I am just starting to learn suspension, but this sounds like the way to go in my newbie-like opinion on the subject.
You are saying that 68 Bird spindles will fit our cars (with the exception of the ball joint size), correct?
Then with the spindles adapted, you should be able to use all the factory hubs, rotors, brackets, calipers, etc...
You can't beat that.
Spacers for the joints should be no problem.
Who's to say that you can't just use the Bird ball joints bolted into our control arms???
Any comment on that idea?
The main issue I see with using the tbird spindle is that it very well could change the track width of the car. I doubt it would narrow the track width either. If it makes the track width wider, then we will all have to be careful when using larger wheels/tires because it will push them further out and may cause quarter pannel interfierence.
Chaning the upper ball joint to match the tbird might not be all that hard. ACDELCO Part # 45D0015 or #88911386 would give you a 4 bolt Mustang upper ball joint to compair against. Kragen lists Rare Parts Upper Ball Joint P/N 10131. Unfortunately they don't have a picture. I don't know if that is a 3 or 4 hole ball joint or what.
The lower arm is where it becomes a pain in the ass. I would imagine you would provably need to remove the lower ball joint, remove the stocket for the lower ball joint, weld in a new socket for the ball joint the correct size for the Tbird ball joint and then find a lower ball joint the right size which provably wont be easy. Apparently there is a left side and right side for the ball joints.... Kragen lists Rare Parts PN 10132 Lower Ball Joint Right and P/N 10133 Rare Parts PN 10132 Lower Ball Joint Left. Each of those 4 ball joints is about 100 bux each so now we are talking labor plus 400 bux. At that point just buy the Cobra Automotive bracket... it would end up being cheaper due to labor costs.
Another option may be to go with screw in lower ball joints and try to find one with the correct taper for the Tbird spindle. It would be as much trouble initially but finding the right ball joint would be provable. Again, this is going to make for some high expense in control arm modification.
Yet another option is to use an adaptor (like was mentioned) because I think the ball joint on the Tbird is bigger. You would only need 1 adaptor if you changed the upper ball joint, again the expense may not be worth changing the upper and just using adaptors/spacers all the way around.
The 1968 Ford Full Size rotor (Raybestos 6008) is not a "drum hub type". It mounts, like all 60's Ford disc/hub assemblies, to the back of disc hubs, which are different from drum hubs.
An alternative is to use Rabestos rotors and aluminium hats in combination with drum hubs. A little more expensive (2 x $75 for the hats and 2 x $50 for the rotors), but significantly lighter. This is similar (or actually identical) to the Cobra Automotive kit.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Why wouldn't it work ? Using the drum hub is the same thing that all the kits puting late model Cobra brakes on the classics do. I think I'm just not understanding it. Can you give some part numbers for the hats/rotors you are talking about ?
i don't even know anyone that has one of the brackets to get the drwaings from, nor do i have any of the parts to even get a rough estimate from. so far i have a set of stock 69 drum spindles and a set of original 69 disc brake hubs.
the drawback to this system is that it's really very heavy, though it still works quite well, even today.
one of these days if ever get rich, i'm going to buy me a bridgeport and build my own billet aluminum version of these calipers, don't see that happening anytime in the near or even nearly distant future though.
I know for a fact one of the members on this message board has a set of the brackets waiting to be installed. An aluminum of these would be badass, but I would like to see the calipers use an internal cross-over if possible. The external cross over kind of annoys me.