Improving brakes

[Cool67]

Does anyone know which brake upgrade gives you the most improved stopping power for the money: 1) upgrading the front drum brakes with disc brakes, 2) adding a power booster to the drum brakes 3) or is there another better way of improving the brakes.

 

[66P51GT]

Do you have a budget in mind? Based on your username and post, you have drum brakes on a '67, right?

You should also take advantage of the forum search. There have been hundreds of topics regarding brake upgrades.

 

[jaredgoodwin]

www.mustangsteve.com

I put Granada front discs and power brake conversion on my 67. Like day and night.

 

[Max Power]

While drums will stop just about as well as discs, they fade in a huge hurry and require a large amount of pedal effort to do it.

By far the most user friendly and effective brake set up is front discs, which is why every new car on the road today has them.

 

[Cool67]

Do you have a budget in mind? Based on your username and post, you have drum brakes on a '67, right?

You should also take advantage of the forum search. There have been hundreds of topics regarding brake upgrades.[/QUOTE


This is my first mustang and my first post, so I'm new to all this. I do have drum brakes and am on a budget. I could spend up to a $1K if the upgrade makes a significant difference.

I will search the forum for more info. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Cool67]

www.mustangsteve.com

I put Granada front discs and power brake conversion on my 67. Like day and night.

I looked at your "how to" section on your website. It looks too complicated for me. But thanks for replying.

 

[Cool67]

While drums will stop just about as well as discs, they fade in a huge hurry and require a large amount of pedal effort to do it.

By far the most user friendly and effective brake set up is front discs, which is why every new car on the road today has them.

Would adding a power booster to a drum brake system be just as good as having disk brakes or would there still be the fading problem?

 

[Hack]

Would adding a power booster to a drum brake system be just as good as having disk brakes or would there still be the fading problem?

The drum brakes on your car will always fade. They fade due to heat build up, which will not change with a booster.

Another disadvantage of drums is that they have a tendency to lock up when applied rapidly as in for an emergency stop. Discs are much easier to modulate.

Granada front discs are a change I would highly recommend. I just added them to my car last spring. The car stops much better. You should know that it's not enough for me. I want to upgrade to a more modern caliper. Granada discs can be upgraded to the PBR caliper that is original equipment on '99 - '04 Mustang V6 and GT models. I expect this will be an even bigger improvement. If you search this forum for "PBR caliper" you will find links to instructions and drawings for the brackets for this upgrade.

There are also kits available aftermarket, but I like to recommend the cheapest way to go after projects.

Good luck!

 

[snowball]

Another thing to consider here is that if your car is a daily driver, drum brakes have a horrible tendency to not work or pull to one side if they get wet. I'd personally eliminate drums form consideration and go for discs.

 

[Route666]

If you want to spend the dosh (although some versions aren't that pricey really) get a Baer disc kit.

 

[87gn2]

If you want to spend the dosh (although some versions aren't that pricey really) get a Baer disc kit.

You can get the base Baer kit for around 800, I think.

 

[Pbum5]

You can get the base Baer kit for around 800, I think.

Where can you get it for that?

 

[DarkBuddha]

Where can you get it for that?

A better question is which Baer kit is it? I think their 12" no option kit is around $800 (meaning non-crossdrilled, non-slotted, non-zinc coated, basic calipers). But the oh-so-popular-often-thought-of-when-Baer-is-mentioned 13" crossdrilled, slotted, zinc coated, polished calipers kit is a lot more coin.

 

[Pbum5]

A better question is which Baer kit is it? I think their 12" no option kit is around $800 (meaning non-crossdrilled, non-slotted, non-zinc coated, basic calipers). But the oh-so-popular-often-thought-of-when-Baer-is-mentioned 13" crossdrilled, slotted, zinc coated, polished calipers kit is a lot more coin.

Ok,
well where can you get those kits at? I am having trouble finding Baer Kits for classic stangs on the web.

any websites to look at?

 

[Route666]

http://www.baer.com/

Not sure if you can order from them or not though.

