Cobra Rear Discs on 9" Housing

[ultrastang]

Here's a project I've been working on for my '68 notchback. This is an SN-95 Cobra rear disc setup I adapted to an '80 Mercury Monarch 9-inch (formerly drum brake) rear end, using some adapter brackets I designed and had made at a machine shop.

1. http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/836/cobrabrakehosemount0255ql.jpg

2. http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/4719/cobrabrakehosemount0247dr.jpg

 

[boss_302]

very nice work will you be making anymore brackets ? If so let me know i plan on putting rear discs on my 67.regards javed

 

[bnickel]

ultrastang, is your website down for the count or are you planning on getting it back up soon?

 

[ultrastang]

very nice work will you be making anymore brackets ? If so let me know i plan on putting rear discs on my 67.regards javed

Thanks, Javed.

Most likely, I will produce the brackets to sell for others who might want to do this swap.

I still have to figure out a means of connecting the factory Cobra brake cables back into the existing, main portion, of the vintage parking brake cable system.

There are a couple of aftermarket companys that offer conversion brackets to adapt these same brakes. However I've looked at them, and there are several things I don't like about their setups. With one of the "professional" offerings, you have to remove the axle bearings just to put their adapter bracket on (that really sucks). With the setup I designed, the only reason you have to remove the axle is to remove the drum backing plate and then replace it with a housing end spacer (takes the place of the thickness that the drum brake backing plate occupied).

With one of the "professional" offerings, you have to weld tabs onto the housing to mount the caliper's flexible brake line to. I retained the factory stock Cobra flexible brake lines, and through some simple mods, made it possible to simply (rigidly) bolt them to the housing.

Neither of the proffessional setups I've seen had a means to mount the factory splash shields (or any splash shields for that matter), to their setups. I made provisions on my adapter brackets to retain the factory splash shields.

Another main difference is that NONE of the afermarket conversions I've seen use the factory Anti-moan caliper support brackets. With my setup, I figured out to to incorporate them with this setup for 8- or 9-inch ford rear end housings.

The aftermarket adapter brackets I've seen have pretty much only made it possible to adapt two things to the early Ford rear end housings --the calipers and rotors. With my adaptation, I've retained ALL the components SN-95 brake components that werte installed on the 8.8" rear ends (rotors, calipers, factory brake hoses, splash shields AND the anti-moan caliper support brackets).

Everything I've done on this swap so far, is ALL bolt-on stuff that can easily be done, or undone.

 

[ultrastang]

ultrastang, is your website down for the count or are you planning on getting it back up soon?

My domain name (www.ultrastang.com) recently expired. I suppose this is one problem of living in America, but having your website hosted from Sweden.

My friend, (Håkan -- www.vikingmustang.com ) lives in Sweden and he's the one that designed and made the framework of my website. I supplied all the photos and text that was on my website, and he put it all together. I contacted Håkan about getting my website back up, but don't know how soon it will be.

There are two versions of the SN-95 Mustang rear discs; One version uses a solid 10½" diameter rotor from the V6/GTs. The other SN-95 rear disc version uses an 11.65" diameter ventilated rotor (from the Cobra/Bullitt/Mach 1s).

Here's a couple of photos of the 10½" solid rotor V6/GT variant of the SN-95 Mustang rear discs I had adapted to a friend's '65 fastback. (I got these disc brake parts from the wrecking yard). These parts came off of a '95 V6 Mustang.

1. http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/893/dsc002702ma6aq.jpg

2. http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6908/dsc2938ye.jpg

--Steve

 

[DarkBuddha]

Nice work Steve! I do wonder, do you think there is any great advantage to doing this conversion as opposed to your previous Mark VII conversion (which I purchased)? Also, will the brackets be similarly priced to the Mark VII conversion brackets?

 

[ultrastang]

Nice work Steve! I do wonder, do you think there is any great advantage to doing this conversion as opposed to your previous Mark VII conversion (which I purchased)? Also, will the brackets be similarly priced to the Mark VII conversion brackets?

Hey DB! Long time, no see.

Well, since you have a set of my conversion brackets from my first rear disc brake conversion project (the Mk VII rear discs), that was released in the spring of 2002, then you know that you had to source several key components from an '84-'90 Lincoln Mk VII wrecking yard donor --The caliper anchor brackets, the calipers (for cores), the ends of the parking brake cables, and the splash shields, before you could use the Ultrastang rear disc conversion brackets.

