This auction is for parts and instructions that will allow you to more safely adapt easy to find rear disc brakes, that you get from a wrecking yard etc,  from the 1996-2002 Lincoln Town Car, 1996-2002 Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis, to a "small" axle bearing (2.835" in diameter) Ford 8" or 9" housing with a rectangular bolt pattern (3.3125"x2.00") on the end of the axle flange, as found in many 60's and 70's muscle cars and daily drivers and also with small 2.42" diameter axle hubs (where the wheels bolt up, as opposed to 2.78" later axle ends).    

It's no secret that these "all Ford" parts are so easy to put on the old housings found in the XR7G, Eliminator, Mach 1, Cobra, Boss cars, 427 powered, 428CJ, 351W 351C 302 289, in Mustang Cougar Fairlane Comet Maverick Falcon Ranchero Torino models, but you do need some special precision parts to make it possible and that is what I offer here! The rear disc brakes from the cars listed should fit all housings having the flange mounting hole dimensions listed above (3.3125"x2.00") . Now, go back and read this paragraph again, because I've just given you some very important dimensions that you may need to confirm on your 8 or 9 inch housing and axle end. If you have a stock housing and axles in your 65-73 Ford car, you "probably" need this kit. If you have a large bearing housing, or have replaced the axles with 74+ axles, you may not need all the parts in this particular set, and can get by with a lesser set..... see note below and contact me.

From what I have done, I've found that these parts from the late model cars listed, should fit underneath some if not most 14" stock Ford steel rims made from 1968+ when used with a 5mm or 1/8" wheel spacers to space the wheel out just a bit. I fit a 1968 Cougar rally rim just fine, as well as a stocker steelie. (PLEASE NOTE:1967 and earlier stock rims will NOT fit properly.) This is very important, because if you don't use the spacers, the wheels may bind up. Again, because of so many different rims out there, care must be taken to fit them properly. Always USE NEW PADS in the calipers when fitting rims! The 15" rims should have no clearance issues or at least much less. Again check carefully on your application as it may vary. Aftermarket rims made for disc brakes should work as well. If your rims just will not fit, the modification made to the rear end housing flange should not affect the re-installation of the removed drum brakes, to restore the car to operation. (Bearing spacers would need to be removed from the axles as well, if installed.)

Some gotchas about these Ford brakes! 

1) I have received some feedback from the early Mustang folks (64-66) and the Maverick boards that these brakes are very close to the springs when installed on these cars, due to the shorter distance from the spring pad to the axle flange.  The 67 and up Mustangs Cougars etc have a larger dimension here so do not have this issue.   Plenty of guys have made them work, but I just don't have the specifics to tell you, only that guys said that things were very close! I want you to understand this.    The problems seem to be with using the 96+ brakes as they have 3" long caliper bolts that are close to the springs.  The 91-95 may fit better.  Will update this if/when I hear more!

2) As I mentioned earlier, you will not be able to use your stock 14" steel rims if they are 67 and older with the small 1/8"-5mm wheel spacer I recommend.   If you have older 15" steels for drums,  I also cannot say at this time.   You want 1968 and newer rims that were built to handle the later Kelsey Hayes single piston disc brake calipers as they have additional clearance in them. If you are going to use 68 and up 14x6" rims, you will still need a 1/8" to 5mm wheel spacer to allow the small 14" rim to clear these brakes.  See below....I mention this again.

This ends the gotchas as I know them!

LARGE BEARING HOUSING NOTE: THESE SPACERS OFFERED HERE DO NOT WORK WITH LARGE BEARING HOUSINGS.  (Contact me if you are trying to put Explorer brakes on a large bearing housing and I can fill you in.)

Because of differences in the old and new components, spacers are needed in certain places to keep parts from moving around when installing these disc brakes. What is for sale here, is only the needed spacers and instructions to help get this job more easily. The measuring and figuring is done for you. If you don't feel safe working with brakes, write this stuff down (or print it) and give it to your mechanic when you give him the brake parts you've gotten (or list of parts you need) from the donor vehicle.  I could sell the brake parts, but then I'd have to charge you for my time....you can get the parts just as cheap as I can, perhaps cheaper! Just takes a little effort!

This auction consists of: 2-Bearing spacers and 2-hub spacers to center late model rotors on 2.42" axle hubs, instructions, and misc. small parts specific to the year of the donor vehicle or parts. At auction end, when paying, please specify year of your DONOR (not project!) vehicle so you get the proper parts. (ie 1996 Crown Vic)  

To effectively install the later model rear disc brakes on most early small bearing housings, you will need to slightly modify the "D" shaped axle flange to a more rectangular shape. Borrow a cutoff wheel/tool. This is explained in the illustrated instructions. (See pictures of modified flange below) There are axle bearing spacers that must be installed professionally, so you'll be doing new wheel bearings. Just plan on it, most of your axle bearings haven't been done in a while...

