Econoline straight axle disc brake conversion?

Did you ever find out the answer?

 

From what I found searching around, and asking E100 owners, it seems that Ford pressed the drums on the E100 hubs. Not sure why mine are not press on, but I'd guess someone removed the originals, and found some later Mustang drums that slid on the hubs.
I finished up the conversion to my friend's E100 straight axle I put in his Nova, and it works very well now. The disc brake conversion cost a bit more than expected, but still only about $160 total.

 

The drum is not pressed on the hub. The drum is staked/swedged to the hub with the lug studs. If you try to press out the lug stud it usually ruins the hub (happened to me!). Here's a tool to remove the swedge: http://www.goodson.com/Brake-Drum-Swedge-Cutting-Tool/ I had a machine shop remove mine the second go around.

The front drums on my '63 Comet are attached the same way. One side must have had the drum replaced without the staking/swedging because it will slide off the hub. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for that confirmation! That's a pretty cool tool. They should make one to go over the spindle and make it easier to remove. Since we weren't keeping the drums, I used a parting wheel to make several cuts in the drum up to the center hub, and then pressed it out. Didn't have any issue with the lug studs, but I could see the shoulder on them that seated into the drum. I thought I was going to break the hub trying to press those studs out though! Yikes! When they finally popped loose it sounded like something broke! I replaced all the studs with long studs that go clear through the long chrome lug nuts, so his Nova will pass tech at the drags.

 

Forgot to mention, of the two front disc brake set-ups I've used, I prefer the D&D.

 

We built my buddy's up with the Speedway bracket modified, AWD Aerostar rotors, and GM calipers. Worked well together and an easy, inexpensive swap.

 

Hi I used tsm years ago . Never did again . I'm using D&D now . all bolt in and works great .

 

What year Aerostar rotors?

 

They were from an AWD Aerostar. I think 1990 rear rotors.

 

Thank you. I make disc brake setups for rear ends and use the Lincoln rotors, but that means a 15" rim. A lot of the early mustang/falcon/fairlane guys want discs, but want to retain their 14s. Appreciate it.

 

The Aerostar is also a better choice because it's a thicker rotor like the GM, so fits the calipers correctly. Some of the rotors I see people using are the single thickness rotors, so the piston is extended too far, and could create piston sticking issues.

 

How are you guys determining where to mount the bracket? Are you putting the disc on the spindle and putting a caliper on the bracket and putting that over the disc? I assume there is a best way to mark the holes to drill in the bracket. What do/did you use?

Thanks!

Dave

 

What I did was relieve a little metal on the Speedway weld on bracket, and then after it fit in place and I could see the bracket covered the spindle holes, I mounted the caliper to the bracket. With the caliper mounted I could then look at the clearance of the caliper, and where the brake pads sat, and trim the bracket a little at a time until it sat correctly. I also had to make spacers to set the bracket off the spindle, as bolted tight against it didn't situate the caliper correctly. Once I got the thickness of the spacers right, and everything was good, I marked the holes and drilled them to mount the bracket. I also tack welded the spacers to the bracket, and after pulling it off I welded them solid to make them part of the bracket.

 

Is this the bracket you are using?

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Weld-On-1978-88-GM-Flat-Mount-Caliper-Bracket,21280.html

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Yes, that's the bracket. It takes very little trimming to make it fit around the spindle and kingpin. I mounted up the caliper and disc rotor, and then slid it into place to see how much needed to be removed to allow the caliper to sit correctly, and just some squaring up of the round shape did enough.
Make sure you also have your brake pads on the caliper when checking, as they'll help show where they sit on the rotor too.

 

I'll probably be back over next week doing more work on my buddy's gasser, and I'll get a close up picture of the installed set up if you want a picture?

 

Pics are always good. Thanks

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1971BB427, thanks for posting the details on this. it's the most detailed description I've found.
By using this setup, can you still use 14inch wheels? I'm trying to figure out the pairing of parts for 14 and 15 inch arrangements. Someone stated that Crown Vic rotors only work for 15s but can you still use this adapter plate and the GM calipers? I realize that you may not know this, I'm just putting it out there for anyone else with experience doing this.

