|
|
Power Disc Brakes - Hauling It DownWe've made our High School Hauler haul; now we need to get it to stop! From the September, 2012 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan Photography by Mark Houlahan
|
|
We find it rather surprising when we walk through a car show or a row of cars at a cruise night that most car enthusiasts must feel that a quality set of brakes is surely overrated. They must be from what we've seen, otherwise, every car would have four-wheel-disc brakes right? OK, all kidding aside, brakes are a very important part of the overall package. We love to have power under our right foot, a great sounding exhaust, and a sweet set of wheels with low-profile rubber, but having a good set of brakes on your restomod just rounds out that package. Even if you never see a road course or dragstrip, having a solid braking system can mean the difference between stopping in time for that fast-changing red light, or putting you half-way into the intersection (or possibly completely through it!). Our High School Hauler has been seeing a steady stream of improvements since we first introduced it. Now that the owner has more horsepower under the hood, an AOD in the tunnel, a nice limited-slip unit out back wrapped in some stout gears, and new wheels wrapped in modern rubber that isn't dry rotting, he's actually been driving the car a whole lot more than when we first started. The bad news is the '70 coupe is still rocking its stock manual drum brakes at all four corners. While the '70 did sport a dual-reservoir master cylinder for safety, the manual drums had noticeable chatter and the pedal effort was something the owner was not used to, as his two other vehicles are newer and feature power disc brakes. To give the Hauler some much needed improvement in the braking department, we looked to the muscle car brake upgrade experts at Master Power Brakes. Bolting up a set of huge binders is a great idea, but can put a real dent in your wallet. We're also limited by our new 15-inch wheels we recently installed. Lastly, we wanted to upgrade to a vacuum brake booster for power assist and a more modern pedal feel that will inspire braking confidence and keep the pedal feel consistent from his daily driver to when he jumps into the '70 for a spin. We spoke with the folks at Master Power Brakes with these parameters in mind and they recommended Master Power's DB1521PANS power disc brake kit. At only $895, this complete kit has everything we need to upgrade the front drum brakes on our '70 to power disc brakes. The kit features 11-1/4-inch vented rotors, four-piston calipers loaded with pads, mounting hardware, a single-diaphragm brake booster, a dual-reservoir disc/drum master cylinder, a combination valve assembly, new brake hoses and bearings, and even the proper power brake pedal. The rotor and caliper package will fit most Ford 14-inch disc brake wheels (for those looking to keep an OE vintage wheel) or 15-inch aftermarket wheels like our American Racing Torque Thrusts. Best of all, the kit adapts to the stock drum brake spindles on the Mustang, so there's no need to hunt down hard-to-find disc spindles in a salvage yard or spend countless hours trolling auction sites. While the kit does bolt on easily, there will be some minor brake line fabrication required for the new master cylinder and combination valve, but it's nothing a few lengths of part's store brake line won't fix, so let's get started.  1 You can remove the complete...  1 You can remove the complete front drum brake setup as an assembly, but you still need to get the drum off first. Removing the dust cap, cotter pin, nut retainer, spindle nut, and outer bearing allows the drum and hub assembly to come free.  2 The drum brake assembly...  2 The drum brake assembly is retained to the spindle via four T-bolts with mechanical locking nuts. A 9/16-inch socket gets the job done, but you'll most likely run into a common issue, which is the T-bolts spinning. A pair of locking pliers will keep the T-bolts in check to remove the locking nuts.  3 At the framerail, the hard...  3 At the framerail, the hard brake line will need to be disconnected from the flex hose and then the flex hose retaining clip will need to be removed with a pair of pliers to free the brake hose from the framerail bracket. Do yourself a favor and soak these connections in penetrating oil in advance.  4 After cleaning the spindle...  4 After cleaning the spindle of loose dirt, rust, and debris, the Master Power Brakes caliper mounting bracket is situated on the spindle with the caliper mounting ears facing forward. The new included hardware secures the bracket with the long bolt going through the thicker part of the spindle.  5a Depending upon the spindle...  5a Depending upon the spindle your Mustang has, there are two potential bearing sizes that will work. Thankfully, Master Power Brakes simply includes both sizes to make things easy.  5b You can either measure...  5b You can either measure the spindle with a set of calipers, or simply grab the two bearings and test fit them as sort of a "go/no-go" gauge. You can see here that the spindle is the larger of the two sizes and requires the larger bearing to fully seat.  6 The vented rotors included...  6 The vented rotors included in the brake kit have the smaller bearing races pre-installed, but if your spindle requires the larger bearings, you will have to remove these races and install the correct ones (included). A hammer and drift punch will knock out the old races, but it's really best to use a bearing race installer, as shown, to properly seat the new races. We picked up our installer years ago for about $20 and use it all the time for bearings and seals.  7 Packing the bearings with...  7 Packing the bearings with fresh grease is a messy job, but a simple one. While bearing tools are available to pump the grease into the bearing, we still use the old fashioned pile of grease in our palm and slowly pull the bearing edge through the grease until the grease comes out the top of the bearing. Be sure to apply a film of grease inside the rotor hub and the bearing races before installing the inner bearing. Secure the inner bearing with the new grease seal included in the brake kit.  8 Our passenger side spindle...  8 Our passenger side spindle had some damaged threads, and the last thing we wanted to do was install our brand new retaining nut hardware onto some mangled threads. Our thread file came to the rescue and got the spindle back in shape in no time. We have thread files for course, fine, and metric threads and they’ve been lifesavers for years.  