hello... i have a 65 ford fairlane. i want to put disc brakes in front (possibly the rear as well). any helpful ideas/suggestions?
I think 70's era granada work. Use the whole works, spindle and all. There may have to be some work on the ball joint ends to match up, but i have not done the swap, only read about it.
A) drums work jsut as good, if ya know how to tune them. B) Falcon, fairlane, Mustang, Mavwreck, and a host of others all use the same spindle. The V-8 and 6 banger ones do differ
After reading most V8 Grenades (and their siblings) came with 11" disc brakes and were an easy bolt on to my 64 Fairlane, a few years back I bought an 77 302/auto Monarch from a salvage pool for 60 bucks with the though of using most all the running gear from it. After storing it for a while, I got tight for space and gave it to a guy in exchange for him stripping just the brakes off it for me and keeping the rest. Came home one day and found everything from the control arm bushings out including the control arms themselves laying by my back shed. I haven't even measured the rotor diameter yet to make sure I've got the 11" ones, so I don't know if I even want to use them yet, but from what I've read, it's my understanding you can bolt the spindles directly to the Fairlane ball joints and you can use the Grenade outer tie rod ends and adjusting sleeve connected to the Fairlane inners making for a simple swap. I think I've read the Lincoln version of these cars uses a different size ball joint which do not allow the spindles to directly bolt up. For some reason I can't remember (outlet ports on the wrong side or vacuum booster issues or something) the Grenade master isn't what was recomended, but I would think as long as the master you choose has the same bore and stroke as the Grenade's, you should be fine. Just remember to use a suitable disc brake combi or proportioning valve. Adding an adjustable aftermarket one is probably not necessary if you use the Grenade doner's and make sure the rear wheel cylinders have the same bore as the Grenade's (provided your rear drums are the same diameter as the doner). All of the Lincolns and some of the Ford and Mercury versions had a 9" disc brake rear that's about the right size for a Fairlane, making for an easy way to get into a disc brake rear, but they used to be a lot easier and a whole lot cheaper to find. I know I've read this about this swap (usually in reference to doing early Mustangs) on several different websites, but I don't have the specific web addresses handy, sorry. I've linked to this site http://www.svo73mm.cjib.net before, great site, it has a wealth of later Ford disc brake info and might help you here (especially with rear brake conversions).
This is an excellent up grade. have done several. just use a dual m/c. and you will be fine. parts are cheap. for the conversion.
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