my66
a little restoration story
Hold your horse(s)
From the old 'suicide cylinder' and drum-brakes to a shiny, dual-cylinder disc- brake setup .
Original setup
Here is the old, single barrel master cylinder, appropriately nicknamed 'suicide cylinder'. Having just one breakline circuit is not a good thing... | ||
A close-up of the distribution block as it was. The feed came from the front, the line on the left is used for the rear brakes and the two lines leaving on the bottom are for the front brakes. | ||
The original front drum brake. |
Dual master cylinder
The new master cylinder mounted with the new brakelines attached. The adjustment valve can be seen here as well. | ||
I used prefabricated brakelines after I measured the length. This saved me from having to flare the tubes myself...much easier, but resulted in a few pigtails, which take up the extra Inch or two and also provide a strain relief. |
Disc brakes
After searching around for the right conversion kit, I decided to go with the 'Classic Ford Disc Brake Conversion Kit' from CSRP. | ||
Here you see the kit assembled and mounted to my original spindles. The kit turned out to be great, came with excellent instructions and with everything you need, including grease. When I called to ask a question, the owner was very helpful, too. | ||
And this is the final result. |
Alternatives to a kit
I investigated the option to use donor parts from one of the 'newer' cars compatible with the Mustang. You can find a lot of info on the 'Granada-Swap' on the web. However, with donor cars getting junked more and more, the parts you might be able to find are in rough shape. The one on the left was the best I could find. | ||
Adding together the cost of the wear parts which need to be replaced in any event, the difference to the kit I ended up buying was not worth the hassle. But if you find a decent looking Maverick, Cougar, Granada, Monarch or Comet from the right model years, it is an option. |
