Technical Can't read the online Hotrod magazine articles anymore for technical info. please help!

As I am from the Netherlands, for some reason I am not able to see the online arlicles from hotrod magazine.
I want to do a discbrake conversion on my shoebox and I know they had a great article about that.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1949-1953-ford-drum-to-disc-brake-swap/

But if I click this page I only get:
Due to the EU's Global Data Protection Regulation, our website is currently unavailable to visitors from most European countries. We apologize for this inconvenience and encourage you to visit www.motortrend.com for the latest on new cars, car reviews & news, concept cars and auto show coverage, awards and much more.

Is it possible to get to that website anyhow, or does someone want to send me the article as pdf file so I can print it? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joep

 

If you used a non European VPN such as a Canadian address you could read them. I did that to get around MLBs stupid blackouts

 

If you are on Facebook, I can share it with you, or PM me your email and I'll copy it and send it to you.

 

Despite the insistence from some diehard traditionalists that there's no reason to upgrade a vintage hot rod to disc brakes, sticking with four-wheel drums is literally and figuratively a drag.

The simple truth is that in an era of distracted drivers all plowing along in lumbering SUVs, all of them with sophisticated safety features and huge disc brakes, sharing the road with them in an old car with four-wheel drums is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. The nostalgia goes right out the window when you have to panic-brake around modern vehicles with much greater stopping capability.

That's exactly what drove Tim Quiggle to finally upgrade the front drum brakes on his 1949 Ford coupe to discs. "I've been driving the car for more than 30 years and the drums just didn't feel safe to me any longer," he says. "It's not an overly heavy car, but the stopping distances were really long and they tended to fade when they got hot in traffic. It was a safety issue for me that affected how much I was enjoying the car."

The project car is a 1949 Ford with a later-model Windsor small-block engine underhood and an overdrive automatic transmission, giving it contemporary performance capability that needed to be matched with modern stopping power.
Disc brake upgrade kits have been around for decades, but they're increasing in popularity for the very logical reasons Quiggle described. And with cars such as his running steel wheels, there's no external clue, and no loss of a traditional appearance, for the contemporary braking technology.

Conversion kits are a little tougher to find for 1949-1953 Ford models than some other makes, but Shoebox Central has one for the classic 1949-1953 models. It uses basic components, including 10-inch-diameter, five-lug rotors for the original Ford Ranger (and Aerostar and Bronco II), produced from the mid '80s to mid '90s. That means replacement rotors, calipers, and pads are plentiful—and cheap. Together, the combined cost for the kits is about $755. By the way: It's not a power-assisted system.

The kit lists for around $450, but it doesn't include a master cylinder. The kit for that adds another $305, or so, to the tally, which all adds up to a comparable price for other kits we've seen. What that doesn't include, however, are the necessary custom hard lines that must be fabricated.

The brake conversion from Shoebox Central includes two kits: the brakes, including the rotors, calipers, backing plates, and related hardware, along with a dual-chamber master cylinder and mounting kit that converts the system to a safer dual-circuit design.
Quiggle turned to Brothers Custom Automotive, in suburban Detroit, for the installation, where we followed the project for this story. The project is attainable for those with moderate mechanical experience, but there are a couple of tools required that might not be in many enthusiasts' toolboxes, including a flaring tool and brake line bender for the brakes lines.

And while the project was fairly straightforward, we will admit that the instructions from Shoebox Central could have been better. They were a little short on details, particularly when it came to the orientation of the backing plates. That said, we were pleased with the overall completeness and quality of the brake and master cylinder kits; the welds on the backing plates were first class.

More than simply bolting on the parts is the attention to detail required to ensure proper bleeding of the system, including bench-bleeding the master cylinder prior to installation and the entire brake system once the new parts are installed. In addition to the all-important safety factor, it ensures a firm, confident pedal feel; and with a system change such as this, it can require multiple testdrives and adjustments.

