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This idea came to me while reading through the mini-stock tech forum of 4m.net where I read about using disc brakes on dirt and asphalt circle track racecars. One of the members there offered a set of caliper brackets that were designed for the Ford 8" rear. I contacted Bryan Wier of "Fly'n W Racing Services" in Colstrip Montana and a set were ordered. |
The brackets are designed to use 1984 to '93 Ford Escort front calipers that happen to have the same 4-lug pattern as my Mustang. (My cat seems to be wondering "what the hell's he up to now?")
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To fit the brackets to the Ford 8" required some machining on the axles that I was not equipped to do so I brought them over to my local machine shop. Here you can see one of the axle flanges being turned down so the Escort rotors will fit. The flange has to be reduced about 1/4" in diameter and the center hub has to be turned down about 20 thou.
Cal of KG Johnstone Inc. did a fantastic job. I wish I had the toys he has to play with! |
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The next step was to bolt the calipers to the brackets and then mount each assembly to the rotors. I used compressed air fed through the bleeders to hold the calipers onto the rotors. Then they were put on the axles and the axles slid into the housing and marked for trimming. I used a 5" angle grinder and hand files to size them. |
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(left) Trial fit on the drivers side.
I used a tire valve stem off of a truck mounted on the bleeder valve to keep the calipers in place with compressed air as I worked. I picked up new calipers for around $15 each and painted them with that "caliper paint" all the import racers rave about. I decided to use blue rather than the trendy hot pinks and neon greens...(uuugghh!) |
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Once I was happy with the fit of the brackets, I took them and the housing back to Cal for welding. My little MIG doesn't have enough power to do the job and as these are brakes I didn't trust my own welding. Great caution has to be taken to insure you don't warp or shrink the bearing ends or you'll never get the axles back in. The shop once again did a great job. Thanks!
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The final step was to grind the welds smooth (I used the angle grinder and a belt sander) and then mount the pads and weld on the pad retainers. This conversion requires about 1/16" be removed from the inside pads so that the brakes won't drag. Easily accomplished on a belt sander.
(left:) Trial fitting with a factory 13" x 5.5" rim to check for clearance. This will work with factory rims although I'm upgrading to 15" x 10" on my car. Only thing left is to plumb the brake lines.
Overall I was very pleased at how inexpensive this conversion was (about $100 each for parts and labor). It could of cost less using "wrecker" parts but as it's the braking system I decided to splurge and use all new parts. This set-up saves about 4 pounds per side from factory drums, improves braking yet allows use of the factory master cylinder. A win-win situation J |
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Emergency / Parking Brake:
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One drawback of the Escort calipers is that there is no provision for any emergency / parking brake. Since my car will be used on the street it was necessary to have one. I decided to go with a pinion mounted system as I had seen done on a few street rods. A quick internet search revealed a few suppliers but the price was far beyond what this "cheapo" will pay. It was time to do a little scavenging and build it myself. I found a manual spot caliper made by Airhart on sale at a local surplus store ($35). They also had discs available but they were only 6" diameter. My measurements showed I needed at least 7.25" to clear the pinion. I did look into using a disc off of a motorcycle or ATV but couldn't find the right one. I went back to my machinist Cal and had him cut a 8"circle out of 1/4" plate and then turn it on the lathe down to 7.25" dia. and 3/16" thick. |
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I then drew a pattern on the circle that would allow it to slip over the pinion without removing it and bolt on through the U-joint mounts. This was cut out using a jigsaw, angle grinder and hand files. Using leftover scraps of 1/4" plate steel, aluminum billet and grade 8 bolts, I made a bracket to mount the caliper to the rearend. I first tried mounting the disc using the factory U-bolts but found that I couldn't tighten it evenly without distorting the rotor so I fabricated some new U-joint mounts out of aluminum stock. The last thing required was an actuator cable. Rummaging through my junk I found a clutch cable out of a '77 V6 car fit the bill perfectly and will mount right up to my e-brake handle. |
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That's it so far, more updates to come!
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