Versaille swap questions

[67Hunter]

79 Lincoln Versaille. Good 302 with C4 tranny , approx 79,000 miles. 9 inch rearend with disk brakes. Car is complete except for some front clip damage. The disk rearend and front disks are a bolt on conversion for a late 60's Mustang. $850 for complete car.


I found this when looking for a 9 inch to swap in to my 67. I had never heard that the front brakes would also work. Can someone confirm this for me?


thanks
Hunter

 

[RajunCajun]

Directly from Mustang Steve "Note: Versailles disc brakes use a larger diameter lower ball joint stud, and require the use of an adapter to be able to bolt up to the Mustang lower ball joint. (more on that later) Caution: There are other Ford brakes that LOOK similar to the Granada discs, but have rotors that are 1" thick or thicker. Those will not fit a Mustang."

Far as I know they will not directly bolt back up to the balljoints correctly the incorrect taper some have made it work though with use of other means.

 

[66 BLAKE 96]

It's my understanding that the front disks actually DO NOT fit.

The taper where the lower ball joint connects to the spindle is different.

 

[302 coupe]

read a little further on mustang steve's site, he makes a tapered adapter that goes between the mustang lower ball joint and the versialles spindle. problem solved. I'm putting versailles front discs on my falcon, I have the 9" disc brake rear under my mustang.

67Hunter, I paid $900 for my 77 versailles with a 351W and pan fill C4. The car ran and drove very nice. I've gotten more than my money's worth of parts.

 

[RajunCajun]

yes it does solve the problem but why buy extra parts? and theres a more risk of failure for something that is doing something it isnt suppose to be

 

[67Hunter]

thanks for the help.


So has any one made this swap work or is it just to much of a pain in the butt and not worth it?

 

[Ronstang]

yes it does solve the problem but why buy extra parts? and theres a more risk of failure for something that is doing something it isnt suppose to be

There is no risk with MustangSteve's tapered adapter, it is a solid stainless piece that WILL NOT fail. The car is cheap and he will have every part for both front and back brake swaps so for $850 it is a good deal.....there are tons of other usable parts that he can either take advantage of or sell to help offset the price of the parts he wants.

 

[Hack]

thanks for the help.


So has any one made this swap work or is it just to much of a pain in the butt and not worth it?

I think I'm 95% there. It's going to be worth it for me. If I were a little better mechanically, I'm sure I would have been done over a week ago. The way I look at it is this: I'm learning a lot, which I find to be very fun. I would much rather have to get help here, research on the internet, have a few false starts and problems.. etc. etc. than spend 3 or 4 times as much for a simple kit where someone did all the thinking for me.

But then again, I don't have the extra money anyway. If I had it, I just might buy the kit. It's all in what you like.

If it were me, I'd buy that car in a heartbeat and use or sell the parts. It sounds like a blast.

 

[RajunCajun]

There is no risk with MustangSteve's tapered adapter, it is a solid stainless piece that WILL NOT fail. The car is cheap and he will have every part for both front and back brake swaps so for $850 it is a good deal.....there are tons of other usable parts that he can either take advantage of or sell to help offset the price of the parts he wants.

well that was just my view of something modifed althougth inevitability of something failing will always be there thats just life.

Is there any price advantages to sticking with that setup vs monarch, granada? , cailpers, rotors, bearings, etc...?

 

[Ronstang]

Is there any price advantages to sticking with that setup vs monarch, granada? , cailpers, rotors, bearings, etc...?

The only advantage is that if you already have the Versailles or have access to them they can be made to work just like the Granada/Monarch for a relatively small amount of money. Granadas/Monarchs are quickly becoming extinct and are rather hard to find these days so we have to take what we can get. I remember when I would go to the 3 Pick-A-Parts here in Houston on any given day and find 15-20 of these cars and now I rarely see them and when I do they are STRIPPED of all usable brake parts.....so we have to grab what we can.

 

[RajunCajun]

I hear that ive seen 7 granadas and 3 Versailles and all were missing the spindles and calipers I did notice however some were 6cylinder, is there any diffrence in the front suspension parts with the diffrent motor?

 

[Ronstang]

I hear that ive seen 7 granadas and 3 Versailles and all were missing the spindles and calipers I did notice however some were 6cylinder, is there any diffrence in the front suspension parts with the diffrent motor?

No, by that time Ford had one standard suspension for all engines because they found it cheaper not to have so many parts. In fact they changed it on Mustangs too. I'm not sure what date they started but every 68 Mustang 6 cyl car I have ever seen has the same suspension as the V8 cars, they could have started in 67 I just don't have the info to make a concrete statement as to when this change occured.

 

[67Hunter]

thanks for the help guys I am going to go look at the car tonight and if all looks well I will start the swap this weekend.

just what I needed another project

 

[D.Hearne]

Just me, but I think $850 is about twice what I'd pay for a Versailles. I bought both the rearend and the front discs from a 77 Versailles from a local J'yard for $350. The engine is nothing special, except for the thick walled block. Heads are boat anchors as is the rest of the engine excepting the rods and crank. The rest of the car is basicallly worthless. No market to part the body and interior out to. I'd offer the guy $450 for it-- top dollar.

 

[bnickel]

actually there are people who still like to drive versailles and also plenty who restore them. parts usually bring pretty good money on ebay

 

[302 coupe]

ditto, if it has a good grill, emblems, trim, etc., they'll usually sell for decent money. I'm using the tilt steering column, power bench seat, hydroboost master cylinder setup, and cruise control on another project. It can be a very valuable resource for parts. It'll be stripped clean when I get through with it. The purchase price has been partially paid for by miscellaneous odds and ends that I sold, not to mention I should get $150 or so when I scrap whats left of the body.