Brake upgrade?
Printed From: The Ford Torino Page
Category: Model Specific Forum
Forum Name: 1972-1976 Ford and Mercury
Forum Description: Technical discussion for 1972-1976 Ford and Mercury
URL: https://forum.grantorinosport.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=16664
Printed Date: 22-April-2024 at 10:53PM
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Brake upgrade?
Posted By: Carl
Subject: Brake upgrade?
Date Posted: 27-October-2017 at 5:12AM
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Curious to know if any of you have done anything to upgrade your brakes. I recently came across an article detailing how Shelby installed 67 Fairlane wagon brakes on his Mustangs as an upgrade, so I took a look at Rockauto, and it appears that Montego/Torino wagons had bigger brakes too. 11" drums vs. 10" on the rear, and 11.72" rotors vs. 10.72 on the front. Doing a "period correct" upgrade sounds kind of cool to me. Using station wagon brakes on the rear seems easy enough, just replace all the parts, but I'm not so sure on the front. The rotors are obviously bigger, but the calipers are the same. There must be a difference in the Knuckle, or caliper bracket, or maybe it's drilled for both? I haven't looked closely enough to figure that out yet. Apparently, the bigger brakes require a 15" wheel, so this wouldn't work for those of you running factory 14" wheels. I was surprised to find the smaller brakes on my Montego GT, so the bigger ones must have been wagon only. Advise? Comments? Opinions? |
Replies:
Posted By: aquartlow
Date Posted: 27-October-2017 at 6:51AM
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Not sure if this info will be at all helpful, but here goes: 9 times out of 10 the larger 11.72" rotors also have the larger 5 on 5" bolt pattern. There were a couple/few years where F/L/M used the larger rotor with the 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern, but the changes don't stop there, add in differences in (A)spindle design, (B)wheel bearing difference, (C)caliper and/or (D)caliper mounting brackets and it can quickly become confusing. I have stated in another thread where you can just re-drill the larger 5 on 5" 11.72" diameter rotors for 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern to save the headaches of spindle change(the larger rotors use the exact same wheel bearings and seal as the 10.72" rotors) and etc. to get larger/better front brake rotor size. This mod does require the larger fullsize(Lincoln) bracket caliper mounting brackets(direct bolt-on) and retains the '73-'79 calipers. As far as larger rear drum assemblies mounted onto small bearing housings, I have a '72 Lincoln Mark IV rear axle under my '79 Ranchero, it is a small bearing design but had 11"x 2.25" rear drums. When I modified my braking system to use 2000 Ford Crown Vic rotors/calipers front and rear it did not take long to sell that rear drum set-up. Most 11" rear drums did not come on small bearing housing, they were usually relegated to 10" drums, the axle retainer bolt pattern(2.00" X 3.375") is the biggest hurdle to over come and the '72 Mark IV had that pattern. Larger rotors and/or calipers usually require larger wheels, as you previously have found. ------------- www.supermotors.net/22468 Yeah, It's a Hybrid...It burns gas and tires. No matter how good she looks, somebody, somewhere, is tired of her sh*t. Beauty is skin deep, ugliness goes clear to the bone. |
Posted By: californiajohnny
Date Posted: 27-October-2017 at 10:46AM
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yes what todd said! FYI after 74 the bearing sizes for the spindles are the same full size to mid size cars ------------- JOHN 74 GRAN TORINO S&H CLONE 74 VETTE CUSTOM 90 S10 BLAZER 4X4 LIFTED 77 CELICA CUSTOM 75 V8 MONZA SUPERCHARGED 79 COURIER VERT. SLAMMED 75 VEGA V6 5 SPD 70 CHEV C10 P/U 68 MUSTANG FB CONVERSION |
Posted By: Rockatansky
Date Posted: 27-October-2017 at 3:13PM
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the wagon rear backing plates with the correct axle flange pattern bolt may be tricky to find these days now i wonder what those backing plates I've been saving are? ------------- 72 GT Ute |
Posted By: Billy C
Date Posted: 28-October-2017 at 12:43PM
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There was a detailed thread on this at some point. From my experience, the problem ends up being quality rotors. I seemed to warp the stock aftermarket replacement rotors so fast. I ended up taking the plunge and going to 5 on 5 with a totally custom front brake setup. I have a rebuild 79 Lincoln axle in the back but the brakes actually seem a little bit too large for the setup. I haven't got around to playing with it much but having taper rollers in the back is worth the upgrade in its self. The small ball bearing housings are pretty crappy especially for high side loading with modern tires. ------------- -Billy Conturo |
Posted By: russosborne
Date Posted: 28-October-2017 at 2:06PM
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Carl, the devil is in the details. It matters which car you have. 72 and I believe early 73 have a different sized spindle (as far as the bearings go). So which you have will determine what you can do. Unless you want to swap spindles that is.  I am currently gathering pieces to do the 72 Thunderbird 12 inch front brake swap on my 72 Ranchero. It sounds like the cheaper way would be for me to swap newer spindles in and buy the 5x5 lug pattern rotors and have them redrilled. If I can't find the Thunderbird rotors I may have to consider that route. Here is a good review of what is what for the front disk brakes upgrades using factory Ford brakes. http://forum.grantorinosport.org/front-brake-upgrades-info_topic13965.html" rel="nofollow - http://forum.grantorinosport.org/front-brake-upgrades-info_topic13965.html Note that you HAVE to use the larger Ford caliber mounting bracket if you go with the 12 (really 11.7)inch rotors. The calipers however are the same. It can get really confusing fast though. I have some other links to threads here on the site that may help or may make it really bad if you want. Russ |