All,

Slightly out of category here, but lots of good interchange tech info for anyone considering rear disc brakes. I will repost in for sale section also.

I have pre-pulled sets of brakes from later model Crown Vic's etc that will bolt on to your small bearing housings with little modification. If they work on a bazillion taxis and squad cars, they'd be fine on a little ol' Fairlane!!! Replacement parts are available at your closest auto parts store, NAPA, Kragen etc. and are cheap! You can spend a lot more on rear disc brakes or you can do it this way and spend a few more bucks on wheels to show off the brakes!

Some details about the job:

You do need to trim the axle housing flange to be symmetrical top to bottom otherwise there will be interference with the backing plate. This can be done with a cut-off wheel, about 5 minutes per side. I show you how to make an easy template for cutting in the instructions.

To do this job properly, you will also need special spacers to 1) keep the backing plate in the right place, and 2) center the new rotor on the old axles. (74 up Maverick axles do not need this second spacer.) I provide these spacers with the pre-pulled brakes, or they are available separately if you want to go pull your own brakes. (Get the backing plates, calipers, rubber flex lines, wheelstuds (10), and ebrake cables from your donor car if you are going to grab your own parts!)

The Crown Vic brakes require no special brackets or fabrication other than the above metal removal, and having your wheel bearings removed in order to install the bearing spacer needed. After this, it is all bolt together stuff, with small amounts of fab needed to secure new brake lines and the ebrake cable, something you would need with any swap like this.

These brakes will work with some stock 14" wheels (68+), but you would probably need 5mm wheel spacers to work properly, to clear the caliper. Most 15" and up wheels will have no problems. Always check clearance with a new rotor and new pads installed!

I am offering the prepulled sets for $220 which includes basic instructions, pictures, and information, plus the spacers you will need. You will need to provide new rotors and pads, plus any caliper parts if needed. These are fresh from the car and will need to be detailed, but are not wasted parts! You should be able to do this whole swap for around $350-400. This is the most economical swap for rear discs that I have seen. You can even get drilled and slotted rotors now!

Low mileage parts:
92 Crown Vic- no dust shields
94 Crown Vic- removeable dust shields
96 Town Car- non-removable dust shields- steel piston in caliper
96 Crown Vic- same as Town Car.

Shipping is around $30 to get them past the Rockies. New rotors are around $30 as are a set of pads. You can buy them new, and save me from shipping old used ones that may or may not be good! Why take the chance!?

Again, these are for all small bearing housings produced by Ford, 8 inch and 9 inch. They are similar but not the same as Explorer brakes you have seen (they fit large bearing housings), and they are much different than the 80's LSC/SVO brakes. Better design in my mind, with the internal e-brake on the hub, not in the caliper. Less moving parts in the caliper!!! (Keeps things cheap!) Had I known about this swap 15 years ago, I never would have messed with a Versailles unit for my Fairlane Squire!!! What a pain!

If you would like to see more pictures, look for my auctions under seller ID "fastmerc" and find the "rear disc brake adapting parts" auction.... or contact me.

Thanks for looking!
Steve

I;m assuming this set up changes wheel offset?
Meaning the spacer widens wheel base?
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roger powell

Sorry for the late reply.....notification was off.

Yes, this will change the offset of your wheels by the thickness of the brake rotors at the flange point, about +3/16" per side. Still a cost effective and great solution to put rear discs on these old girls! Most cars will have the room to handle this unless you are running 285 tires.....

Steve

There's a few guys on ebay selling the bracket kit for rear disc conversion using '84 Cadillac Eldorado calipers with '84 lincoln continental rotors. I used this setup and it's the slickest setup I've seen. Complete bolt on with no mods except for the brake lines, was able to use factory e-brake cable with no mods, and all under $300 complete.
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'68 Fairlane 500 sportroof, 428CJ, close ratio toploader, 9" detroit locker, 31 spline axles, 3.50 gears.

Personally i think it would be nice to use all Ford parts on a Ford, if it all works as easy as stated.
this from the guy who wants to shoehorn an LS1 into a 63 F;lane!!
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roger powell

Personally i think it would be nice to use all Ford parts on a Ford, if it all works as easy as stated.
this from the guy who wants to shoehorn an LS1 into a 63 F;lane!!
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roger powell

Ya, I struggled with using GM calipers on my ford but it's a good design and it's a cheap way to go. Alot of companies use these same calipers in their kits for fords. I liked it most of all for the parking brake situation...didn't have to do a thing to the factory cables. I put most of my money into my engine, trans, and rear and went budget on the brakes with granada front discs and the other in the rear and it's like night and day compared to the 4 wheel manual drums I had before. Under the hood is a different story...all 550+ horses all ford power and that's the way it's going to stay.
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'68 Fairlane 500 sportroof, 428CJ, close ratio toploader, 9" detroit locker, 31 spline axles, 3.50 gears.

A good & cheap upgrade instead of disc brakes are bigger rear drum brakes, say 11" off of big fords. These will stop better & create less problems.

A good & cheap upgrade instead of disc brakes are bigger rear drum brakes, say 11" off of big fords. These will stop better & create less problems.

A good & cheap upgrade instead of disc brakes are bigger rear drum brakes, say 11" off of big fords. These will stop better & create less problems. [/b]

A good & cheap upgrade instead of disc brakes are bigger rear drum brakes, say 11" off of big fords. These will stop better & create less problems. [/b]

A good & cheap upgrade instead of disc brakes are bigger rear drum brakes, say 11" off of big fords. These will stop better & create less problems.

defairlane,

I know of no big ford brakes that will fit on the smaller housings used on the Fairlanes, Cougars, and Mustangs. If it is not a small bearing housing that the brakes are removed from they will NOT bolt up to the housings. I'd guess that any 11" setups are large bearing pattern. But, I'd love to hear where they come from if they are small bearing!

If you are lucky enough to find Fairlane station wagon brakes (66 and up?) you would be correct, that an improvement could be made. Last set of these big brakes I found sold for $350-400. But why, when upgrading to the benefits and perhaps superior technology, would you want to stay with the drums? I can't imagine what problems you could run into with discs, that you couldn't run into with larger drums, other than not dealing with the backpressure valves in the M/C.

fastmerc