The title says it all. If I need to fully replace all the drums, should I just go ahead and swap them to disk brakes? How hard and costly is it going to be to swap them all the way around?
Front brakes ? yes, definately. Rear drums ? It's really not worth the cost and effort unless you're goin to be road racing it. Cost is completely up to you. It can be done quite cheaply using Granada discs. I would also rebuild the front suspension while at it, if it hasn't been done already.
I have dealt with these guys and their products are top shelf. If you have to buy all the drum parts anyway, just get this disc kit and be done with it. The base kit for manual brakes fits our cars. It is so much nicer to work with new parts than to find a donor car. http://www.discbrakeswap.com/Mustang Disc Brake Conversion Kits SWAP2.html
@71gold it is 4 lug and yes I would be replacing everything. @baddad457 I would love to do the suspension at the same time, but lacking the funds to do it all at once. @Acornridgeman is this the package I'm looking for SWAP.2.1.4/M: 67-73? Since my car is the 4 lug, will this still work for it?
The front will no longer be 4-lug after you do the disc brake swap if you're going with a Granada-based kit. (I didn't know about that kit... They actually sell NEW spindles? That's neat. Price is not bad either considering what all you get.) You will most likely be converting to 5-lug if you want disc brakes, I don't know of any way around that unless somebody happens to make a 4-lug hub/rotor that's compatible with the Granada spindle and caliper.
That should be it. If you decide to order it, call them and tell them exactly what you are putting it in and then there will be no doubt. All disc brakes, whether you go with a donor car or one of these kits, are 5 lug setup. Most guys swap the rear end out of a 5 lug when they do the disc swap so all wheels will match. There are way more wheel choices in 5 lug then 4 lug. Also note, there is a difference between the length of Mustang master cylinder rods and the ones for a Maverick. Just reuse your old rod or buy the right length one to use with the new master.
Yes, as will the 75 and up Granada - the spindles were the same as the 75 and up Maverick discs. Problem is, if you get everything off a donor car many of the parts like calipers, rotors, pads, caliper shield .. ect, need to be replaced anyway. With a kit like posted above you will need nothing.
I did the disk swap using a Maverick disk brake donor in a junk yard. Got EVERYTHING including even all the front steel lines, rubber lines and brackets and fasteners. Then proceded to buy rotors, callipers, pads, master cyl, rubber lines, tie rod ends, and bearings. Would have been cheaper and easier to just buy the kit.
I've bought about 6-8 Granada sets and 75% of them had good rotors and calipers. Lots of these cars got parked for reasons other than the brakes. 2-3 of them had nearly new calipers and rotors. If you look, you can find these sets and pay very little for them.
