Using mustang rotors for 4.5" bc

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THERAMMAN said:
4 types of rotors from the ram man
All one piece high quality rotors
4.5 " studs......plain and drilled and slotted

And 4.0 " plain and drilled and slotted
With seals,without,
Factory bearings

Will answer any brake question, correct and free
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What does this mean? LOL
 
HemiMark said:
What does this mean? LOL
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It means that if you've decided that the conversion described in this thread is "too cheap", you can always pay someone $300+ to do the legwork work for you... ;)
 
No offense to the RAM MAN but I've seen his parts and prices on "E-crap" and i'm not impressed at all.
 
Good stuff guys! I'm looking to upgrade my drums (front) to disk as well as change out the bolt pattern to 4.5; questions are:

1. What conversion kit should I get or should I look for the vintage 4-piston setup and do the above mustang conversion (money's an issue...);
2. The last post indicated that he re-drilled the rears for 4.5" bp so I assume that this can be done without too much trouble... is this true?
 
cudascott said:
Just a tag for future reference
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I don't know if you know this, but if you go to the top of any thread and click on thread tools, then click "subscribe to thread," you can go to "list subscriptions" in your control board and it will be in there. This forum has some pretty cool tools and options to make surfing through it a breeze!

If you have any questions on this swap, feel free to ask. I did this swap to my buddy's 69 Cuda and it worked out great. He's very happy with the results and loves his new wheels.
 
Why hasn't any machinist picked up on this opportunity to make off the shelf conversion kits? Nice to know I can swap bolt patterns without spending a fortune.

Are the studs that come in these rotors long enough to work with aluminum wheels and have the stud into the head of the lug nut?
 
Why not skip all the machine work and buy the rotors from wildwood with the 4.5 bolt pattern that match your spindles?
 
Hi. I was checking stuff at work today and noticed that 1983-94 ford ranger rotors also use the same inner and outer bearings. Napa # is 48-85865. Outside diameter is 10.29 on these rotors. I didn't have time to check the difference in the seals and also not sure if the inner bearing has to be cut in order to center the rotor in the caliper. This could be another option. I will try to look into this more tomorrow. Bobby
 
QWKSLVR said:
Hi. I was checking stuff at work today and noticed that 1983-94 ford ranger rotors also use the same inner and outer bearings. Napa # is 48-85865. Outside diameter is 10.29 on these rotors. I didn't have time to check the difference in the seals and also not sure if the inner bearing has to be cut in order to center the rotor in the caliper. This could be another option. I will try to look into this more tomorrow. Bobby
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interesting. keep us posted!
 
I wonder why mopar did not do this back then? where the upper ball joints to small to take the forces dished out by larger disk brakes,more Engine HP.Have you ever had an upper ball joint come apart? I know any ball joint can do this.But if it was that easy I think mopar would have done it a long time ago.
 
I'm working on another method of performing the LBP swap, might be a little cheaper than the current method, since I can do the machine work at my shop. I just have to find out where I put my Kelsey Hayes parts, sadly I think someone threw them away because they were piled in a box at the back of the shop. :wack:

If anyone happens to be in my area with a KH 4-Piston equipped car and wants to help out (I need a test vehicle, since I'm 99% sure someone threw away my KH parts) so I can see if they'll fit like I think they will.


Guestimating that it would cost about $240 Total

That'd include 2 Rotors, Inner and Outer Wheel Bearings, Seals, and Dust Caps, plus a little bit for my labor. LBP, "Unicast" style (like the Mustang Rotor or a 73+ A-Body Rotor).
 
jockeyshift said:
I wonder why mopar did not do this back then? where the upper ball joints to small to take the forces dished out by larger disk brakes,more Engine HP.Have you ever had an upper ball joint come apart? I know any ball joint can do this.But if it was that easy I think mopar would have done it a long time ago.
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The brake rotor and pad size are the same, just the bolt pattern is changed to 4.5 inches.
 
Decided to switch to the mustang rotors and I have to say in frkn happy with this setup, longgone, You the man!! rotors got them off amazon for 60 w/shipping, proto brand! machining took it to a local industrial supplier that had a machine shop which they machined the rotors for 76 bucks! installed them ran into a few issues. Dust shield needed the inner hole, where the inner rotor part goes in, opened more so grinded that out and for some odd ball reason the drivers side lower part of the caliper was rubbing where the rough casting was at on the rotor, the passenger side was good! Just got a grinder to it to open up the clearences and worked out great! Was even able to use stock seals that actually went in perfectly which Idk why everybody else was having problems with. Probably the rotor manufacture did somthing different on these rotors but Anyhoo big thanks to longgone for the info on doing this! Also any update on the ranger rotors? I know it's been a long time! Just wondering!
 
I was in the same boat with my 1970 Duster that came with the KH brakes. I wanted the bigger bolt pattern but I wanted to keep what was original to he car. Especially since the KH brakes are rare and a 4 piston caliper to boot. However there is a gross reality that goes along with these brakes and good reasons for there removal. From a performance stand point, they aren't safe. The bolts that hold the lower balljoint to the spindles are small and are known for breaking. Also, we all know the upper balljoint itself is smaller then the '73 up part. I wound up changing to the 73 up style brakes and mounted the calipers to the rear to accommodate the 70 style hotchkis sway bar I installed. Minus the upper control arms, Classic Industries sells the conversion for $399. So if you're only interested in a wheel upgrade then the Mustang rotor with some machine work will work. However, if your wheel upgrade is going along with other performance handling upgrades then keep the weaknesses in mind. Glad to see this write up though. I was wondering if anyone else besides me had discovered that Ford used the same brakes.
 
Stendy said:
From a performance stand point, they aren't safe. The bolts that hold the lower balljoint to the spindles are small and are known for breaking.
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"Known" by whom? I've owned/wrenched on a-bodies for 30 years, and I've never heard of these bolts breaking. Ever. Nor have I ever had any of the hard parts fail on a KH setup.

Claiming they are "unsafe" is ridiculous.
 
Must be on the ford side or a different setup because I never heard anything about that also. Yea the bolts are smaller and balljoints too but I've driven on that setup for 5 years with alittle under 200,000 miles driving like hell, even twice at the race track in Brainard MN and I live in central ca and had no problems with it whatsoever. IMO it's a great system.
 
I am having problems finding the right size of inner bearing. Does anyone have the right part number thanks
 
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