I have all but completely decided to convert my front brakes (currently manual drum brakes) to disc brakes using the original style kit from discbrakeswap.com. But, I thought before I pull the trigger I’d just check here for the expertise and experience of others. It seems to me to be a great kit for the price and would fit my situation well. I like that their original-style disc brake kit means I wouldn’t have to change out the spindles. I don’t drive the car that much - mostly in the summer months, but I do take some longer trips during that time. To tell you the truth, I’m wanting to do this as much for cosmetic reasons as anything. With the 17 inch wheels I have, it would just plain look better with discs behind them instead of drums. Yes, vain, I know! I’ll probably even go with rear discs eventually. I also looked into the MustangSteve kits for converting to newer style Mustang GT brakes, but I just think it would end up costing more than I want to spend by the time I collected all of the parts. I have just enough experience working with brakes that I feel like this is a project I can take on myself, and I’ve got plenty of car buddies nearby if I do run into trouble. So, anyone here got any words of wisdom and/or warning before I do this? Thanks!
I did this last summer but I changed the spindles using disc brakes from a '68. After all the work and money to rebuild the old stuff I would have been better off with a kit like this and it would have also been much less work. If your are going to stay manual be sure and change your master cylinder I used one from a manual disc 1975 Granada. The one issue I did have is push rod size for the master cylinder, the Granada rod was shorter but I had attached it and could not remove it so i had to cut and splice to make it about an inch longer. I would recommend using the old one from your master cylinder, from what I was looking at when I did mine you will distroy your old master cylinder to remove the rod. One other thing I was worried about is the proportioning valve, I had a '68 valve to use but thought I would just see how it worked with the one on the car. Well, no issues stops great and the car does not wander with hard or high speed brakes.
That kit looks very similar to the kit i got from John at Cascade Classics, only i got power discs, that was also the 67 style brakes, and i´m quite happy with the ones i bought, and pretty easy to install, it only took a few hours, and the hardest part, was to fab up the brakeline that goes from the distribution block and in to the adjustable brake valve, and that´s an easy thing to do as well.
For the part you mention about not having to change the spindles, that only applies to the Mustang crowd, as Cougars only came with V8.
And also, if i where you, i´d consider going to power brakes, at least check out what more is needed to go power, that will give you much better, and easier braking
Thanks for the input and advice guys.
Just thought I’d provide an update. I got the kit from discbrakeswap.com and have installed it and put a few miles on the car since then. I am happy to say that it was a relatively easy install, and I am very pleased with the results. As Jan-O said above, I do agree that I’d be even happier with them if I’d also added power, so perhaps that will have to be done in the future. But for now, I really like 'em. I’ve got some pics of the process on my blog (link below) if anyone wants to see them.
Very nice blog & it looks so much easier without changing the spindles.
I just looked at you blog with the link you provided. You have some very cool pictures.
Where did you get you stuffed Cougar? That is very cool for display at car shows.
Steven
Cool stuffed Cougar
http://lattemom.typepad.com/photos/2007_milwaukie_cruisein/100_1209.html
Thanks. I had checked out your link too - nice car and nice pics! I got the stuffed Cougar from Ebay several years ago. I think, if I remember right, I just happened to stumble across it when I searched “Cougar” on ebay. Kind of funny - it is about the same size and color as my dog - a boxer - so I don’t know how many times I’ve glanced into the back seat area and thought it was my dog laying there on the back seat.