Brake Tech - Generally

limey66 · Jun 6, 2005

OK, drum brakes suck, I need discs on the front of my 66 coupe.

Aftermarket; Baer, Wilwood and the like are too expensive, Granada is next to impossible over in the UK, and the Rod and Custom kit will cost a fortune to ship. What I want to do is find an OEM rotor that will fit, or can be made to fit the stock drum hub, and make the required bracket to fit a suitable caliper.

Questions

1) Can anyone see a problem with this?
2) Master Cylinder - I need to replace the single chamber unit, and might as well go for a power booster too. Again I can source something OEM from over here, but what about the volumes of fluid - do I need to worry about the volume of the caliper and its corresponding volume in the master cylinder? Or will any disc brake m/c work with pretty much any caliper? I'm sticking with the factory drums on the rear for the time being.
3) Stroke - do I need to worry about the stroke of my current non-power brake pedal stroke, and the required stroke of the OEM m/c. Are they likely to be similar, or way different?
4) Booster - is the vacuum I make with my stock 289 going to turn a weedy 4 cyl spec booster inside out?
5) What's the fastest animal in the world? (anyone remember the Airplane movies?)

Thanks in advance.

C0V3R · Jun 6, 2005

If you like I could ship you over a set of spindles and calipers from australia that should do the trick - off an australian falcon with very similar design.

3) Most likely, depending on your selection of new setup
4) No

65 fastback · Jun 6, 2005

5) Peregrine Falcon

65fsbkhipo · Jun 6, 2005

limey66 said:
OK, drum brakes suck, I need discs on the front of my 66 coupe. Thanks in advance.

You can have decent stopping power with drum brakes by simply adding a dual master cylinder power booster setup. I do it all the time. No need to change the pedal and its a bolt on solution. Only tweeking is rebending one brake line to the MC Power Brake Setup

HistoricMustang · Jun 6, 2005

65fsbkhipo said:
You can have decent stopping power with drum brakes by simply adding a dual master cylinder power booster setup. I do it all the time. No need to change the pedal and its a bolt on solution. Only tweeking is rebending one brake line to the MC Power Brake Setup

Very good post reminding Mustanger's that they do not have to spend a ton of money. Drums can do the job!

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com

limey66 · Jun 7, 2005

65fsbkhipo said:
You can have decent stopping power with drum brakes by simply adding a dual master cylinder power booster setup. I do it all the time. No need to change the pedal and its a bolt on solution. Only tweeking is rebending one brake line to the MC Power Brake Setup

Hmmm, but is it really in the same ball park as a disc setup? What about fade? I'll be sending you an e-mail in the next couple of weeks as I need some more parts, you can give me a price for it then. Mmmm, shipping (in a Homer voice)

Anyone got any more answers to my other questions - research is pointing me towards Probe discs (we had the US built Probe available here for about five years) anyone know if these might be suitable?

limey66 · Jun 9, 2005

C0V3R said:
If you like I could ship you over a set of spindles and calipers from australia that should do the trick - off an australian falcon with very similar design...

Thanks for the offer, but it's the shipping that I really resent paying for, then the VAT and duty...

If I get this thing sorted, I'll post back and tell you what I did - it might be useful for the European Stangers.

limey66 · Jun 9, 2005

65 fastback said:
5) Peregrine Falcon

Are you sure? I thought it was the Cheetah...maybe that's on land.

reenmachine · Jun 9, 2005

limey66 said:
Are you sure? I thought it was the Cheetah...maybe that's on land.

That's the difference. Cheetahs can hit 60 mph or something, but Peregrines have been clocked at over 200 mph in a dive. Coincidentally, I just happened to read that somewhere just yesterday.

limey66 · Jun 9, 2005

reenmachine said:
That's the difference. Cheetahs can hit 60 mph or something, but Peregrines have been clocked at over 200 mph in a dive. Coincidentally, I just happened to read that somewhere just yesterday.

You find the time to read as well as building that gorgeous machine? Get back into the garage!

Marshall · Jun 10, 2005

check out www.rrs-online.com and get a true bolt on solution that gives you 21st century handling as well as disc brakes.

Hack · Jun 10, 2005

limey66 said:
Hmmm, but is it really in the same ball park as a disc setup? What about fade?

Discs are way better than drums. Drums fade VERY quickly.

Drums also lock up very easily. In a panic stop, drums will tend to lock or not brake well, whereas discs work much better.

I don't know how obscene the tax structure is for you there. If it's really bad, you might want to buy a car to get the brake parts from and then sell the remaining parts. There are quite a few to choose from, this web site has a list and the information you need.

http://www.mustangsteve.com/

Regarding modern Probe brakes, the problem you're going to have with swapping brakes is compatibility of your spindle. Even if you're willing to fabricate parts, it's much easier to start with a spindle that was originally for disc brakes. The original disc brake spindles have tapped holes for bolting the caliper on. The drum spindles require a more complicated bracket. I think if you have the machining/fabricating skills and equipment to come up with that part, you wouldn't be on here asking about it. It isn't easy, is my point.

limey66 · Jun 10, 2005

Hack said:
Regarding modern Probe brakes, the problem you're going to have with swapping brakes is compatibility of your spindle. Even if you're willing to fabricate parts, it's much easier to start with a spindle that was originally for disc brakes. The original disc brake spindles have tapped holes for bolting the caliper on. The drum spindles require a more complicated bracket. I think if you have the machining/fabricating skills and equipment to come up with that part, you wouldn't be on here asking about it. It isn't easy, is my point.

Aha...good point, but my car is 30-40 miles away from home, and I haven't really got round to even looking at the brakes yet. I've been looking through the shop manual and have a feel for how it works, but I want the benefit of you guys that have seen and done it all before.

When I get to the brakes (a couple of moonths) I'll be taking measurements, and drawing the brackets up in 3D CAD and getting the parts CNC machined - or folded or welded depeding on what I find. Surely I can use the backplate mounting holes and fab a bracket to fit the caliper in the correct location?

scrutmonkey · Jun 10, 2005

i don't post very often...but I will today, I rear ended a JHonda, and a cement pillar in my 68 coupe with 4 wheel manual drums...brakes locked up twice and i couldn't stop. i'm looking into drum brakes now...thanks for the info guys, now I know the fastest animal alive

Hack · Jun 10, 2005

limey66 said:
Aha...good point, but my car is 30-40 miles away from home, and I haven't really got round to even looking at the brakes yet. I've been looking through the shop manual and have a feel for how it works, but I want the benefit of you guys that have seen and done it all before.

When I get to the brakes (a couple of moonths) I'll be taking measurements, and drawing the brackets up in 3D CAD and getting the parts CNC machined - or folded or welded depeding on what I find. Surely I can use the backplate mounting holes and fab a bracket to fit the caliper in the correct location?

I also forgot to mention that you need a hub that will mount to the spindle and accept the rotor you want to run.

limey66 · Jun 12, 2005

Hack said:
I also forgot to mention that you need a hub that will mount to the spindle and accept the rotor you want to run.

Yeah, that's really the point of this post - I haven't yet dismantled my front drum assembly, but if it's like any I've seen before, the drum fits over the hub. With some machining of the hub and/or disc, surely a disc can be made to fit that hub.

I have seen some drum setups that include the hub as one casting - if that's how the mustang set up is then I'm kinda screwed as the machining required will remove any confidence I have of the safety of the new system. I could make custom hubs, but then the cost involved would make the project pointless as I could just import the R&C set-up.

In summary, how does the drum fit to the front hub? Is it all one peice?

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