I have a 1958 Ford Fairlane with factory drum brakes. I am dropping a 390FE motor in it and want to be able to stop. I am having trouble finding disc brake conversion compatablity (without spending $1,00+ on the front end alone!). I would like to do the whole car. Is there anything in the junkyard or at AutoZone that I can just get and attach it too? I would prefer to just get a new master cylinder, calipers, brakes, etc at Auto Zone or something like that. Then, I can have new parts. I don't know what's compatible. Any help out there in cyberland?
I did a conversion years ago on 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 using Granada spindles. It is a cheap and easy conversion. Your 58 is of couse identical to the 57. Here is a link to what is involved and parts needed. http://www.57fordsforever.com/mags/archives/sept01_newsletter.pdf
We used to get the 12" brakes off of a Buick and adapt them. it worked fine as i recall. There is a falla now that has some buick backing plates he doesn't need. nocero is his name he would probably let them go cheap then it would be just a matter of funding drums. 90 fins usually go pretty cheap and if you are not running open wheel the extra fins won't really matter.
Redrill the drums. That's what I do. Just thought I would give you an alternative. Something we used to do before everyone had a disc brake conversion. Another option is Merc brakes or brakes from an FE fairlane. Our Merc when we were kids was MEL powered and the stock brakes stopped it fine. We did make sure that they were up to par and because we drove it hard in the mountains a lot we ventilated and scooped all 4 brakes.
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