The Mk VII has been a very good & economical conversion for those on a budget that are looking to upgrade from rear drums to discs, and is one that Glen Buzek (who posts here under "Glen's '65 5.0") & I still sell today.

While the Mk VII conversion is very simple to install, the SN-95 V6/GT or SN-95 Cobra adaptation is even easier to do.

There's more flexibility with the SN-95 rear disc conversion over the Mk VII. ALL components for the SN-95 setups can be purchased brand new, --or key disc brake components can be obtained from the wrecking yard, for greater savings if you're on a really tight budget. With the Mk VII setup, if you don't have a wrecking yard donor, then the swap isn't possible at all.

Steel prices have steadily been increasing since Glen & I first started selling the Mk VII brackets. Add to the that the rising costs of shipping (because fuel prices have steadily been going up too). Currently, the Mk VII brackets sell for $150.00 a set.

I haven't gotten any quotes from the machine shop on the SN-95 brackets yet, because I still lack figuring out the parking brake cables before this setup is "complete". However, since there are fewer bracket pieces involved with the SN-95 conversion, I figure the price will be close to that of the Mk VII brackets.

 

[DarkBuddha]

Dammit! I knew you were gonna say that... Keep us posted (as always) and I'll be debating going with the SN95 kit (uh, that means saving $$$).

It really is great to see you posting again. Practical solutions for those of us who have to live in reality (i.e. on a real budget).

 

[NasaGT]

That looks like a sweet setup. I maybe ordering a set of those down the road.

 

[Jester67]

Would this work on a 8" ?

 

[ultrastang]

Would this work on a 8" ?

Absolutely.

In the very first thread I posted above, it shows the Cobra setup (11.65" cross-drilled/slotted rotors) on my '80 Monarch 9-inch medium bearing rear end housing.

This housing shares the same medium axle bearing as the '65-'73 8-inch Mustang rear ends.

A little further down, I posted some pics of the SN-95 Mustang V6/GT 10-1/2" solid rotor design, I installed on an 8-inch rear end under a '65 fastback.

 

[Jester67]

Thank you.
I thought that was an 8” but I don’t like to assume anything. Do you have a ballpark figure what this would cost if I bought everything new? That will give me a base line incase I am not able to get the needed parts form the junkyard. And what is the minimum size wheels these would fit under?

 

[347Fastback]

Will the brackets work on the lincoln versailles rear end????

 

[LMan]

verrrrrrah ncie, this will be a nice compliment to my '00 Mustang GT calipers on my front end

keep us posted

 

[ultrastang]

Thank you.
I thought that was an 8” but I don’t like to assume anything. Do you have a ballpark figure what this would cost if I bought everything new? That will give me a base line incase I am not able to get the needed parts form the junkyard. And what is the minimum size wheels these would fit under?

I've not tallied up the reciepts for all the Cobra parts I've installed on the rear end housing for my '68, but just guesstimating, I would say I spent somewhere ~ $750 (give or take) for all brand new components.

--I suppose if you factored in all the time I spent figuring out how I could retain the use of all the brake-related pieces off an 8.8-inch rear end and make them all fit/work on the 8- & 9-inch housings, then the cost of the swap would be exceedingly more. The good part about that is, now that I've worked everything out (except for the parking brake cables), it will be a LOT easier for someone else to do this swap, since now I know what has to be done to adapt the late model Mustang brakes, and its related components, onto the early Ford housings.

I plan to run the Cobra discs all the way around on my '68, and so I'll be switching over to 17" wheels. Currently, I have 15" x 5" (3.5" backspacing) Weld Draglites on the front and 15" x 8" Weld Draglites (4.5" backspacing) on the rear. I took both a front and rear Draglite and placed it over the Cobra brake assembly on the housing. The wheel physically went over the caliper/11.65" rotor, but the back side of the wheel's center was slightly touching the face of the caliper. If you had, at minimum, a 5/16" (8mm) thick wheel spacer, it MIGHT clear the caliper with no problems.

I would say, for a safety factor, to use at least a 16" (modern offset) wheel though, if you were to use the 11.65" Cobra discs on the rear.

With the V6/GT Mustang 10½" rear discs, you should be able to run a 15" wheel with no problem.

 

[ultrastang]

Will the brackets work on the lincoln versailles rear end????

Up until I started working on the Cobra rear disc brake conversion for my '68, I've had a '79 Lincoln Versailles under my Mustang since 1997.

