Hello all, I recently purchased a 1974 Maverick Grabber with drums on the front and rear, and factory alloy wheels. It hasn't moved in 30 years, and while I'm waiting on my engine to be rebuilt, I'm trying to do some work to the brakes to get the car ready for when the engine goes back in. No one seems to make new drums for the 74-75 model year Maverick, and every place that has them listed has them out of stock. I really need some help, as the drums can't be turned anymore since they're out of spec, and the studs on the hubs are all rusted and some are broken off. Is there any place to get these parts, or a good disc brake conversion kit? I've looked at Wilwoods site and they say that their kits won't fit with 14" wheels, and I really want to keep my factory wheels. Are the spindles different? Can I just put on the rotors with the hub assembly which are way more readily available? Thanks for any advice!
Disc brake spindles have mounting points for the caliper bracket...total different animal than a drum spindle that don't have bolt holes to mount a bracket.
1967 or '69 Mustang disc brakes will fit the drum spindle. A friend of mine in Missouri did this conversion. Send me a P.M. and I'll give you his contact information so he can explain what is involved. He went this route because he couldn't find Maverick/Granada disc brake spindles...
It's actually '66'/'67 Mustang or '67 Fairlane(same) brakes that work with drum spindles. For 1969, discs pair up with 1968/1971 Fairlane/Torino/Mustang/Cougar/Cyclone. Have their own unique spindle. I just went with the '66/'67 discs on my '69 Fairlane. Except for full size, will fit any drum spindle '66/'75 that used five lug wheels(some four as well). You'll have to use the late bearings, as spindle size increased in the '70s.
Here's another option for disk brake conversion. The "light machining" referred to in the description is a slight reduction in the diameter of your original drum brake hub. I've read of it being done even on a brake drum lathe. Scarebird's products seem to be well thought of on Ford boards of various sorts, and it's WAY less than a high-dollar conversion from Wilwood or someone. https://scarebird.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=85&search=mux&description=true
Caliper is actually quad piston, bolts solidly to spindle(via a couple brackets). I'm guessing 14" is smallest, never heard anything about it fitting inside 13" wheel. Rotors are 11.4" same size as the '68-'71 brakes. I'm yet to install a booster(have parts), pedal effort is not bad.
Mustang steve has a very nice brake conversion, you will need to switch to larger wheels. I did mine with 2014 mustang 13" rotors up front and the corresponding calipers, you will also need a new booster - I did a Wilwood manual brake booster, but Steve sells others for ~$100. I wish I got to keep them when I did my AJE K member, but I had to switch to the smaller brakes from like an 04 GT. The 2014 GT weighs about 1000 lbs more than a Maverick and the brakes are bigger than the vast majority of aftermarket brakes and use parts that you can buy at any autozone type store.
Don't invest a single dollar in drum brakes, especially on a car that has sat for 30 years. Go to this website and get a factory disc brake kit that would have came on a Maverick. All factory parts, just like FoMoCo would have done it. www.DiscBrakeSwap.com
Thank you all for your replies, I very much appreciate it. I just finished restoring the front end, and ended up restoring the front drum brakes after having my machinist surface the drums. They ended up coming out great with very minimal scoring (the old shoes were worn to the rivets) and within spec. the brakes seem to work great so far and I was able to snag the last 5 lug studs for front drums to replace the broken ones on mine. I'll keep in mind the disc brake swap from the 66-67 Mustang though, if I find the braking isn't as good as I want it to be when the car is finally driving.
Drum brakes no matter how well they work will not match the braking efficiency of disc. Keeping your front drum brakes may be the cheapest approach and will keep the car pure to it's roots, but down the road you should consider the swap. It will improve the safety factor and you will notice a significant difference after the swap is done. This is especially true for non power systems.
Drum brakes on the front are terrible. If you plan to keep the car, save up for a disc conversion. Put safety first...
