Using mustang rotors for 4.5" bc

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Been sick again so haven't posted in a while.

I ordered the rotors so I can do the conversion on my Barracuda. My car is a factory drum so I will have to install the KH system on it. I am planning to take my spindle with me to the machine shop.
 
i have done the conversion on my dart. It turned out great. Only problem I had was the first machinist I used screwed the rotors up, so i had to buy a second set of rotors. All I can say is find a perfectionist in a machinist & you shouldn;t have any issues. Don't plan on using dust shields as they will need to be heavily modified.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Been sick again so haven't posted in a while.

I ordered the rotors so I can do the conversion on my Barracuda. My car is a factory drum so I will have to install the KH system on it. I am planning to take my spindle with me to the machine shop.
Click to expand...


Take your spindle & one of the original rotors to measure off of.
 
First question. Longgone: did you retain your dust shields when you dis your conversion. There was another user that said he couldn't use his after the install.

Second question: what years of mustangs had the correct useable rotor? Rock
auto lists mustang rotors that look correct in the picture for a 66 mustang but not sure. Also for everyone interested in the swap they are only 52 dollars and some change each from rock auto if those are in fact the correct rotors.


Jeff
 
JeffTheMarine said:
First question. Longgone: did you retain your dust shields when you dis your conversion. There was another user that said he couldn't use his after the install.

Second question: what years of mustangs had the correct useable rotor? Rock
auto lists mustang rotors that look correct in the picture for a 66 mustang but not sure. Also for everyone interested in the swap they are only 52 dollars and some change each from rock auto if those are in fact the correct rotors.


Jeff
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Jeff, I had no problem with the dust shields on my car. I don`t understand why some people are having interference issues. They may have answers for you there.

I used `66/67 rotors....here`s a link to a page with the rotor and applications. http://auto-parts.myride.com/auto-part/876005-brake-rotor#fits
 
I appreciate it LongGone. Just so that everyone knows that plans to do this swap. RockAuto.com sells the rotors made by Bendix for 52.79 ea. Best price you will probably be able to get.



Jeff
 
I upgraded to the 1973-up Front Discs w/ the single calipers. You can mount them on the rear, get the Sway Bar space in front, simplify the caliper setup (1 caliper vs 4), & get all the lower priced rotors, calipers & evrything else you want without having to contort yourself. Also, you can upgrade to even bigger, mongo/ cop-brakes w/ this swap. I'm not sure that you can do this w/ the K-H...at least not economically.

The initial swap-out is a bit of a pain, but once it's in, you're set for the life of the car.

Once I put these in, I never looked back, nor did I ever consider having to rebuild & look for overpriced K-H parts. i think the calipers (rebuilt-NAPA) were about $13 ea, the rotors were $55 ea. I don't remember the cost of everything else, but in all, I think I got this done for around $200-$250 for the entire front end - that also included suspension parts & bushings. It's the way that I recommend.
 
archlab said:
I upgraded to the 1973-up Front Discs w/ the single calipers. You can mount them on the rear, get the Sway Bar space in front, simplify the caliper setup (1 caliper vs 4), & get all the lower priced rotors, calipers & evrything else you want without having to contort yourself. Also, you can upgrade to even bigger, mongo/ cop-brakes w/ this swap. I'm not sure that you can do this w/ the K-H...at least not economically.

The initial swap-out is a bit of a pain, but once it's in, you're set for the life of the car.

Once I put these in, I never looked back, nor did I ever consider having to rebuild & look for overpriced K-H parts. i think the calipers (rebuilt-NAPA) were about $13 ea, the rotors were $55 ea. I don't remember the cost of everything else, but in all, I think I got this done for around $200-$250 for the entire front end - that also included suspension parts & bushings. It's the way that I recommend.
Click to expand...

It`s subjective whether going to the 2 piston (73 and up) brakes are actually an upgrade from the four piston KH brakes. Most people, (myself included) will argue that the KH 4 piston caliper is the better system. With that being said, the majority of people looking for the large bolt pattern are doing the same swap you have and are very pleased with the system. The availabilty/cost of parts that make up the post `72 system are an advantage over the KH system. This thread was to show that there is an alternative to using the later model 4.5" assembly without changing out everything. One other advantage to using the modified Ford rotor is that if there ever comes a time when you want to go back to the stock 4" bolt circle wheel, all you have to do is remove the hub/rotor and install the original.
 
archlab said:
I upgraded to the 1973-up Front Discs w/ the single calipers. You can mount them on the rear, get the Sway Bar space in front, simplify the caliper setup (1 caliper vs 4), & get all the lower priced rotors, calipers & evrything else you want without having to contort yourself. Also, you can upgrade to even bigger, mongo/ cop-brakes w/ this swap. I'm not sure that you can do this w/ the K-H...at least not economically.

The initial swap-out is a bit of a pain, but once it's in, you're set for the life of the car.

Once I put these in, I never looked back, nor did I ever consider having to rebuild & look for overpriced K-H parts. i think the calipers (rebuilt-NAPA) were about $13 ea, the rotors were $55 ea. I don't remember the cost of everything else, but in all, I think I got this done for around $200-$250 for the entire front end - that also included suspension parts & bushings. It's the way that I recommend.
Click to expand...

