Boss T/A front brake upgrade (Lincoln/Tbird calipers) thread

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Well it may take a longer then a few minutes, but it couldn't take 8 hours unless the person that programed the machine wasn't very good at programing the machine. I've seen some complex stuff done in a CNC machine in 45min.
 
I've now got a stand built for my spindles and I bought a pair of hubs from enferno (on this forum). Next item on the shoping list is going to be a pair of rotors that will work with the drum hubs. After that, I can buy some thin metal stock and start making a bracket.

This project is NOT DEAD !
 
Ok, I got my hubs in the mail a little while ago and I mounted one onto my spare spindle which is mounted on that stand I made.

The next step is a rotor. I'm still not sure what direction to go in for this. There is some appeal in using the wilwood parts because they are nice and light but at the same time, I don't like to buy stuff from a specialty vendor because there is no competition in price and what happens if they go out of business ? So what rotor do you guys think I should try with this ? It needs to be something that will fit a drum hub...

Any suguestions as far as what material to start fabricating a bracket with ?

Any chance I can get some people excited about this project again ?

Any other suguestions ?
 
funny you should mention that!!! i was just playing around with this again tonight and may have come up with another combo using my same 70-72 LTD rotor with a corvette caliper, either from a 93-96 J-55 brake equipped car or a 97-up car, the 93-96 uses a PBE caliper and the 97-up uses a GM caliper as far as i can tell, possibly the same or very similar to the 2000 up 1/2 ton truck caliper.


i like this setup so far because the calipers and rotors are pretty cheap if you order them from the right place

match that with 68-75 ford F-250 with front disc master cylinder and either some rear discs or the big 11x2.25 inch rear drums and it should be a pretty sweet system.

i've also been considering the F-250 2 piston calipers as well but i probably won't use them.

i'm also still considering using the stock rotors and either 2 piston PBR's from a 99-04 stang or some SSBC aluminum "quick change" 67 K-H style calipers too.

one thing i'm really, really considering right now is using the ebay 70 LTD rotors i posted earlier from rotorpros and the corvette PBR calipers on 70-73 mustang or granada disc spindles. i think i can do it like the granada PBR conversion or close to that idea anyway.
 
i'm also still considering using the stock rotors and either 2 piston PBR's from a 99-04 stang or some SSBC aluminum "quick change" 67 K-H style calipers too.

Stay the hell away from these. Those GT calipers don't stop as well as the original 67 K/H 4 piston calipers. I've got a set siting in a box that came off of my driver. They don't stop that great and they always end up squeeking when the dumbass slide pin starts to stick.

Didn't the LTD rotors mount to the back of a hub instead of the front ?

Edit:
Never mind, thats the one with the integrated hub.
 
if you dont mind swapping to 16" wheels that would be a nice idea. those calipers barely fit my F250 with 16.5" wheels.


true, but the f-250 rotor is almost 12.75" too, i'd would be using a 12" rotor.

like i said, at the moment it's just a thought. i don't have any of these too play with at the moment, just some general dimensions, so i don't know exactly what will fit what yet. i do know that the 70 LTD rotors and 65-67 t-bird or 65-69 continental will work and we have the blueprint for the bracket somewhere and the f-250 caliper is similar to the t-bird/lincoln caliper in dimension anyway.
 
The next step is a rotor. I'm still not sure what direction to go in for this. There is some appeal in using the wilwood parts because they are nice and light but at the same time, I don't like to buy stuff from a specialty vendor because there is no competition in price and what happens if they go out of business ? So what rotor do you guys think I should try with this ? It needs to be something that will fit a drum hub...

Any suguestions as far as what material to start fabricating a bracket with ?

Any chance I can get some people excited about this project again ?

Any other suguestions ?

I wouldn't be (and in fact am not) worried about the Wilwood pieces as being "specialty" parts. I don't know which kit you're looking at purchasing, but the kit I have uses an industry standard 8 bolt x 7" pattern to which I've bolted a non Wilwood 12.125x1.25 rotor.

There are at least a half a dozen companies that make rotors for this configuration with several different designs from low buck to hi zoot. Using the C5 PBR caliper (not sure which years constitute the C5) the lower mounting hole for the stock disc brake caliper just needs to be enlarged slightly for the metric bolt, and a spacer used between the basket and the spindle boss to center the caliper over the rotor. The length of the spacer will depend on what rotor/hub combo you end up using. The calipers are available rebuilt at any major auto parts store (as well as used from Corvette wrecking yards like I got mine for even cheaper).

