Front Suspension and Disk Brake Upgrade

[DKheld]

WOW -I've missed some excellent progress - nice work Henry.

Ok - gonna have to find out who was taking pictures over my sholder last time I had my Zip-ties out.

Hey - if it works - and you don't get killed -

I do remember having to jack the front of the car up a lot higher than expected when doing mine - something like 33 inches off the floor to get the lower A arm down far enough to release the spring. Luckily I was able to just lower the car and with the engine in (and a little bounce) I was able to install the spindles.

Not sure now if the spindles I had were off a '77 Tbird looking at the ones you have. That's just how they were advertised and I've since sold them so we'll never know. When installed - mine had too much positive camber. In order to adjust it to zero the top bolts on the A arms would have had to be lengthened to add more spacers and then the tires would have been outside the fenders.



Geeez - green with envy on the alignment machine. Currently mine is set with some negative camber. Drove like a dream with the Diamond Back Radials - not so great with the new Coker Classics. Going to have to find a shop and take out some of the camber. Tires are already wearing on the inside with only about 3K miles.

What are your plans for the flex lines to the front calipers?

I Used a GM line and a banjo bolt at the caliper.





Here's a pic from the web of the Granada line that I first bought. The solid portion was very close to the upper spring perch in a sharp turn and looked like it would be sheared off - plus the line was very tight because it was short so that's why I changed to the GM line and banjo.


Thanks for all the great pics.
Reminds me of the days when I was doing my conversion - about 13 years ago

Eric

[OX1]

What is your toe set at? Sometimes can get away with
more camber if you set toe at dead zero. Alignment
machine is mixed blessing, as now you have to do
every alignment yourself.

Painted calipers with POR-15 caliper paint.
Never tried that paint from them, but I
love my nomral gloss black POR-15, so
figured I'd give it a shot. It is not as thick
as the regular POR-15, so might need
multiple coats (I only did one coat).





Lines I'm using came off the parts car, they
are DOT approvd SS lines. They route a little
weird, but I already have them.



13 years?, that's quite a while ago. Think I was
working on getting Unimog axles on my bronco
back then. What a nightmare project that was.

Had to make my own spring and shock mounts,
new motor mount perches, 3 link front suspension,
custom drag link and track bar, and driveshafts.




Heck I even had to modify front diff housing
so diff didn't hit oil pan.



Anyway, I digress

Geeez - green with envy on the alignment machine. Currently mine is set with some negative camber. Drove like a dream with the Diamond Back Radials - not so great with the new Coker Classics. Going to have to find a shop and take out some of the camber. Tires are already wearing on the inside with only about 3K miles.

What are your plans for the flex lines to the front calipers?

Thanks for all the great pics.
Reminds me of the days when I was doing my conversion - about 13 years ago

Eric

[simplyconnected]

I'm a big believer in "Paint Over Rust" (POR-15, which is a rust converter) but it breaks down with UV (sunlight) so I paint over it. I like Rustoleum BBQ paint because it's high temp, very available and reasonably priced. One great feature of BBQ paint is how quick it dries. I also like the flat look, especially inside wheels. It works great on drums as well.

[Yadkin]

I'm a big believer in "Paint Over Rust" (POR-15, which is a rust converter) but it breaks down with UV (sunlight) so I paint over it. I like Rustoleum BBQ paint because it's high temp, very available and reasonably priced. One great feature of BBQ paint is how quick it dries. I also like the flat look, especially inside wheels. It works great on drums as well.

One irate poster on another forum blasted me for suggesting such heresy- using cheap paints on restoration projects. Thirty years ago I used a product called Naval Jelly to convert the rust left over after scraping and wire brushing the entire underside of my car, prior to brush-painting it with Rustoleum rusty metal red primer from a one gallon can. All the structural brackets, such as the front bumper struts below, I treated with Naval then painted with plow paint from a farm supply store. These parts that have not been subsequently over-painted are still looking good.

I probably purchased three or four spray cans of the plow paint back then for less than $3 per can. The last can was half used and I stored it in the trunk of the car, and there is it sat for 30 years until I resurrected the project and used up the rest of it to make some of the more visible brackets a more uniform finish.