9 The rotor slips over the...  9 The rotor slips over the spindle and we're ready for the outer wheel bearing. The outer bearing is packed with grease and then slid over the spindle, followed by the retaining washer and nut. Tighten the nut while spinning the rotor to seat the bearings, then back the nut off and retighten to just "nug." Check for interference between the rotor's rear edge and the caliper mounting bracket and if needed, remove the rotor and adjust the bracket per the instructions or clearance the bracket with a grinder or hand file.  10 Follow the retaining nut...  10 Follow the retaining nut with the new nut retainer and cotter pin. To retain the assembly, bend the cotter pin ends back around the spindle tip. We find it best to use needle nose pliers with one tip in the spindle opening and the other tip on the end of the cotter pin to bend it around. Seal the assembly with the new dust cap included.  11 The four-pot calipers...  11 The four-pot calipers easily mount with the new hardware provided. When installing the new calipers be sure to mount the calipers with the bleeder screw (shown) and the brake hose port facing upwards.  12 The included brake hoses...  12 The included brake hoses use a copper sealing washer at the caliper and the sealing washer is shipped under the caliper fitting rubber plug, so watch for it when you remove the rubber plug to install the hose. The hoses are the same for both sides so no worries there.  13a The new brake hoses are...  13a The new brake hoses are secured to the framerail bracket just like the original hoses. Master Power Brakes provides a brass line fitting to adapt to the stock Ford hard lines, so be sure to tighten the adapter first.  13b Due to the slightly longer...  13b Due to the slightly longer assembly with the included adapter, the hard line needs to be moved forward. We simply loosened the line clamp on the framerail and nudged the line forward a bit, which gave us plenty of room.  14 As we noted in the intro...  14 As we noted in the intro text, this particular brake package from Master Power Brakes will fit OE 14-inch disc brake wheels and most 15-inch aftermarket wheels. Our 15-inch Torque Thrusts cleared the caliper and rotor easily; however, the caliper face was a little close, but still cleared fine with the wheel torqued to specs.  15 With our brake upgrade...  15 With our brake upgrade at the wheels complete (except for bleeding the calipers), it' time to move to the power brake upgrade portion of the kit. Since we have no need for the master cylinder lines or the original proportioning valve, we simply cut the brake lines instead of dealing with the rusty connections.  16 To remove the old manual...  16 To remove the old manual drum master cylinder, the brake light switch is removed from the pedal and the master cylinder pushrod is then separated from the pedal. Under the hood, the two master cylinder retaining bolts are removed to pull the master cylinder free of the firewall.  17 The new power booster...  17 The new power booster mounts to the firewall with four studs and one bolt. The factory bolt shown here will need to be removed and then this threaded insert, as well as the two original master cylinder inserts below it, will need to be drilled out to allow the booster mounting studs to pass through.  18 Besides the three mounting...  18 Besides the three mounting locations that have to have their threaded inserts drilled out, the main booster pushrod hole needs to be elongated following the template included in the booster kit. A carbide cutting burr is a good tool for this step, but a cut-off wheel can get the job done as well. Lastly, the two horizontal bolt holes need to be slotted outwards and the dimple just above the steering column drilled out as well. Your firewall should look like this now.  19 Before the brake booster...  19 Before the brake booster can be fitted to the firewall, the kit's provided power brake pedal assembly needs to find its way under the dash and to the brake pedal support bracket. The pedal is installed in the upper hole provided in the bracket. However, some pedal supports do not have the required installation hole. If yours doesn't have the necessary hole, you'll need to remove the pedal support and drill a new hole in the correct location, following the included instructions. If you don't use the included pedal, the pedal ratio will be incorrect for the booster.  20 Fit the booster to the...  20 Fit the booster to the modified firewall (don't forget the included paper gasket) and thread the four mounting nuts from under the dash. Draw the fasteners in evenly until the booster seats, then reinstall the one factory bolt in the upper corner from the engine side of the firewall (a small open-end wrench is your friend here). Finally, tighten all fasteners and connect the new brake pedal to the booster.  21 If you don't have a vacuum...  21 If you don't have a vacuum tree on your engine, don't worry. The Master Power Brakes kit includes a brass fitting and a length of booster hose. Simply install the fitting in one of your intake runners and cut the hose to length and install--it's as easy as that.  22 Connecting the new master...  22 Connecting the new master cylinder and combination valve to your existing brake lines is not difficult, but will take a little planning for routing. We connected the two front brake lines with this included brass "T" and adapter to start. The free line is the line to the rear brakes.  23 Next, we mocked up the...  23 Next, we mocked up the combination valve and its mounting bracket and used two 12-inch lengths of 3/16-inch brake line and some of the line adapters included to connect the combination valve to our existing lines. If your lines are questionable, you might want to buy new hard lines and make your own custom routing.  24 Bench bleeding the master...  24 Bench bleeding the master cylinder is important to prevent introducing more air into the system and saves time bleeding the brakes on the car. Using a vice to secure the master cylinder, fill the chambers with clean DOT3 fluid and slowly depress the piston until all air bubbles stop coming from the chambers.  25 Leave the plastic plugs...  25 Leave the plastic plugs in the master cylinder to prevent getting brake fluid everywhere and bolt the master cylinder to the brake booster, ensuring you have the combination valve bracket installed after the master cylinder. Finally, connect the lines from the combination valve to the master cylinder and recheck all connections before filling the system. 26 Something new included with Master Power Brakes' combination valve is the HW3350 Combination Valve Tool. This small threaded tool (knurled silver part in the side of the combination valve) is temporarily inserted in place of the brake pressure light switch to prevent tripping the internal valve during brake bleeding procedures. Now you can bleed your brakes (right then left rear, right then left front) without worrying about setting off the brake light on your dash. Don't forget to remove the tool when you're done!
|
Master Power Brakes
110 Crosslake Park Dr
Mooresville
NC
28117
888-351-8785
www.mpbrakes.com
| |
|
|