I haven't had any issues with braking performance so far. For a car that only sees occasional track time, this is a great set up. For a car that was intended as primarily a track car I'd get a race caliper that was easier to change the pads, and had inexpensive race pads available.
 
I wouldn't be (and in fact am not) worried about the Wilwood pieces as being "specialty" parts. I don't know which kit you're looking at purchasing, but the kit I have uses an industry standard 8 bolt x 7" pattern to which I've bolted a non Wilwood 12.125x1.25 rotor.

That is some super important info. I didn't know it was a standard patern and you can get rotors from just about several vendors. That was the very thing that stood in the way of me using a setup with a seperated hat/rotor.

Maybe you can answer this question for me too. Can I get a replacement rotor from a regular parts house or would I have to mail order stuff from these different specialty companies ?
 
That is some super important info. I didn't know it was a standard patern and you can get rotors from just about several vendors. That was the very thing that stood in the way of me using a setup with a seperated hat/rotor.

Maybe you can answer this question for me too. Can I get a replacement rotor from a regular parts house or would I have to mail order stuff from these different specialty companies ?



not from a regular parts house but i would be willing to bet you could find them within say 50-60 miles of where you are, hell, i can probably get them here in town in BFE Lubbock, Texas. i just don't want to use that style of rotor on my car.
 
I wouldn't be (and in fact am not) worried about the Wilwood pieces as being "specialty" parts. I don't know which kit you're looking at purchasing, but the kit I have uses an industry standard 8 bolt x 7" pattern to which I've bolted a non Wilwood 12.125x1.25 rotor.

There are at least a half a dozen companies that make rotors for this configuration with several different designs from low buck to hi zoot. Using the C5 PBR caliper (not sure which years constitute the C5) the lower mounting hole for the stock disc brake caliper just needs to be enlarged slightly for the metric bolt, and a spacer used between the basket and the spindle boss to center the caliper over the rotor. The length of the spacer will depend on what rotor/hub combo you end up using. The calipers are available rebuilt at any major auto parts store (as well as used from Corvette wrecking yards like I got mine for even cheaper).

I haven't had any issues with braking performance so far. For a car that only sees occasional track time, this is a great set up. For a car that was intended as primarily a track car I'd get a race caliper that was easier to change the pads, and had inexpensive race pads available.

any pics or other info you have on what you did? it would certainly be helpful when i get ready to do it myself, though i'll probably use the 70 LTD rotors on a 70-up disc or granada spindle
 
Maybe you can answer this question for me too. Can I get a replacement rotor from a regular parts house or would I have to mail order stuff from these different specialty companies ?

Sorry, unless you live down the street from a circle track race shop, they're pretty much only available through internet/mail order. I should also mention that since large wheels and tires have come into vogue on production cars, there are several new competing bolt patterns for larger rotors.

bnickel said:
any pics or other info you have on what you did? it would certainly be helpful when i get ready to do it myself, though i'll probably use the 70 LTD rotors on a 70-up disc or granada spindle

I'll try to take some pics using some spare parts to give you an idea of what I did. I really don't want to take the hubs off right now though.
 
I'll try to take some pics using some spare parts to give you an idea of what I did. I really don't want to take the hubs off right now though.



i don't expect you take the hubs off but if you could get some pics of the brakes mounted up without the wheel that would be great, basically looking for pics of how you attached the caliper to the spindle, heck if you can get some decent pics with the wheels turned and not have to take the wheel off that would work too.

then again if you have a spare caliper and spindle and can show that i'd be grateful for that even. :nice:
 
looky what i found Rusty........billet aluminum BIG BRAKE K/H style calipers.....woohoo!!!!!!

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page 122, part #30768 :nice:

haven't got a price on them yet, waiting for an email back from them, hopefully they won't be ungodly expensive. i also found a guy on ebay who sells the brackets too, they are still in the $300 range but from what i heard Cobra Auto went up to like $400 or so on theirs. so my plan is now back the RotorPros cross-drilled, slotted and zinc washed 71/72 LTD rotors, and these calipers with the ebay guys brackets. now Degins just needs to come out with his dropped spindles and hopefully we'll be able to use this brake setup on them.


edit: oh yeah, in addittion to these i also found out that wilwood makes a bolt-on replacement 4-piston SuperLite caliper for the c3 vettes that could probably be adapted as well, but that would definitely take a custom bracket but i've found the calipers on ebay for right at $300 for the front pair with the 1.88" pistons. so that could be another option if these calipers turn out to be too expensive.