Removal of the original front drum brakes is the first step. Admittedly, they're pretty large, with plenty of surface area on the shoe, but they just don't cut it when it comes to braking responsiveness, feel, and stopping distance in modern traffic.
Brothers' owner Bill Jagenow invested about 10 hours on the project. Along with the ancillary components such as the fabricated brake lines, new brake fluid, and a few other items, the brake conversion's bottom line came to approximately $2,000. It's difficult, however, to put a price on the Ford's driving experience since the project was completed. The braking performance took a leap four decades into the future, with a vastly more-confident feel and shorter, straighter stopping distances.

"It has made a world of difference and I couldn't be happier with the way the car drives now," Quiggle says. "It stops as well as a modern car, making it much more enjoyable, and safer, in traffic."

Yes, it cost a few bucks, but in regards to value, it's one of the best bang-for-the-buck projects we've been involved with lately. SRM

It's important to take it easy here because it's easy to break off old, stubborn cotter pins before they're removed, making it hard and more frustrating to remove the remnants. The accumulated grease on the suspension components here made the job a little easier because it prevented the parts from rusting.
The front brake lines must be disconnected next. The soft lines will be replaced with new ones from the conversion kit and the original hard lines to the master cylinder will also be removed with custom-fabricated lines.
With the brake hardware removed it's the perfect opportunity to check the King Pins in the front suspension. Simply grab each spindle and try to wiggle it up and down. There should be no movement or play. If there is, the pin and related hardware should be replaced before continuing with the brake conversion.
The first step in adding the new brakes is the installation of the kit-supplied caliper mounting brackets on the original spindles with supplied Grade 8 bolts. There wasn't a specified torque value for the fasteners, but suffice it to say they need to be tight.
The orientation of the backing plates is where the kit instructions let us down a bit. It wasn't obvious and it took some trial and error to get it correct, but once the correct positions were determined, everything bolted up easily.
Prior to installing the rotors, each spindle receives a spacer ring. It slips on most of the way, but must be tapped further to seat it. It should be tight enough that it doesn't rotate. A little Loctite can help hold it in place.
Next up is the preparation of the rotors, starting with new wheel bearings that are included with the kit. They've got to be packed with the appropriate grease and, after installing them, the bearing seals are tapped into place as well.
The rotors then slip onto the spindles. Simple as that.
An additional washer for each spindle is included and serves as a spacer to ensure the proper location of the securing castle nut and cotter pin.
With the new washer in place, the castle nut is installed. The trick here is tightening the nut enough to hold the rotor in place without "play," and backing it off enough to allow free rotation. When that's achieved, a cotter pin is inserted to keep the nut from wandering. After that, a new dust cap is installed.
The caliper comes next and with the brake pads in place they simply slip over the rotors and bolt to the caliper mounting brackets. A little Syl-Glyde silicon lubricant on the sliders keeps things moving free and easy.
Next, the new soft brake lines are installed, starting with the banjo fittings (with new copper seals) that mount to the rear of the calipers. Again, the fasteners need to be very tight to prevent leaks.
The opposite end of the softline where it connects with the hardline at a bracket on the frame presented a minor problem: It was completely round, while the original (bottom) was flat on one side and designed to install in a matching-size port in the frame bracket.
So, the bracket's hole was hogged out carefully until the hole matched the diameter of the new softline.
After that, the new line snugged right into place waiting to be connected to a new hardline from the master cylinder. Of course, the same goes for the opposite-side brake assembly.
Next, the brake pedal is disconnected from the master cylinder and the master cylinder itself removed from beneath the driver side floorboard.
Prior to installation, the master cylinder and mounting bracket were trial-fitted to check for obstructions—and there was a biggie: the exhaust system. The custom dual exhaust for the transplanted Windsor small-block was too close to the master cylinder, eliminating the room necessary to run the brake lines.
The solution involved trimming the mounting bracket and slicing the exhaust system and inserting a simple S-bend to move the exhaust tube over a couple of inches. Also visible here is the pushrod from the brake pedal to the master cylinder.
Bench bleeding of the master cylinder is the next step. It greatly reduces the time required to bleed the brakes on the car and starts with installing inserts and hoses in the brake line orifices and filling the master cylinder with brake fluid. A large screwdriver is used to push in and release the piston, allowing the cylinder to fill completely with fluid. The job is done when no air bubbles appear from the hoses when pushing in the piston.
The filled master cylinder is then attached to the mounting bracket under the car. From here, it's easy to see how much room the exhaust pipe modification opened up for mounting the brake lines.
For a strong pedal feel, the pushrod between the brake pedal and master cylinder must be carefully adjusted. The gap between the pushrod and the master cylinder should be right around 0.020 inch. The pushrod's threaded end makes adjustments easy. If the gap is too large, pedal feel will suffer and lack the desired feeling of immediacy. If it's too narrow, the brakes may drag if there's any heat-induced metal expansion.
Fabrication of the hard lines comes next. It requires a flaring tool for the respective ends and a tubing bender to shape the lines to the appropriate contours. Trial and error is inevitable for first-timers, but neither the flaring nor bending is difficult. And it offers a perfectly justifiable reason to add a couple more items to the toolbox.
Brake line is comparatively easy to bend and forming them can be done generally by eyeballing the approximate angle required and taking a few basic length measurements. It is a time-consuming process on a project such as this, however, which can add significant time to the labor part of a shop's bill for the job.
Because of the low mounting position of the master cylinder (below the horizontal plane of the calipers, which causes gravity-induced drain-back), a pair of residual pressure valves is required, one for the front brakes and one for the rear, to maintain a minimal amount of brake line pressure for consistent and strong pedal performance. The valves are from Wilwood and are offered in 2-, 4- and 10-psi versions. A 10-psi valve is used with the rear drum brakes and 2-psi valve with the new front discs. A proportioning valve is also installed to dial in the optimal 80/20 split between the front and rear brakes (80 percent to the front).
From the master cylinder, the new hardline feeds into a junction block, distributing brake fluid to both front brakes.
Another smart upgrade for the system is the replacement of the antiquated hydraulic brake light switch with a modern mechanical unit. Besides offering faster actuation of the brake lights, it also eliminates the need for frequent switch replacements that typically occur because modern brake fluid isn't very compatible with them.
Finally, it's time to bleed the brakes. Whether it's accomplished with a fancy tool or the old-school way of having a friend pump the brake pedal until no more air bubbles are visible in the drain hose, as we did here, it's the fundamental step to ensure safe, strong, and confident braking performance.
The first testdrive with the new brakes revealed the need for a couple of adjustments. First, the brake pedal didn't fell firm enough, which was traced to a necessary adjustment for the rod connecting the booster/master cylinder assembly to the brake pedal. With that adjustment, the Ford stopped quickly and confidently, with a strong, firm pedal feel. Job done.