Longgone said:
It`s subjective whether going to the 2 piston (73 and up) brakes are actually an upgrade from the four piston KH brakes. Most people, (myself included) will argue that the KH 4 piston caliper is the better system. With that being said, the majority of people looking for the large bolt pattern are doing the same swap you have and are very pleased with the system. The availabilty/cost of parts that make up the post `72 system are an advantage over the KH system. This thread was to show that there is an alternative to using the later model 4.5" assembly without changing out everything. One other advantage to using the modified Ford rotor is that if there ever comes a time when you want to go back to the stock 4" bolt circle wheel, all you have to do is remove the hub/rotor and install the original.
Click to expand...

I believe the mustang rotor keeps the track close to stock and not wider by almost an inch on each side when using the later bbp A body set up. The wider track of the later A stuff is not my favorite aspect of the swap.

More than one way to skin a cat.
 
I have a 64 barracuda that has front disc's when i bought it a few months ago. It is sbp 5x4", does that mean it is the kelsey hayes system? How can i confirm this before i start buying mustang rotors and pulling stuff apart.
 
BLOW-DART said:
I have a 64 barracuda that has front disc's when i bought it a few months ago. It is sbp 5x4", does that mean it is the kelsey hayes system? How can i confirm this before i start buying mustang rotors and pulling stuff apart.
Click to expand...

Yes, you should have the Kelsey-Hayes system. Original calipers will often have a KH cast into them.
 
Thought I'd bump this back to the top my saying,

I just ordered a pair of disks from Rockauto, I went with the Raybestos p/n: 6004R

They were $53.99 ea, with $29.46 shipping to colorado, Total was $137.44

I'll let you all know when I get them machined and we'll see how it goes.

Stay tuned !
 
Well, my disks are at the machine shop right now getting modified.

Dont know where you guys find these machine shops that will do this kind of stuff for $60 bucks. You must have buddies that are machinists or something.

I went to 4 different shops, 2 didnt have the right equipment , 1 wanted nothing to do with it. The last shop where the disks are right now, the guy wants $200 bucks to do the mods !

I may have been able to get a better price in Denver, but that would have meant two trips to denver, a two hour round trip.

So, anyways, the guy doing the work is an older guy that has been a machinist for 30years. We'll see on monday what kind of job he did.
 
Machine work cost me $300 bucks. My engine guy wanted nothing to do with it either. I had to look around to find someone willing to try.
someone with a good 4 jaw lathe should make a couple dozen of these.
Like the machine guy said, the first one took 3 hrs, the second one 45 mins.
Good luck with the brakes. It was well worth the cost for me.
 
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I have made changes of this type to rotors in the past.

Solved the seal problem by using a seal with the correct I.D. and installed a precision sleeve in the bore of the rotor so that the O.D. of the correct seal was right at home.
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MileHighDart said:
Well, my disks are at the machine shop right now getting modified.

Dont know where you guys find these machine shops that will do this kind of stuff for $60 bucks. You must have buddies that are machinists or something.

I went to 4 different shops, 2 didnt have the right equipment , 1 wanted nothing to do with it. The last shop where the disks are right now, the guy wants $200 bucks to do the mods !

I may have been able to get a better price in Denver, but that would have meant two trips to denver, a two hour round trip.

So, anyways, the guy doing the work is an older guy that has been a machinist for 30years. We'll see on monday what kind of job he did.
Click to expand...

How did the older guy do Milehigh?

RaznL said:
Machine work cost me $300 bucks. My engine guy wanted nothing to do with it either. I had to look around to find someone willing to try.
someone with a good 4 jaw lathe should make a couple dozen of these.
Like the machine guy said, the first one took 3 hrs, the second one 45 mins.
Good luck with the brakes. It was well worth the cost for me.
Click to expand...

I don't understand that you guys can't find machinists to do this job. I stood and watched the guy that did mine and it only took him about an hour to do both rotors. Go figure?
 
OK, Sorry for the delayed update. Been pretty busy.
Finished the front disk swap and have been working on an axle swap for the back.

I've kind of laid out some pics of problems I had, and solutions that I used to get it finished up. So here we go.

First heres a pic of the back of the modified mustang rotor. It has had the mustang seal area cut off, and the area for the race cut deeper into the hub my .250" and outer diameter of disk was cut down to 11" even.
I probably should have had him cut it a little deeper, but I was worried about going to far, so I started out conservatively.
Second is a pic of the rotor installed on the spindle.

so far no problem.
 

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Next when I test fit the caliper, I had interference issues with a certain part of the caliper rubbing on the mustang rotor/hub.

First pic is of the problem area,
Second pic is after a few minutes with a disk sander and a 36 grit disk.
Problem solved.
 

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Next problem was possibly because I didn't have have the race area cut deeper, or maybe its just manufactureing tolerances on these old mopars.

The disk was not even close to being centered in the caliper as you can see from the pic.
For some reason this was only a problem on the drivers side. Passenger side was much closer to being centered. (not perfect, but close enough).

Solution was to shave about .050" off the mounting bosses on the caliper, so that when it was bolted back on, the caliper would sit farther out, and be more centered on the disk.

I have a before pic, but didnt take an after pic, but after this mod the disk was much closer to centered in the caliper.
 

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Next a spent about an hour on each caliper with a small disk sander and a 80 grit disk cleaning up the calipers. Removed lots of rust and scale off the calipers and got them looking pretty nice.
Then a coat of rustoleum rusty metal primer, and 2 coats of high temp semi-flat black paint I had the calipers looking pretty nice. (as far as interals, I rebuilt these calipers about a year ago).
 

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Finally a pic of the final assembly,

And a pic or two with my new wheels mounted.
 

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