoated but can rivet a bracket on just wanted to make sure I had the correct calipers. Would have been nice to use original brackets.
Which conversion did you use? We used Granada spindles, with the Granada calipers on mine. We didn't have to move any brackets, just bought longer brake hoses to go from the frame to the caliper.
See that's what I was wondering as well about the hoses. Also not sure on which kit or company to go with. I have a 56 as well hence my name...Well I want to be able to use my stock wheels, chrome after market steelies and supremes and swap them out here and there. I am worried about the caliper fitting in those rims and spacing so the wheels don't stick too far out
Have you tried to mount the rim on the front with the disc,,,some of the hats on the caliper are larger than the hole in the center of the original rims. HRP
My hoses are the correct number but will not screw into the caliper so something is incorrect. I tried sticking an original wheel on there to see if it would clear the caliper but the disc hub is too large to fit into the wheel.
Almost certain that the stock wheels, for these cars, will not fit over any of the disk conversions without a change. You will either have to turn the end of the spindle down, to fit through the center hub of the wheel, or use later model steel wheels. Just be careful of the bolt pattern changes.
When I did mine, I used the discs from a 72 LTD and like previously stated, the stock wheels wouldn't fit over the LTD hubs. I went back to the junkyard and bought the stock wheels from the LTD and used the original hubcaps from my 56. I did have to tweak the hubcap retaining clips a little to make it fit. I have since changed to Cragars and they fit with no problem.
If your original wheels won't fit the disc brake rotors have the outside diameter of the hub turned down on a disc brake lathe, check them with a micrometer before machining to see that you have enough material to remove, most of them will be okay.
On new Granada rotors, there is plenty of meat to safely remove what you need to fit the stock wheels on. For hoses, I could not find rubber that was long enough for full suspension travel. I used stainless from speedway, with an adapter at the frame end, and a banjo on the caliper. I think the hose were 18 inches long. I made them in a big S shape and they don't rub anything.
1972-73 amc matador or pacer spindels lines and caliper they have seperate brackets that make them the floating type fits in there nice and tight they were made for a 14 inch wheel so the rotors are smaller old timer 30 years ago showed me that trick i forgot what size bearings i thing 1974 buick regul i think i could be wrong
they were in 1981 on a 56 ford customline you can look up online or an old chiltons there should be pictures you can use as comparason also know some one that changed his out with a 1971 lincoln direct fit srings line shocks every thing if you realy want to be high tech with a little cutting and notchin you could use 2006 crown vic front suspenson other than notching the frame at the round part it is a direct bolt in with rack and pinion use a tilt steering colom out of 1979 ford bronco or lariat direct fit just like they are doing to those pick ups but you will get 3 inches lower you could use 97-2002 expedition srings that go over the struts that will make it look stock but have a new car set up you could probally get every thing from the junk yard cheaper the disk conversion from aftermarket fabricators
See its too late for that..My car is bagged and lays frame and in the middle of body dropping it (channeling) The frame is also powder coated
When I did mine with LTD discs, I switched mine side to side and the bleeder wasn't right at the top and I couldn't get a good brake pedal.
just my .02 on my 59 ranchwagon i went with master power brakes. if i remember correctly it was around $700- 800 for everything including all new rotors,calipers, hoses, power booster,dual master. probably could have saved a few bucks if i went to the junkyard but i would have spent a lotta time looking. customer service was good . i also had the problem of the bleeder being on the bottom when i swapped disc brakes onto the rear of my chevy. i had to take off the caliper hold it in my hand put a spacer so the pistons would move but couldn't pop out and bleed the brakes . then i reinstalled the caliper and it worked fine
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