Unknown brake conversion on a 62

[Yadkin]

We have a 62 TBird in the shop now for a transmission swap and the previous owner did a front disc brake conversion. He told the current owner that it was all Ford stuff, possibly from a Granada. I have two issues with it.

Photo 1 is the inboard view of the passenger side and you can clearly see the oval on the cast caliper bracket. On the right side there is a steel attachment fastened with a short bolt, large diameter but thin head, with an allen head drive. The casting is Ford but maybe the plate and bolt are aftermarket?

Photo 2 is a rear view. The wheels are straight and the OE stop is very close to the caliper. This car must have a turning circle of about 500', so that's my first issue.

Photo 3 from above looking into the piston. It's not centered on the pad at all and I'm concerned this is causing deflection in the caliper. The drivers side was dragging hard when he drove the car in and I think this may be the cause.

Any thoughts on what this conversion is if my concerns are valid would be helpful.

[Yadkin]

Here are the pictures.

[DKheld]

Yep - looks like Granada / Versailles parts. I couldn't use those Granada hoses on the '60 conversion because the solid part that sticks out interfered and they were also too short. Went with a banjo type hoses on mine.


Not the little plate though?

Eric

[Yadkin]

Awesome pictures- thanks. Do you have an issue with the placement of the piston relative to the pads? How about the interference with the steering stop?

[DKheld]

No problem!!!

I did find the piston/pad placement a bit odd but it works fine and 100X better than the old drums. Haven't noticed any unusual wear to the outside of the pad but guess I only have about 15K miles on them.

Steering stop (or lack of) was a problem with the short Granada hoses. The hose was under the upper A arm in a tight turn so I imagined a tight turn with a pot hole shearing the hose off of the caliper. That's why I switched to the banjo style hoses. All good now.

No issues with the calipers clearing everything in a turn and radius seems to be the same or better. I did have a rubbing noise in a sharp turn at speeds above 25ish mph. Never could find any evidence of what was rubbing. 99% sure it's the lip on the bottom of the lower A arm pushing the backing plate into the rotor. I shaved off the edge of the lips on the bottom of the A arms a bit and it seems to have cured the problem.

Here's a pic without the rotor or caliper and maybe you can see where the lip would push against the bottom of the backing plate or dust shield.



When it gets to be cooler weather I need head down to your shop in the Tbird so we can swap stories. Might even let you take it for a spin. :-)


Eric

[Yadkin]

Eric, look on post 2, 2nd photo. The original steering stop on this car is on the back of the control arm, about 1/2" from the caliper. Did you cut yours off?

Head on up to Mocksville any time, just let me know in advance as I am only there a couple hours/ week. Or better yet, come to the Mocksville Cruise-In.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1480987682115276/

It's every 1st Monday, 5:30pm -8:00, April-September and well attended. In fact you'll have to arrive before just to get a parking spot most times.

[DKheld]

Mine's a '60 so didn't have that stop.

That Mocksville cruise-in looks fun. I have Mondays off every now and then with my rotating schedule so should be able to make it early enough. Soon as the weather cools down a bit I'll head that way.


Eric

[booalou]

Question

Do you have a picture on how the calipers are attached?

[Yadkin]

The first photo in post 2 is the best that I have. The car is back with its owner.

[DKheld]

On the Granada conversion that I did on my car the calipers are notched and pivot in place.
Add the bottom bracket and spring clip then secure that with the large screw.

The caliper mounting bracket and vertical link is black in this picture. The caliper is grey, the caliper retaining bracket is brownish along with the round screw and the spring clip is silver resting on top of the caliper retaining bracket at the bottom of the caliper. All the spring clip does is keep the caliper from rattling in the bracket. There are two notches in the caliper retaining bracket but only one is used - no hole in the mounting bracket for two screws - kind of makes it look like something is missing but that's just the way it's designed. But it's all just bolted to the vertical link like in Yadkin's photo.


Here's a pic from a different angle. Can't see the top bolt because of the dust shields but bottom is visible.


Close up of bottom bolt and as you can see only one hole for the retaining screw in the caliper bracket.

Hope that helps,
Eric