you probably want the pictures, too? there are quite a few

 

these are the two important ones

 

Thank you all.
I got a reply from @mgtstumpy. He sent me the article as PDF file. I thought it was in this conversation, but now I find out it was a private conversation.
That's why I didn't reply here to all the help.
Sorry for that, but nevertheless:
THANK YOU EVERYONE for taking the effort to help me out! I really appreciate it

Joep

 

If a person wants to use there drum brake car much, there playing with fire. Todays drivers depend so much on there 4 wheel disc brake vehicles to make up for them not paying attention to the road. That can put an old cars drum brake system at a disadvantage. When rebuilding / restoring an older car, upgrading the brakes is a must.

 

Same problem for me. Not available for EU citizens

 

Ik kan het naar je mailen. Ik heb het nu als pdf

 

Use a proxy server or VPN to get around that blockage.

 

Man, if I bought in completely to all the above about brakes, I'd have to park almost all my stuff. 5 or 6 cars and all my motorcycles, (they barely got brakes at all). Maybe living out here in the sticks I'll last a little longer.

 

Graag

 

My theory is that today's vehicles are so loaded up with safety features i.e. ABS, traction control, adaptive cruise control, etc., that people have become so overly dependent on them that it makes them poor/inattentive drivers. It would also help tremendously if they would put down their phones!