Thread: Disc brakes for light weight early Ford?

Tweet

Well if you get the Speedway kit save all the boxes because it really is a conglomerate of parts. The one I have has Dodge rotors and mid-size Chevy caliphers along with some sort of wheel bearings from Czechoslovakia. I am most concerned about someday having to replace those wheel bearings. I hope the specs on the boxes will help in case Speedway moves on and no longer stocks that kit. I am answering mainly because Tech1 mentioned a Sonic. We just got a Sonic down the street and the hamburgers were not very good but now that Tech1 mentions it it may be a future local site for informal rod meets. MacDonald's burgers run rings around the Sonics and Wendy's is pretty good too but they don't have the nostalgia factor. Maybe Sonic has good milkshakes? The burgers here are sort of like soggy sponges!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

Well- my 32 roadster is plenty light.
Up front- I'm running Wilwood 4 piston calipers, hidden in So-Cal's faux Buick drum. Out back- I have big Ford drum brakes. Under the dash is a Kugel 90 degree pedal assy w/ power booster. Overkill- maybe. But it stops on a dime- tires permitting.

I think I can offer you some first hand experience with this subject. When we built my Son Don's T bucket we had a chromed GM setup that I had bought for another project, so we used it. Mickey Luria from Total Performance told me at Daytona that we weren't going to like them on the front of this lightweight car, but we already had them on there and they were all chromed.

After he started driving the car it just never felt right in the front.........too much rotating mass. We scrapped the whole deal and bought a complete new setup including new spindles and Wilwood discs. The front now felt great and the stopping power was much improved.

Listen to what Speedway is telling you. Those GM brakes were made for a 3000+ pound car that uses A arm suspension. A light rod with a straight axle has a whole different way of reacting to unsprung, rotating mass. We have a really nice, all chrome GM setup sitting on the shelf that we won't sell or give to anyone because we don't want them to have the problems we had.

Don

I used a Wilwood single piston set up on my T bucket after the Total Performance/Airheart system turned out to be crap (sorry guys, if yours works, OK, my Wilwood's were much better). I think you would have to spend some time with the Wilwood catalog as mine came from Speedway and what they offer now are not the same - but the rotor was 3/8 vs the Total 1/4, the brackets were much stronger (no flex), the calipers worked right without a rebuild - and they could actually be locked up if you really wanted to

Originally Posted by IC2

I used a Wilwood single piston set up on my T bucket after the Total Performance/Airheart system turned out to be crap (sorry guys, if yours works, OK, my Wilwood's were much better). I think you would have to spend some time with the Wilwood catalog as mine came from Speedway and what they offer now are not the same - but the rotor was 3/8 vs the Total 1/4, the brackets were much stronger (no flex), the calipers worked right without a rebuild - and they could actually be locked up if you really wanted to

I agree completely. I've been running the same thing on my T bucket for 9 years. The Total performance brakes are more expensive but now that Speedway owns TP maybe they are a little cheaper. I've been using Speedways Chevy spindle set up so that I am able to use their wilwood single piston brakes as a very inexpensive option.

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

Well if you get the Speedway kit save all the boxes because it really is a conglomerate of parts. The one I have has Dodge rotors and mid-size Chevy caliphers along with some sort of wheel bearings from Czechoslovakia. I am most concerned about someday having to replace those wheel bearings. I hope the specs on the boxes will help in case Speedway moves on and no longer stocks that kit. I am answering mainly because Tech1 mentioned a Sonic. We just got a Sonic down the street and the hamburgers were not very good but now that Tech1 mentions it it may be a future local site for informal rod meets. MacDonald's burgers run rings around the Sonics and Wendy's is pretty good too but they don't have the nostalgia factor. Maybe Sonic has good milkshakes? The burgers here are sort of like soggy sponges!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

No problem on the bearings. The races and the bearings have numbers that are stamped on them. They are a pretty much standard number for all bearings. Even if you can't see the numbers, no problem. Tote the bearings and races to a bearing supply store and they will measure them for you and fix you up with new ones.