pwrl3ss

Hi all again,

I'm going to swap out my manual front drums for to disc on my 68. I posted an earlier question on the 68 drum spindle being the same as the 67's disc spindle. With them being the same, I could get a 67 disc brake setup in which I would not have to swap out the spindle. The only difference I can see with a 67 disc setup is the dual pistons whereas the 68 has a single piston. Is there much of a performance issue between the two?

Thanks

michaelricha33

I am by no means an expert on the subject, but here is my 2-cents. Most normal production cars today are single piston setups..I believe this is because multiple piston setup has a plus and a minus...plus is that brake pressure is exerted on mutliple points of the brake pad giving more braking force (must high performance brake systems like Beaer or SSBC Force Tens are multiple piston)....minus is that if one of the pistons becomes stuck or malfunctions than severe misloading of brake pad and rotor can occur causing damage and rotor warping. I also think single piston calipers are cheaper to manufacture. As for your car, unless you are going to autocross...a single piston disc setup will work fine and still be worlds above the drum setup you are replacing.

jlg2002

Nice write up! I also agree with most of your comments.

Starfury

I'm personally a fan of the 4-piston (not two-piston) 67 setup.Between the solid caliper design, larger pad surface, and larger caliper face area, they're much better for performance use. However, what Michael said about pistons stickingcan bevery true, especially for that type of caliper.The major downside that hedidn'tmention though is that the calipers are EXPENSIVE, and can be hard to find as well.

redstallion

I've also heard multi piston setups transfer more brake "feel" than a standard single piston....a benefit to racers and motorcycles where it actually can make a difference. For our cars I'd agree single piston will be waybetter than your old drums

baddog671

Less parts= less chance of something going wrong..

And most of us aren't racers, so I'd agree with the 1 piston calipers. I got my Granada's for 44$ a set new.

Aussie66Fastback

I agree with the others, you're not going to notice a difference between single and twin piston calipers on a stock sized rotor under normal use.

But I would add that a slotted rotor and better quality pad will make a noticeable improvement to a stock sized braking system and its a pretty cheap upgrade compared to multi piston calipers and buying new wheels to fit bigger brakes under them.

67 evil eleanor

Usuallywith multi piston brake calipers, their is more surface area for the fluid to push against,more braking force with the sameline pressure.Unless you plan toautocross, the single units will do the job quiet well, with less to tear up. I have singles,doubles, and quad piston calipers and really can't tell anydifferencein normal driving. If you do plan to race, thentheir are several things you need to look into.

andrewmp6

Evil eleanor hit the nail on the head.I have heard storys the 4 piston that was on the early mustang had problems but i have no proof of that.Id go single piston for a normal car if you want to race it or some big rims like a 18 then go 2 piston or even 4 piston after market.