New Technical Tip On Front Brake Disc Conversion

[YellowRose]

Gary Hamm~1946Hamm, has done the front disc brake conversion on his '60 Tbird and has graciously supplied me with a lot of pictures and additional information. I have put it all together in a new Technical Tips web page and put it on the temporary Technical Resource Library. You will it here and then click on the Gary Hamm entry.

http://squarebirds.fortunecity.com/Technical/master.htm

I hope you find it very useful. He has a lot of information here. I have been working on this for the last couple of days, and I think it looks presentable now to post. He has not done the master cylinder/power booster change out yet because it is now to cold to do so. Give him a big thanks for putting this all together for me to put onto a web page!

BTW, this is the temporary TRL where you will find old Tech Tips that I have been able to restore from the Home page Technical link. Also the new Tech Tips are going on here, so you will want to bookmark this web page for future use.

[ParTaxer]

Very helpful! Thank you to all who worked on getting us a very detailed look. I purchased 14" Granada wheels but the offset (from center of hub to back plane of the wheel) is 2.75". The room for the disk brake inset is 3.0". I have both 5.5 and 6.0 widths and the offsets are the same and will have the same tires. Were all parts purchased through Scarebirds or just the braket?

[YellowRose]

New Technical Tip On Front Brake Disc Conversion

Hi Michael!

It is my understanding that Gary bought the Hot Rods kit that is shown on the web page. I don't know if he bought the kit through Scarebird or not. Feel free to PM, or email Gary if you have further questions.

[simplyconnected]

That's a mighty fine job, Gary! Thanks for posting the pictures, Ray.

I have a couple questions about this setup:
* Are your Granada rotor snouts turned down to accept 'regular' Ford wheel centers?
* What wheels did you use? I don't see a picture with a wheel mounted on the finished rotor, and I don't remember the Granada's coming with 15" wheels.

* What was the price of your kit?
* How much was shipping?
- Dave

[Guest]

That's a mighty fine job, Gary! Thanks for posting the pictures, Ray.

I have a couple questions about this setup:
* Are your Granada rotor snouts turned down to accept 'regular' Ford wheel centers?
* What wheels did you use? I don't see a picture with a wheel mounted on the finished rotor, and I don't remember the Granada's coming with 15" wheels.

* What was the price of your kit?
* How much was shipping?
- Dave

Dave: The rotor snouts were not turned down. They measure 2 3/4" and regular Ford Granada disc brake wheels should fit them since they are Granada rotors. I'm not sure what you mean by regular Ford wheel centers?

I had 14X6 Superior california wires from the early 80's on it and am putting 15X6 wire basket wheels on it. I think they are American Racing wheels. Both of my wheels (14" and 15" fit the new setup.

The kit was $525.00 and shipping was $60.00
I checked the local auto parts stores and I could have gotten the parts for around $320 with sales tax. The brackets and spacers by themselves are $195 plus $15 shipping.

I could have saved about $50-$60 by getting the parts locally or basically the cost of shipping.

I hope this answers you questions.

Gary

[DKheld]

Say Gary - that's a nice conversion - thanks for posting all the information - great install tips !!!

My Tbird was purchased new by my Dad so when I converted to discs 5 or 6 years back I wanted to keep it as original as possible. I didn't like changing the spindles on my Tbird to Granada but back then it was the only option I could find to keep 14 inch wheels (didn't know about machining the snouts so went with 14 inch LTD wheels). Looking at this conversion (no offense Gary) I actually like my Granada set-up better. It has backing plates with vents to help cool the discs and the caliper brackets just look heavier. I do like the flex hoses - going to see if they are the same length as the ones I bought from Master Power - the kit hoses look longer - hopefully they will have the same size ends for the banjo bolts and hard lines.

Check with Power Brake Booster Exchange if you have the booster mounted on the firewall under the hood - he has a great option to replace the original face to make it compatible with a new style master cyl.

About the only complaints I have on my Granada setup is that the backing plates are pushed into the rotors by the A-arm flanges in a sharp turn - makes a scraping noise but hasn't done any damage that I can find - only happens occasionally. The flex lines were a little short, had to have the spindles machined to fit the stock lower ball joints and alignment took 4-5 trys at the shop - overall it's not a bad option. Hopefully we'll get some road time on the new kits and see if there are any little bugs like these.

Eric
registry 5347

Granada


http://www.dropshots.com/DKHeld#albums/Tbird%20discs

[ncbird]

alignment

Eric did you happen to keep the alignment specs that you finally used? I have a set of Versailles spindles coming and that would be a huge help if you could share them. I am toying with buying a set of 9" ford disc brake adapters and running 4 wheel discs using the Versailles proportioning valve and MC. Has anyone used one of these kits on the rear?
I think that Gary documenting this change was a huge service to all of us and I applaud the effort. thank you. Grant

[DKheld]

Grant,

The plan was to return to the shop the following week after the final alignment and get the settings but it didn't work out. After the shop tweaked the alignment settings for the last time I drove the car on a 500 mile trip - did great so I knew the settings were where I wanted them. Called to set it up and never got an answer. Found out the shop had closed and was bought out by a developer to tear down and build condo's - it is a prime uptown location - guess the owner was offered more than he could pass up - had been in business since the 30's. That was short time before the recent recession - condo's never happened so the property is just sitting empty

I'll find another shop and have them give me the settings but it will be this summer at the earliest. Need to replace the gas tank and motor. Could run it the way it is but don't need the towing bill right now. Had the tank cleaned and plasticoated years back but still has rust that is clogging the screen - could be the plasticoat failing as well. Have a new tank and motor just need to find the time to get it done.

Eric

[YellowRose]

New Technical Tip On Front Brake Disc Conversion

You might want to check the web page again, because I just made some corrections and additions to it. It was found that the NAPA part number for the banjo bolt was incorrect on that parts list. So I checked all the part numbers and found some more problems. I also added some information. So check it out so you will know what part numbers to really ask for if you go parts shopping like I am about to. Here is the link to the master site. You will find Gary's link there.

http://squarebirds.fortunecity.com/Technical/master.htm

[ncbird]

Alignment info

Eric, I would love to hear from you when you get the Align information. Did you replace the tie rod ends and adjusters when you did yours?
I see you are in Charlotte do you ever come to the coast?
Grant