power brake conversion help

I have Monarch discs swapped onto mine, along with a 77 disc brake master cylinder... non-power.

It is a very hard brake pedal that you put a lot of leg into, but it really does stop well now. (... it stopped so well, I haven't driven it in years ... Ha!!)

Some folks have reported good results with the drum MC and a disc swap. I felt that I wanted a matched MC for the system.

The rod length is different between a drum and disc MC, and if doing the MC swap, you will either need a 3/8th " spacer (IIRC) between the MC and firewall, or to swap the drum rod into the new MC, or mod the new one. Any one of these options will get the brake pedal back down where it should be. This has been discussed elsewhere on the board.

Another issue with power brakes is that the stock set-up is bulky, and requires a different shock tower brace, because it is so big. I would think some later power brake set-ups might be easier to squeeze in there.

If the car has power steering, a newer Hydro-boost system might be good. They are pretty small.

 

The boster for the Fairmont can works?

tks.

 

I have installed Hydroboost, using '77 Maverick parts and '77 Monarch/Granada/Versailles parts. Here's the tech article I wrote about it:

http://www.maverickcomet.com/TechArticles/Hydroboost/Hydroboost1.asp

There still isn't enough room from the firewall to the shock tower to get away with not using the bracket/spacer that mounts to the firewall and angles the vacuum booster and master cylinder towards the engine. That bracket/spacer is a Maverick specific part. Anyway, I thought I'd post the link since it was mentioned.

 

would a brake system from a 1989 mustang fit? i would do a complete conversion

 

do anybody know?

 

No, sorry. The spindles and calipers are completely different.


If I were you, this would be my plan:

1. Convert to disc brakes on the front. You'll need spindles, rotors, calipers, etc. from a Granada, Monarch, '75+ Mav/Comet, or with a little extra work Torino. You'll also want to get a disc brake master cylinder and proportioning valve. If you get lucky at a junkyard all of this can come from one donor car.

2. THEN decide if you want to go further. You might discover you don't need "power" brakes after all. Losing the drums will be huge.

3. If you decide to go power you'll need a booster, bracket, pedal and brace from a '75+ Maverick or Comet. You'll also be drilling/cutting the firewall a bit. Nothing too severe; make a template from the donor car if you can. This stuff isn't easy to find but it's not impossible, I have a few times. The only known/documented alternative if you can't find the correct stock power brake parts, would be a Geo booster/cylinder (link). This does look like a pretty clean way to do it, but I can't speak from experience.

4. By now your car should be stopping pretty damn well, but if you just want to get obsessive about it like I did, you can get rear disc brakes off an Explorer or a later Crown Vic, Town Car or Police Interceptor. I have the CVPI/Town Car brakes on mine. They install just like the Explorer stuff but have bigger pads/calipers. I ended up using either two lefts or two rights (sorry I don't remember which) so that both of my calipers would be on the forward side of the wheel. I then added a '96 Explorer master cylinder with the largest bore listed (I believe it was 1 1/16".)

 

Disc Brake

Check out a company called scarebird. I am in the process of converting the wifes 4 lug over to disc brake with there brackets and instructions. It retains the stock spindles and hubs. I will try and post a tech article when I get it done. So far it is real simple conversion.