 

[LanceMach]

You can get Baer brakes from Street or Track (disclaimer - the owners are friends of mine, but they are good guys nonetheless!). You can drop them an email and tell them you're looking for discs for a street car and don't want to spend over $X - they'll let you know if they can set you up or not (Baer does tend to be very pricey).

If you can't afford Baer, I'd recommend checking out Stainless Steel Brake for an all inclusive kit. You dont need 13 inch calipers for the street: even their basic kit will be a vast improvement over drums overall. Both of the owners of Street or Track have used the Stainless kits and did VERY well on road racing courses - Bill is lucky enough to have moved up to some BIG Baer brakes...

 

[DarkBuddha]

I didn't have time before, but just to get back to original question for a moment:

Does anyone know which brake upgrade gives you the most improved stopping power for the money: 1) upgrading the front drum brakes with disc brakes, 2) adding a power booster to the drum brakes 3) or is there another better way of improving the brakes.

A front disc brake conversion is probably the best thing to start with to improve braking, in addition to converting to a dual resevoir master cylinder (which you'll need if you switch to discs anyway). Sure you can spend dones a bunch of cash on Wilwood, SSBC, or Baer, which is great if you've got the cash.

If you don't have a bunch, you might be tempted to try to go cheap with a used Granada swap. Notice the words in bold type... try and used... lots of folks have done the Granada swap with good success, but after hearing about many of the conversions, I don't think they're all that cheap after you buy all the used parts and rebuild the calipers, hone the rotors (or get new ones), new hoses, etc. Instead, consider a less expensive all new component kit from R&C Motorsports for $350: http://www.rcmotorsports.net/page13.html . I only know these guys by reputation, but they're supposed be good.

Anyway, beyond the front disc upgrade and a new dual well master cylinder, you'll probably want to add a power brake booster, an adjustable proportioning valve, good pads, sticky tires, and a good balanced suspension. I talked about some of this stuff in another thread recently. You might check it out: http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=513418&highlight=brakes

Hope this helps...

 

[WORTH]

I'd do the booster first, that is a 1000% inprovement over manual, then when you have the money go with the discs in the front.

67-69 MUSTANG 9" BOOSTER & MASTER CYLINDER
$309.99 $179.99 Our Price!
HBM 24267911
67-70 MUSTANG 9" SINGLE DIAPHRAGM POWER BOOSTER AND MASTER CYLINDER. DIRECT REPLACEMENT SAME AS BENDIX 2518068. POWER PEDAL ALSO AVAILABLE FOR NON-POWER CARS. See HRP 2450367. Click on the hyperlink to view the power brake pedal. We offer the pedal at a reduced price when purchasing the booster and master cylinder, this pedal can be bought seperately, but the price is higher. Save by buying it as a set.

Power Brake Pedal- $75.00

http://www.hotrodsusa.com/store/brakesmustang.html

 

[87gn2]

A better question is which Baer kit is it? I think their 12" no option kit is around $800 (meaning non-crossdrilled, non-slotted, non-zinc coated, basic calipers). But the oh-so-popular-often-thought-of-when-Baer-is-mentioned 13" crossdrilled, slotted, zinc coated, polished calipers kit is a lot more coin.

They (baer) quoted me 1049 for the 13" Track kit with the cross drilled/slotted rotors.

 

[Pbum5]

You can get Baer brakes from Street or Track (disclaimer - the owners are friends of mine, but they are good guys nonetheless!). You can drop them an email and tell them you're looking for discs for a street car and don't want to spend over $X - they'll let you know if they can set you up or not (Baer does tend to be very pricey).

If you can't afford Baer, I'd recommend checking out Stainless Steel Brake for an all inclusive kit. You dont need 13 inch calipers for the street: even their basic kit will be a vast improvement over drums overall. Both of the owners of Street or Track have used the Stainless kits and did VERY well on road racing courses - Bill is lucky enough to have moved up to some BIG Baer brakes...

Thanks..