In case you haven't figured it out yet -- I treated the car to a disc brake conversion kit (albeit about 3 weeks early) for its grand 45th birthday. I purchased the "OEM style" kit from Classic Services Restoration Parts (CSRP), http://www.discbrakeswap.com/ the gentleman who (I presume) owns and operates the business is very friendly and super knowledgeable. I was torn between the Granada swap and the OEM swap because he offered both for the same price. I chose the OEM swap for the following reasons:
1. Granada swaps aren't as cheap as they once were by sourcing the parts from a junk yard. CSRP offered both the OEM style and the granada-swap style for the same price. I *really* wanted a kit from CSRP (versus, say, Stainless Steel Brake Corp) but the prices were identical so no win there.
2. I'd have to remove and swap the spindles. This means another alignment -- but no big deal. I got a lifetime alignment with Firestone. CSRP also asserted that their Granada tie rods do NOT have the bump steer characteristics found in the usual Granada tie rods. This is not a big deal, however, because Mustang Steve sells adapter rings that'll allow you to use the standard Mustang tie rods with the Granada spindles. Which brings me to #3:
3. I just put brand new tires on the car out of necessity. Although my 14" wheels are of the disc-brake-compatible variety, I know for a fact they wouldn't have fit over the Granada rotors.
4. It used to be that the disc brake parts for the old Mustang setup were more expensive than their Granada counterparts. The pads for a Granada are twice that of the original Mustang calipers, when comparing semi-metallic or ceramic pads from the same vendor (Raybestos).
The CSRP kit is a modernization of the disc brakes offered as a factory option on the 65-66 Mustang. The calipers are still 4 piston, and the crossovers are still external -- but the design has been updated and the metal treated with an anti-corrosion surface (which was a huge problem with the factory brakes years ago).
Now onto the project! I started taking everything apart, and FedEx showed up with the kit around 7:00P. At that point I was well involved with removing the right/passenger side drum setup. All told I spent about 3.5 hours today working on it.
The first thing I did was lay a tarp down (hey, this house is a rental).
Threw the car up on jack stands then removed the right/passenger side wheel
Here's what we have now: drum brakes at all four wheels and a single reservoir power boosted master cylinder (pictures in the morning). At the end of this exercise we will still have power brakes -- but discs in the front and drums in the back. To accomplish this we'll need (obviously) disc brakes, a new dual reservoir master cylinder, and a power brake booster. Unfortunately Ford never intended/designed the 65-66 Mustangs, Comets, and Falcons to have the safety-mandated (as of the 1967 model year) dual reservoir master cylinder AND power brakes (yes, even the factory power disc brakes offered on A/K code and Shelby Mustangs of 1965-66 had a single reservoir master cylinder + power booster). No problem just bolt a dual reservoir master cylinder onto your existing brake booster right? Not so fast.
In order to compensate for the clutch linkage on cars with power brakes and a manual transmission, the factory installed and designed bracket positions the brake booster about 3 inches off the firewall (pictures in the morning). Because of this, there isn't adequate space to keep the factory booster setup + a brand new safety-minded dual reservoir master cylinder. With my kit comes a booster + master cylinder + bracket setup that solves all of this. Since I have an automatic transmission its a bolt-in setup. If I had a manual, however, I'd have to convert to a cable-clutch or hydraulic clutch operated transmission. Mental note for the future if I decide to throw the T-5 transmission in.
Starting with the passenger/right side, first we knock the grease cap off:
Pull the cotter pin and retainer/castle nut off, then get the big 1 1/8" wrench to get the spindle nut:
From there (though no images), you reach around and locate the 4 bolts that hold the drum assembly to the spindle. These require a tool of your choice in the 9/16" flavor. I opted for the 1/2" ratchet fitted with the 9/16" socket. The fourth nut (if you are facing the drum, the lower left) is tougher to get to due to the steering stop on top of the strut rod mount. For this I used the ratcheting box wrench. This nut is also further away than the other, which we'll get to later when assembling the disc parts. You'll also note I have not taken apart the drum assembly. I figured I'd cut the rubber brake hose and not have to deal with the star nut, wheel cylinder mounting nuts, et al. One of my least favorite assemblies on the car.
Above is the removed drum assembly + severed rubber brake hose.
Now to separate the rubber brake hose from the hard line affixed to the car. I always remove the bracket first, only to have to go back and re-attach it to get any kind of leverage on the hard line/rubber hose fitting. Some things you just never learn. Mine had been semi rounded out by a previous owner a bit, so I had to use the ol' vice grips to hold it.
Above is the bare spindle with the old grease removed/cleaned up.
First the new backing plate goes on the spindle, followed by the dust shield. It is attached with 4 bolts and torqued down to ~ 45ft/lbs. Note there are three short and one long bolt. The long bolt goes in that lower left hole that's considerably deeper than the other three. The backing plate also is where the caliper will bolt to.
The bolted up bracket + shield (above).
The kit comes with two shields that look virtually identical. The cutout in the shield must face the 3-o-clock position on the right side and the 9-o-clock position on the left side. If your shield is in the 3-o-clock position on the right side but isn't resting flat against the backing plate, you've got the wrong shield. Use the other one.
From there you perform the standard-duty front wheel bearing service. Yes Virginia, get out the bearings and filth them and yourself up with grease. Also grease up the hub. Much like a drum assembly there is an inner and outer bearing -- and the kit comes with the races already pressed in. No visit to Walt at the machine shop for this project! The pre-loading and torque down procedures are also similar to how the drums were done. You tighten the spindle nut to 10-15 ft/lbs -- which is a bit more than the drum torque specs IIRC.
From there I bolted on the caliper (with anti-sieze compound coating the threads -- provided with the kit!) and wrestled the grease cap in place. Following that I attached the crossover. Here's the "done" right/passenger side disc assembly, sans the hydraulic brake line behind it:
From there I removed the master cylinder and power booster with much WD-40 and a bit of heat to the brake line flare fittings. I was pretty filthy at that point so I didn't bother to snap pictures. I'll make up for it tomorrow.
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