The newer "Crown Vic" style longer wheel studs will also need to be installed for rotor clearance issues. The hub spacer keeps the disc brake rotor properly centered on the axle, due to the hub's smaller size and are easily installed. (NOTE: If you have later model (after about 1974 or so) axles with a 2.78" axle hub, you will not need this hub spacer. In this case see my other auctions for proper components, or contact me directly for a reduced cost set.)  In this next picture, of the 1991-1995 style parts, you can make out the hub spacer installed on the axle hub. (96-02 pads are slightly smaller but piston diameter is the same.)

The remaining tasks are normal disc brake adapting. Fitting of brake lines according to your chassis, and attaching the parking brake cable to your chassis and master cable/handle assy. You may need to install a rear brake proportioning valve if your vehicle has none, and removal of any residual pressure valving in the rear master cylinder circuit is recommended, or install a master cylinder made for disc/disc app's. Applications can be many vehicles with varied needs, so fabrication is called for in these areas. Count on a little of it.

Check out the picture of the rear end with the parking brake cables attached.

This is why I tell you to get the parking brake cables... Much cleaner 2-->1 setup than the old 1-->2 cable config. May require some fab of a rear mount but one cable to the front can be cleaner!  Check out the stock setup on the Crown Vics etc in the wrecking yards, you will see what I mean.

I've seen other auctions for these same late model brake parts, selling for upwards of $600, but the auctions usually make no mention of the fact that you will still need spacers and adapters to properly mount up what they are selling. Failure to use the these or similar components when doing this swap could lead to failure and unintended results.

Whether you pay the high prices from auctions or the dealership, or you find the same parts in wrecking yards for hundreds of dollars less, you will still need the parts I am offering in this auction to fit them properly to your rear end. If in doubt, drop me a question or two.

Shopping list! You need to buy/find from a donor vehicle, or new from Ford, the following bits and pieces: 

-the disc brake backing plates/caliper supports plus the attaching bolts and nuts. Dust shields if you want them. (Note no dust shields on 1991. 92-95 shield is removable.  96-02' shield is not-removable!)

-the brake calipers and flexible rubber lines     ( Caliper brackets and calipers are the same from side to side on all cars but flex lines can differ side to side.....some are the same)a

-the wheel mounting axle studs (10)   (Some rotors may not fit properly on your old wheel studs! So get these just in case!)

-the parking brake cables   (There is a splice in the cable under the drivers seat area. Disconnect here, or cut the cable just in front of the splice using aviation snips.)  See picture of how the two cables connect on the LH side of the car and continue forward as one cable.  You will need to do some hot rod engineering to mate this setup to your car's version.  But cleaner setup! No cables to get fouled up on when pulling transmissions or doing exhaust work!

I would plan on purchasing rotors new, as they are available new from about $22-$39ea. from the aftermarket or from Ford and you'll have no guessing about if they are good or not! In some cases it may be cheaper to buy the whole rear end, but you should be able to get all the needed parts I just mentioned, used, for around $150 or less. Caliper kits and pistons are still available from the aftermarket and the dealerships if needed. (Kits are getting harder to find, but now "loaded calipers" already rebuilt are now very easy to come by too!  Once you have new rotors, be sure to get new pads also for best performance!

Include the price of the precision components in this auction, and you come up to a grand total of around $200. There is no collection of parts offered anywhere that I am aware of, for this price range, to put easy to service and cost effective rear disc brakes on early 60's to 70's Ford 8" or 9" rear ends. Why mess around hunting for an expensive, heavy, used Versailles rearend, plus trying to find expensive rotors and caliper rebuild parts that are almost non-existent today? This is much much simpler! As to the performance, just look at almost any 1996-2002 Ford taxi or police car on the road.... they are using the same brakes. If they can stop a barge like that, they should be able to stop a Mustang, Cougar, Fairlane, Comet, Camaro, Nova, Galaxie, street rod, 32 Ford hot rod, Pick-up truck, just as reliably! If you need performance parts, you can upgrade to slotted/drilled rotors and performance compounds for pad material. Rotor diameter is around 11.3" nominally.

Buyer to pay for USPS first class shipping & handling. Upgrade to priority service if desired. 

At auction end, when you are making payment, please include in the PayPal "note to seller" section, what year donor parts you are using. 

If you are uncertain, here is how you can tell easily:

The 96-02 parts use bolts aprox 3" long, with 10mm hex heads on them, to retain the calipers to the floating mechanism. The 96-02 backing plates have a non-removable dust shield.  

(The 91-95 parts have socket headed studs that the calipers mount/slide on. They are either Torx T-40 or 7mm hex keyed. The 91-95 backing plates either have no dust shield, or a removable one. )