My girl has a 1965 Comet 6 cyl. What year Maverick etc. will offer a direct bolt on disk brake set up, that still offers 4 lug rotors? I'll grab the proportioning valve and all from a junkyard, and grab a new master cylinder. What year also m/c will bolt to the firewall and accept the Comet pushrod? Thanks folks.
If you are looking for discs, then yes you are out of luck. The were all 5 lug..same brakes as Granada, so its a fairly easy swap. The first Mavericks, 69-72 or 3 had drum brakes. Back then, the 6 poppers were 4 lug, the 8's were 5. You can get a 4 lug 8 inch rear out of a Mustang II, not all had one though. Not sure why you don't want to upgrade to 5 lugs...
This is a one owner car, bought new here in Atlanta, with all documents including every gallon of gas that went into it. It went to Anchorage Alaska in 1974 pulling a camper through Wyoming and Montana, then returning though San Fran. and New Orleans. I told her when she got it last year "do not let me hot rod your car, it made around the country as is." The rear end seems fine, so just wanted a quick weekend disk upgrade since she is the primary driver, to and from work in downtown traffic.
I have heard rumors of the 4 lug Mavericks with disk brakes, but everyone tells me these are super rare. Once I get my hub situation settled I am going to go the Scarebird route. It allows the retention of the original 4 lug setup. It does require the hubs to be machined down, but this is very easy.
I've done 5 lug swaps years ago, but this had me stumped. I could not remember. Are Mustang II or Fairmont 4 lugs totally different ( I assume ) ?
The Mustang II has a smaller bolt pattern than the Falcon/Comet/Early Mustang/Maverick and Granada. I believe the Mustang II uses the same pattern as the Fox body Mustangs(Fairmont).
Mustang II rotors will mount onto Granada disc spindles, they use the same bearings ( Usually Granada Rotors were used to make Pinto's 5 lug) but you'll need to play around with the calipers/pads. It may be a matter of using the Granada calipers and messing with the pads to account for the smaller swept area. Just add an adjustable prop valve to the rear line after that.
I'm not 100% sure, but the Granada was an early Fox platform car, so a 4 lug rotor for a '79-86 Mustang ought to fit the spindle. I actually have a set of Fox four lug rotors and a set of spindles from a Lincoln Mark VII (also a Fox platform car - I used the 5 lug Lincoln rotors to make my Fairmont front discs 5 lug). I have the Mark VII calipers out in the shop too. If it would be helpful I can take some measurements for you. And if you can use this stuff I'll make a reasonable deal on it.
The early Comet and the Fox body cars have a different bolt pattern. One has 4 X 4 1/4 and the other has 4 X 4 1/2. He would have to change the rear as well or run mismatched wheels.
This is a swap that does not exist. Even if the fabled Maverick 4 lug disc did exist, the rarity of brake parts would ruin the project. Having done a few of these, the later Maverick/Granada is the way to go. The parts for the 73 Maverick are different than the ones before and after it. They are very expensive, if available. Even 4 lug wheel cylinders, like for an 8" in a '72, are 3 times the price of the '77. Like mentioned earlier, they run 2 different bolt patterns. Also, the Granada/Maverick is a bigger 11", not the small 9" disc. The upgrade is a big improvement and well worth the work. This is the big question....who can see the number of lugs under the hubcaps?
Yeah I just realized that after posting. Redrilling Granada rotors may be the only way to go but 13 inch wheels will not fit over the rotors if that is what the stock wheels are. Regardless the originals wheels are NOT going to fit over the discs anyway as the center hub is larger as well as the newer rims are designed to clear the calipers. I say if your going to disc do the full 5 bolt swap and then you can run any wheels you want stock looking or otherwise. Any other way it won't be a junkyard swap and will need a kit like Scarebird or something you would engineer using the original hub with the drum knocked off and "hat" rotor and custom caliper bracket.
Early Granada/Monarchs were more Falcon/Maverick based. Only the early 80's were based on the Fairmont/Zephyr "fox" chassis an used totally different front suspension & brakes ( Macpherson strut etc)
The Scarebird conversion kit for 4 lug stuff looks pretty good too me. It does require turning down your hubs, but that doesn't look like a big deal at all. I'm not sure if it will fit with a 13" wheel or not, but I don't know if that's what you have. My '71 is a V8 car but it's got 14" wheels.
I contacted Scarebird about the use of 13" wheels with his brakes. He said they should fit with a 1/4" spacer.
Thanks everyone, I guess this is why my memory was off. I'm replacing wheel cylinders and shoes then for now, and I'll do some thinking on the other mods. It snow balls ya know...first the 5 lug conversion, then a locking rear, then the V-8, stereo..better seats...lose the Aquamarine paint...etc.,which TO ME loses the car's personality. I'd rather buy a body and go crazy from scratch. This Comet is too neat as is. (and 4 lug stuff is free everywhere!) Correct me if I'm wrong but Fox bodies are 4 on 112mm.
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