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Disc brakes for Ford 9"

6K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  Mustangsaly 
#1 ·
I know, I know... Before you start, I actually did look through all the stickys and searched the forums.

I'm putting an '87 C4 front suspension and brakes in my '47 Ford coupe. I had planned on using Wilwood's rear disc kit for the Ford 9", but got to wondering if there's anyone who makes a kit or parts to use the factory C4 components instead. It would be a nice touch to have all 4 calipers and rotors the same. This will not require parking brake, so front pieces could (in theory) be used...

TIA!

Russ
 
#5 ·
Economical is fine by me, but the MAIN thing I'm wanting is to have all 4 wheels looking the same, if not the same. I'm sure it would look pretty tacky having the factory 'vette brakes up front and some pretty snazzy Wilwoods in the rear.

So far, I have found NOTHING in the line of adapter brackets that would fit the 'vette calipers and/or rotors to a Ford 9". I did find a Wilwood upgrade for the front (replacing the vette stuff) but of course it's too large a rotor to stay with 15" wheels.

I was pretty sure that this used to be a popular swap back in the day, but google hasn't helped me find it yet...

Russ
 
#7 ·
I'm going to order my rear axle this week, so when it gets here, I'll have a look at adapting the Corvette stuff to it. Since it'll be redrilled to 5 on 4.75", the rotor will fit (will prolly have to turn the hub's OD). The caliper has a nice mount bracket that allows for some amount of "float", so centering it up by "eye" should be OK. Wilwood has brackets that bolt to the rear axle flanges, so all I'd need to fab would be the bracket from that to the caliper mount...

Russ
 
#10 ·
ONCE AGAIN, I want both ends to look the same. FWIW, I ordered my 9" with the "small" end pattern. I can turn the Ford axle hub to 2.76" which will fit the Corvette rotor, then I just need to make brackets to mount the caliper bracket to the "small" hub ends. I really felt sure that someone had a kit for this, but I guess I'll be making my own...

Russ
 
#12 ·
Here's what we came up with. We drew up the brackets in AutoCad and my son got them laser cut through his place of work. The larger (adapter) is 3/8" and the smaller (replaces brake backing plate) is 3/16". The adapters need about 0.090" to 0.125" more offset which we will get with spacer bushings between the caliper mount and bracket (ideally, we would mill the difference off the outer side of the bracket, but this is a low-buck swap).

  • custom brackets (about) $40.00
  • Page Ranking of '87 Corvette front brakes (includes calipers, brackets, bolts, pads) $90.00
  • turn axle OD from 6.25" to 6.00" $40.00

We started with dual-drilled Moser axles, but needed to turn the OD to 6.00" (I'd imaging this cold be spec'ed when ordering, but who knew...). Now my rear brakes will be an exact match for the fronts. Still need to buy some nice rotors and new pads, but should have less than $500.00 in all four corners when finished.

Russ
 

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#13 · (Edited)
I Like the Explorer disc swap because I Like the E brake set up, but to use the Ford Explorer disc setup, you need the new big ford ends on your housing & currie axles, the 84 to 90 Mark VII rear disc swap on a big bearing 1/2 bolt rear end sounds ok too

http://mustangandfords.com/howto/28733/ everything about installing explorer disc setup, You Just Need New Big Ford Housing Ends ( New Big Ford Ends 3.56 X 2.0 with 3/8 bolts to bolt brakes on) & currie axles

look here: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/ford-c7aw-e-9-rebuild-help-disc-brake-questions-72875.html

http://www.ultrastang.com/Ultrainfo.asp?Page_ID=14


http://www.mpbrakes.com/reardisc.htm





 
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