does anyone have a simular problem with braking on the 58-60 T-bird? when I brake after going 50 or 60 miles an hour the car tends to nose dive, how can I stop this? I hada front end alignment and my brakes were adjusted.
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braking on square birds
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RE: braking on square birds
If you have the original brake set up (drums).......its just the nature of the beast. There is alot of weight up front you are trying to stop.......and its the one aspect of the car that the original engineers never really conquered. One of the problems they noticed was just what you are describing.......a "nosedive" on hard braking. I myself have given up on the drums and will put disc brakes on my "beast" next spring.
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RE: braking on square birds
I never thought about weight distribution however you are right on the money with your explaination.Thepower system stops well hwever you do feel a certain loss of frontal control, I guess the brakes, power steering and electic windows were new to ford and the bugs had not been worked out. thanks! on putting disc brakes on my car if it's easy and I don't have to change rims it could happen!
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RE: braking on square birds
Ive thought about one of those bolt on kits that are now available.......but my wheels wont clear the calipers ...........and my center hole will be to small to slide over the rotor. Ive been reading that the 65-66 t-bird wheels will work since they came with disc brakes anyway. Of course with anything like this........its gonna take some $$$$$. I will have to get new tires also since the 65-66 wheels are 15 inches..........I see alot of overtime at work in the near future.............ahhhhhhh the things we do for love !!!
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RE: braking on square birds
In any vehicle, approximately 70% of the stopping is done by the front brakes. The nose is "diving" because you are putting most of the weight on the front when you apply the brakes and because you have soft suspension. Adding disk brakes will only increase the braking power in front and add to the nosedive, BUT it will have improved your stopping power. In short, unless you stiffen up the front suspension, regardless of the car, this goes with the territory! The motorcycle designers, back in the '80s, made a serious attempt to deal with this by having the front damping in the suspension increase when the brakes were applied. It worked reasonably well.
John
58 Hardtop
1958 Hardtop
#8452 TBird Registry
http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)
photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
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