Don, I believe I saw the information you are referring to about the Explorer disc brakes. The guy said it was a simple bolt in, but he did have to modify the backing plates to match the bolt pattern on the 9" housing ends. I think he started with a big bearing 9". If you look at the bolt patterns on the different housing ends, you can see that they are similar but not exact.

Interestingly enough, I have seen several magazines say that the Explorer conversion will NOT work... I have no first hand experience on this conversion, so I can't say for sure either way.

I was looking at a conversion that ECI has (I think it was ECI). Comes with the brackets to mount caliper from a '80-'85 Cadillac Seville. Not sure what rotors it uses for a Ford bolt pattern, but it uses rotors from a '79-'81 Trans Am. for a Chevy bolt pattern. In any case, it looks like it uses OEM components. Check http://www.ecihotrodbrakes.com. They have a lot of good information there about braking systems in general.