$200 Disk Brakes anyone?

First I would like to clarify that I cannot and will not take credit for this. I first read an article on Ford Muscle by my buddy F15Falcon. Here is his tech article.

http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/bra...ng-falcon.html

I did stray from his plans a bit but not much. I will do a complete write up once I finish so I will just outline plans for now. Here is my progress so far.

I will finish with 11.5” disk brakes for about $200 when all is said and done.





I started out with big bore GM calipers. I know GM parts on a Mustang is a deadly sin, but at $12 a pop with lifetime warranty, they are hard to beat. They have a 2-15/16” piston and come with caliper bolts.





I chose to re-use my stock drum hubs and try to use bigger rotors both in diameter and thickness. I pressed the hubs out of the drums, and studs out of the hubs which was no easy task. I then mounted the hubs back on the spindle for some measurements.



I originally had planned to use Wilwood hats and rotors for desired rotor offset but they were $80 per hat and $30 per rotor and that would have killed my budget.

I found the sweet spot at about 1.5” of offset. I didn’t want the caliper too far back or out so it would not interfere with either the wheel or the sway bar.



I figured there had to be a factory rotor that would fit my needs. My first try was a 97 Mustang but there was too little offset. My next try was a 95 Crown Victoria front rotor and I nailed it on the head!!! 11.5” diameter, about 1.5” of offset, 1” thick just like the GM rotors, and a 4.5” bolt pattern. They run about $35 a piece.



These rotors will require a little bit of work to make sure they are centered on the hub, but that will be easy and won’t cost hardly anything. Next, I will be ordering caliper bracket from Speedway Motors for $10 a piece, some fittings, and stainless steel braided hoses.

Brackets


Fittings


Hoses


So the tally:

1975 Chevy Impala Calipers: $12/each assuming you provide cores. $24
1975 Chevy Impala Brake Pads: $20 w/ lifetime warranty
1995 Crown Victoria Front Rotors: $35 each. $70
Speedway Motors Big GM Caliper Brackets: $10/each. $20
Speedway Motors Fittings: $8/each. $16
Speedway Motors Stainless Braided Hoses: $11/each. $22

Total so far: $172 plus I will still need some bolts and spacers which shouldn’t be more than $25.

Hoping to get more done on this in the coming days but with the holidays and shipping, it’ll be more like 2-3 weeks before I can get this done.

Fred

 

sweet!! how does the bracket mount to the spindle though?

 

That is still in the works but pretty much planned out. I'm just waiting to get the brackets so that I can start taking some measurements there. It will more than likely be similar to that of the mentioned article. Rather simple really.

EDIT: Something similar to this but it may change it a little because of the different hat offset.

 

With it using a gm caliper wilwood has a 2 piston replacement so later on easy upgrade.

 

The one I have seen is a single piston replacement but it is aluminum. $99 a Caliper. Do you have a link to the one you are referring to?

 

Pretty funny, I have most of that stuff laying around, would only need to pic up the rotors. Too bad I have Granada spindles for the 71...

 

I like it.

 

those big gm brakes will be more than enough for the mustang... i race circle with metric cars ( smaller brakes than the impala) and the cars brake really well.. you wont be dissapointed with them.

devious, will you need spacers for the brakets like in the mentioned article?

 

More than likely yes. I wanna make a caiper mount that mounts to the front (outside) of the spindle. Once I get it done I'm gonna get with a company I order parts from who can make me a one piece moun on their CNC. Maybe they can make me a couple in case this might be a route people may want to go.

 

Its hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like the caliper, once mounted may stick above the "hat" of the rotor. This could cause interference with your wheels. Depending of course on which wheels you wind up using.