Currently, I don't have an actual conversion bracket for the Versailles, but I do have a CAD drawing on disc, for a conversion bracket that would convert a Versailles disc brake setup over to a Cobra setup. The CAD file can be taken to the machine shop, and they can CNC water jet the bracket design from the CAD file drawings.

From our Mk VII rear disc conversion, we already know the end flange hole patterns for the 8-inch rear ends and the various 9-inch rears. All we have to do then to come up with a new bracket, is to simply move the holes around in the CAD program to acommodate the different housing applications....errrr....well, that sounds simple enough just to say. The problem at that point becomes a "money-factor" of actually producing them.

Machine shops don't want to setup to make one bracket or one bracket pair. If they make a bracket production run, they typically want to make at least a minimum run of 25 sets or more. If it costs "X" to produce one bracket set, then it costs 25 x "X" to produce 25 of them. As you can see, this can get very expensive in a hurry, (up front, from mine and Glen's own pockets), to produce.

I don't know how great our demand would be for the Versailles setup to produce a conversion bracket for that housing (??) --and to add another problem to the production factor of the Versailles, there's two different bolt diameters for the housing's end flanges. --One uses (4) 3/8" bolts on each end flange, and the other uses 1/2" diameter flange bolts. This would require two totally differnet bracket designs for the same type housing --This is not to say we wouldn't produce the brackets for the Versailles.

I'm just saying I'm not sure if there would be a great enough demand to warrant the expense for the machining costs to produce the brackets for the Versailles (??).

If there is, then the Versailles owners should to speak up, if this is a conversion they would do.

 

[347Fastback]

I have looked at other companies but I do not want to pull out my axles to use their brackets for the conversion. I would buy a set of your brackets if the need comes about from other versailles owners. Right now I am going to just going to buy some cross drill rotors. I just had classic tube build me some braided brake lines for the calipers to the hard lines and the rear end to the body. I do plan to build another nine inch to hipo specs so then I can use your brackets on the 8 inch legs they use on this housing....

 

[ultrastang]

I have looked at other companies but I do not want to pull out my axles to use their brackets for the conversion. I would buy a set of your brackets if the need comes about from other versailles owners. Right now I am going to just going to buy some cross drill rotors. I just had classic tube build me some braided brake lines for the calipers to the hard lines and the rear end to the body. I do plan to build another nine inch to hipo specs so then I can use your brackets on the 8 inch legs they use on this housing....

I understand your perspective. If there is enough input/demand from Versailles owners, Glen & I would be glad to produce the SN-95 conversion brackets to adapt the late model Mustang rear discs to the Versailles housings.

Regardless of housing type, you would have to remove the axles to install the housing's end flange spacers for our SN-95 setup. But, you don't have to remove the axle bearings in order to get the adapter brackets on, like you do with one particular (name withheld) aftermarket conversion bracket producer.

As I've mentioned above, they ("they" being the "professional" companies that offer Cobra conversion brackets), only sell you a means to install the rotors and calipers. They don't have a means to use the splash shields, and none of them even use the factory Anti-moan brackets. My setup does, and with my setup, you don't have to weld brackets to the housing to mount the caliper's brake lines.

...some of "them" have no means to keep the rotors centered on the hubs of the axle flanges either. On some rear ends, there's a gap between the axle flange hubs and the I.D. of the rotor's center hole. We have a machined centering ring that fits on the axle hub, and keeps the rotor centered on the axle, instead of relying on the (sloppy) holes of the lug studs to keep the rotor in place.

 

[Jester67]

Please don’t get me wrong I totally respect the time, effort and skill you have invested into making this conversion. I think the price you’ve quoted is very fair for what you receive and what it allowed you to do. I was just trying to get a feel for the total cost of this system if I was unable or unwilling to source the needed parts from the junkyard. Thank you for the response and keep us informed on your progress. I for one will be very interested in the SN-95 V6/GT conversion when it is available.

 

[ultrastang]

Please don’t get me wrong I totally respect the time, effort and skill you have invested into making this conversion. I think the price you’ve quoted is very fair for what you receive and what it allowed you to do. I was just trying to get a feel for the total cost of this system if I was unable or unwilling to source the needed parts from the junkyard. Thank you for the response and keep us informed on your progress. I for one will be very interested in the SN-95 V6/GT conversion when it is available.

No harm done.

Except for the parking brake cable, the rest of the system is complete. If you have a medium axle bearing housing, and you'd like to figure out the parking brake cable yourself, we have 25 sets of the SN-95 V6/GT conversion brackets (for the 10½" solid rotors) sitting on the shelf at this very moment.