[DKheld]

Not sure on the toe but remember the fellow telling me he was setting the car up as original then would adjust from there. Guessing the OEM setting for toe on the Tbird was 0 deg. Probably told the story but the shop aligning my car was supposed to give me a print out of the settings - lots of building going on in the area and within a few weeks of doing my alignment they had an outrageous offer on the property. I went back to get the settings because I was satisfied with the way it drove and they were closed for good.
One of these days Ill get it to a new shop around here and get both before and after settings. Was only a 2 wheel alignment. Even though you have to do the alignments yourself - at least you know they are done right (and if not you know who to blame - )

Your BroncoMog sounds like my brake conversion - dive in and just wing it.
Yep - around 2004 - this was long before the Scarebird brackets etc and virtually no info other than some guy saying he had "heard" of it done like this. Lost of trial and error but eventually "got-er-done".
That's a nice looking Bronco project - still have it?

x4 on the POR although I seldom "paint over rust".
When I restore MGA's......

the body comes off the frame.....

and I media blast the whole thing.....

then use POR black - Put the stuff on with a brush and it looks like it's been sprayed.......

Do most of the parts that way.
On the last one I've started spraying the frame with Rustoleum from a rattle-can after the POR. Takes about 4 of the larger cans with "25% more" paint. Doing for UV protection although I tell everyone the only time the frame on these cars will be exposed to UV is if the car has been flipped over.

Even paint the engines with POR MG Maroon and a brush. That stuff lays down so good you would think it was sprayed. Look at that intake reflection in the valve cover.


I could probably drive under the BroncoMog witout touching the frame....


Oh well - like you say - guess we better get back to the brakes....

[OX1]

I'm a big believer in "Paint Over Rust" (POR-15, which is a rust converter) but it breaks down with UV (sunlight) so I paint over it. I like Rustoleum BBQ paint because it's high temp, very available and reasonably priced. One great feature of BBQ paint is how quick it dries. I also like the flat look, especially inside wheels. It works great on drums as well.

I kind of forgot about BBQ paint, but I have used it in the
past also. Easily holds up to 500 degrees too!!

That's a nice looking Bronco project - still have it?

x4 on the POR although I seldom "paint over rust".
When I restore MGA's......

then use POR black - Put the stuff on with a brush and it looks like it's been sprayed.......
way.
On the last one I've started spraying the frame with Rustoleum from a rattle-can after the POR. Takes about 4 of the larger cans with "25% more" paint. Doing for UV protection although I tell everyone the only time the frame on these cars will be exposed to UV is if the car has been flipped over.

Even paint the engines with POR MG Maroon and a brush. That stuff lays down so good you would think it was sprayed. Look at that intake reflection in the valve cover.


I could probably drive under the BroncoMog witout touching the frame....
Oh well - like you say - guess we better get back to the brakes....

Yup, still have her, but she is a bit more beat up now.
The downside of having a hobby where you are guaranteed
to run into things. Did get some competition compound
"stickies" tires recently, unbelievable improvement. Guess
they better have been @ $3200 a set.

http://luxjo.supermotors.net/GREEN_DILYSI/SX%2043-S/2014-06-26_15-01-59_308a.jpg

Absolutely incredible project . Great job!!!

And I didn't even know they had POR-15 in red,
but I agree, smooths out even better than the powder
coat I did recently. And the POR-15 is much more
abrasion resistant than powder coat.

Getting back to SB's. I stumbled on the exact
old style looking comb valve in with the parts
from the disk brakes stuff that came off my parts
car. Even the valve for bleeding the front brakes still
worked fine. So I cleaned here up and painted her
with rust converter flat spray paint.



Dave hooked me up with some of the super
flexy hard brake line material
(Thanks!! Dave)

So I got the comb valve mounted and the front
and rear brake lines run.



I had the drivers side line running right along
top of steering box, right near inner fender
(this spot)



but it looked hokey there and the routing was
not the best. Ended up drilling hole in inner fender
and using a grommet to route line through.
Still not the best routing, but better than the other
way.



Put the Bootser/MC back in and ran lines from
MC to comb valve. Need to get some kind
of supports for the lines, not sure what I
want to use yet.





Also made a heat shield for under the MC.
Had some SS sheet a friend gave me a while
back. Still on the fence if I want to paint it.
It's almost too nice to do it, but the SS does
not really go with the "trying to keep it period
correct" looking