So far, 1990 AWD Aerostar rear rotors and 78-88 GM metric calipers for 14s, correct?

Pics would be great!

Thanks!

Dave

 

You're welcome Dave! I got some help here, and good info, just trying to add some details that hopefully will assist others in the same swap.
I haven't checked the clearance with 14" wheels, as the car has 15" on it now. I'll see if I can measure clearances and determine if there's enough to allow a smaller wheel. We purchased both Crown Vic (returned them) and 4WD Aerostar rotors, and I saw no way I'd use Crown Vic, as they're way too large to even let the Speedway bracket be close enough to allow it to drill holes for mounting the bracket. I also found the Crown Vic rotors were not vented, so they're much thinner, and it looked like GM calipers would be extended so far that they might tip as the pads wore, and maybe bind or not retract. Not sure how people use the Crown Vic rotor with a GM caliper.

 

OK, went over today to complete a few more things on my buddy's Nova, so here's the promised pics of the E100 axle disc brake conversion.


SHot this one down through the engine bay to get a close up of the speedway bracket, and the Aerostar rotor:


Hope this makes it clearer.

 

PS-I think a 14" wheel will work if the BS isn't too deep. It looks like a stock wheel would be fine. The wheels on this car are 15x4.5", with 2.25" BS, and nowhere near close to the caliper. Just a note here to the install. We used all grade 8 bolts, and Loctite on everything bolted to the spindles, just to make sure it all stays in place!
The braided stainless lines, and banjo fittings were spendy, at around $75 for both sides, with fittings.

 

One other thing I just thought I'd add. (forgot this step!) Once we separated the hubs from the E100 drums we slipped the hub into the Aerostar rotor and found the internal clearance was too tight to slide inside the rotor. I put the hub in my lathe and cleaned up the outer perimeter to get a little clearance. I think it could easily be done with a grinder also, as the outside doesn't reference on anything, so simply holding a grinder to the edge as you turn it on the spindle would clean it up and allow an easy fit of the rotor.
Haven't looked at the Jeep rotors mentioned earlier, so don't know if they might fit better without clearancing.

 

Did you have to narrow the Econline axle to get the spring pads to line up? How much caster are you running? This is all great info, BTW.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

No, I have a full width E100 axle, and the springs don't line up with the frame. I built pads with boxed supports outside the frame after I added a full box tube to the underside of the frame. You can see the boxed supports in this picture:


I'm running 6 degrees on the kingpins, and about 3/16" toe in. Handles and steers great! I'm running 10 degrees on my Austin gasser, and I can feel it when turning hard, or backing up and turning, but it goes really straight at high speeds, and that's what I wanted with the 89" wheelbase.

I am running a 6" wide rim right now on the Falcon, as I found the whole set of ET spokes for $325 at a swap meet, with tires. The front tire combo hangs out a little, but I am looking for some 3.5"-4.5" wide wheels, and then they'll sit just where I want them. I'm not a fan of the wheels sitting too far in on a high vehicle like a gasser, so filling the wheelwell opening is what I'd like. Hopefully I'll get the skinnies at the upcoming swap meet, but if not I will eventually.

 

I had a 283 Chevy / Falcon in the sixties, ended up using a lift kit on it. Always wondered if the straight axle conversion saved any weight over stock?

 

I doubt it. Unless you remove more than just the front suspension as I did. I took everything out, including the inner fenderwells and shock towers, and it's probably a wash then. These straight axles aren't light, and I doubt you'd save any weight, but they look clean!

 

did you swap out the master cylinder? What about wheel bearings, did you use the stock Econo bearings?

 

We put his in a 3rd gen Nova, so it has the stock dual master cylinder. We also put an Explorer 8.8" rear with disc brakes, so it's 4 wheel disc now. Yes, we used the stock wheel bearings. They're roller bearings, so not sure what you could replace them with that would be an improvement?

 

I wasn't sure if the stock econoline wheel bearings would fit the disks you installed.

Thanks for the info

 

Since we used the stock hubs, the discs don't have any bearings. They simply slip over the stock hubs. I think regardless of whether you use Jeep rotors or Aerostar rotors, you'll still use stock hubs to slip them over.