Tweet
Has anyone used the disc brake retrofit kit from this web site www.abspowerbrake.com If so please advise if you would recommend it to others
-
-
hi!
We had a long discussion last summer about disk conversions and unearthed alot of valuable information. The thread is at
John1958 Hardtop
#8452 TBird Registry
http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)
photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
history:
http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htm -
-
I know two guys with that kit (one's a 57 and one's a 59) Both work flawlessly.
The stock drum (dumb) brakes on a Squarebird are a JOKE !! The car never would stop worth a darn, but when they went away from asbestos shoes years (decades) ago, it REALLY wouldn't stop. Then all the heat spots on the drums. Ford must have been on a serious budget, not upgrading the brakes from the littlebird (several hundred lbs lighter). Another fine example . . . Cable driven vacuum windshield wipers.
Then on the other hand they come up with a conv top system that would confuse todays Space Shuttle engineers. Go figure !!
Gotta love em !!Comment
-
John, from what I ever read, there were two issues leading to the lousy drums.
One was design. They were trying for a particular low profile and a larger drum (consistent with the substantially increased weight you cite) somehow stood in the way of that, leading them to use the same drums as on the 2 seater Bird. In other words the size of the drum and shoes is inappropriate for such a heavy car if you look at the square inch measurement, and, more significantly, style counted over safety.
Second issue was that disks were not yet in vogue for production cars in the US. I believe that the 1963 Studebaker Avanti was the first US production car with disks (I guess that Crosley's also had disks somewhere along the line but I am not really taking them into account). (In the two wheel world, the 1969 CB750 Honda was the first with a disk).
My stock drum system works about as well as possible and it is woefully inadequte...disks are in the future!
John1958 Hardtop
#8452 TBird Registry
http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)
photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
history:
http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htmComment
-
In 1961, Ford went to larger front drums. We had a 62 Mercury when I was a kid. It later became my "1st car" . It was every bit as heavy as the TB, (if not heavier) but it stopped fine. Not like a disc brake car, but you could stop it safely and in a straight line.
At one point, my dad had talked to his buddies at San Jose Ford about retro-fitting those larger brakes, but they weren't sure so they balked at the idea.Comment
-
To have more effective drums, it would seem they would need to be wider for more contact area. Don't know how feasible that would have been.
Does anyone know what the other Fords sported for drums in 1958?? And were they as heavy as the Squarebird? I wonder if it was "ahead of its time" in terms of weight and the rest of the line caught up in 1961, forcing new thinking about drums.
Sadly, I keep thinking that in 1958, they flat out didn't care about the quality of braking. When I get a minute I am going to re-read the test reviews from back then and see what they said about the brakes and also what stopping data they collected (I think these days 60 to 0 in about 125-130' is pretty good)
John1958 Hardtop
#8452 TBird Registry
http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)
photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
history:
http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htmComment
-
Hey Hawkrod
I do believe that Ford did have some vehicles with WIDER drums for better stopping power. Late fifties, early sixties. Hawkrod, I'm sure, would be a good resource for that subject.Comment
-
Maybe a Lincoln car???
sigpic
The 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The WORLD'S most wanted car....
VTCI Member#6287.Comment
-
Lincoln makes sense... big and heavy...
I have the June 1958 Hotrod article on line that reviewed
the TBird. There are no braking specs at all. There is a discussion of brakes in the article: "In fact the brakes proved above average under moderate or severe usage "
They also mentioned having to "true" the brakes at the start of the test which I think is what people call "radiusing" them.
If these guys found no reason to complain then I doubt Ford saw any motivation to upgrade them.1958 Hardtop
#8452 TBird Registry
http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)
photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
history:
http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htmComment
Comment