Technical 53 Chevy - Big Brake Kit and Mustang II Front End

Hi All,

On my 53 Chevy, I finally got around to doing a fit check on the 11" Big brake kit. I have a Mustang II front end from a real mustang that was in a junk yard (according to the previous owner).

I'm relieved things seem to fit. I noticed the calipers clear the strut bar and the rotor clears the control arm by a little bit. I have checked by turning the wheels both directions.

Does anyone know if the control arm clearance gap will increase or decrease once the car is put back on the ground? I have quite a bit of work before being able to put it on the ground and I'm wondering the answer before I get too excited. It seems with the weight of the car and wheels on the ground the gap would increase giving more clearance.

I also noted the wheels move out by 1/2 to 5/8 inches on each side. This will increase the track width which will make things very interesting. The tires seem to rub on the inside (see pictures below) so the brake kit might actually help, however there's no telling what it will do to the outside of the wheel well. In the first picture you can see the new caliper and bracket. I carefully laid the old caliper on the side as it is still connected to the hose and I wanted to check fit before removing my old setup. I could still move the wheel to both directions even with the old caliper laying on the side. The passenger side was not touched yet.

Thanks.

 

Do you have the rotor mounted in the last pic of the rotor/control arms? Looks like the rotor is up against the bottom of the spindle.

 

Thanks I'll check again tonight but I didn't see any rubbing or hear grinding noise when I spun the rotor. It could be the angle I took the photo.

 

you have asked this same question in another thread. and the answer is still the same on a original mustang11 crossmemember and control arms you have to clearance the lower control arms to use the 11 inch metric gm rotors I ruined 2 rotors to find this out. take your grinder and relieve the control arms. its up to you Tom

 

Thanks for your help, do you happen to have any photos from the grinding you may have done? If not do you perhaps recall how much you had to grind away? For instance was 1/8th inch enough?

I just want to make sure I don't grind too much off. It seems fine on jacks but I do remember some saying the clearance would be different when the weight of the car is on it.