The common disc brake upgrade for drum-brake-equipped classic Mustangs is a time-tested upgrade that offers great results, both in performance and safety. The aftermarket now offers a steady stream of improvements in this area, and saves you from having to find the upgrade in the boneyard, which is becoming an ever-more-difficult proposition. As our project '66 Mustang fastback is going well beyond the factory performance envelope in every aspect, Colt of Personality's braking system must be equally impressive to handle the increased performance of the chassis and drivetrain.
To that end, we called Wilwood Engineering in Camarillo, California, to discuss our requirements and options. Knowing that we would be going with an 18-inch–diameter wheel allowed us to stuff some serious rotor behind the hoops. With that in mind, and knowing full well that we intended to drive the Mustang as hard as possible, Wilwood set us up with its big-brake front system that comes with massive 14-inch, two-piece rotors, and Wilwood's forged-billet SL6R calipers. For the rear end, a set of 12.90-inch rotors with SL4R calipers will complement the front setup.
Wilwood now offers an integrated parking brake system in its rear big- brake kits and we opted to take full advantage of that. The parking brake resides inside the rotor hat, which doubles as a drum. This setup is available for standard big-bearing rearends, but we were planning on running a full floater rearend in the Mustang. Wilwood saw the necessity for this type of application within the Pro Touring scene, and makes the required changes to the rotor hats to allow it to work with the floater hubs.
In this article, we cover the installation of the front brake system, and give you an overview of Wilwood's latest rear brake setup. We'll be bringing you a complete rear brake installation in an upcoming issue once we have the rearend, and we'll also address the master cylinder installation, which may prove to be tricky with our much wider DOHC 5.0L powerplant.
1 The front half of our monster...
1 The front half of our monster Wilwood brake system includes six-piston calipers, 14-inch two-piece rotors, and everything you need to mount it onto the car. Check the parts you received against the parts list included in the instruction booklet to make sure you have everything you need before you get started.
2 We assembled the two-piece...
2 We assembled the two-piece rotors first using the provided hardware. Wilwood specified the use of Loctite 271 on the threads of the fasteners before torqueing them to 85 in-lbs. This is followed by the installation of safety wire to connect the bolts. Wilwood includes a basic diagram on how to do this, but also offers a more in depth explanation with its DS-386 data sheet available on its website at www.wilwood.com.
3 Next, we installed the...
3 Next, we installed the included wheel studs into the billet hubs. These are torqued to 77 ft-lbs. You'll notice that the hubs are drilled with two patterns. The 5x4.50 Mustang bolt pattern is the one closer to the center of the hub.
4 After packing the inner...
4 After packing the inner bearing with high-temperature disc brake bearing grease, we install that as well as the included bearing seal.
5 We then fastened the rotor...
5 We then fastened the rotor to the hub using the supplied screws and torqued them to 85 in-lbs.
6 Next, we installed the...
6 Next, we installed the caliper mounting bracket using the supplied hardware. Wilwood includes shims to allow you to move the caliper location inward/outward to ensure that it is centered oveer the rotor. Ours was dead on with no spacers.
7 Now you can install the...
7 Now you can install the rotor/hub assembly onto the spindle, which is followed by the outer bearing, spindle washer, and OEM spindle nut.
8 Wilwood's billet hubs utilize...
8 Wilwood's billet hubs utilize these beautiful screw-in caps to seal the bearings.
9 You may have noticed the...
9 You may have noticed the black E-coat on the rotors. Wilwood tells us that the E-coat adheres to the rotor better than the traditional zinc coating, offering long-lasting good looks. After lubricating the caliper mounting studs with a lightweight oil, the caliper simply slides onto the bracket's studs. Be sure to note the directional arrows on the calipers and ensure that the bleeder screws are pointed up during installation. Wilwood's Superlite 6R calipers are a forged-billet, radial mount design that offers two planes of adjustment to properly align the caliper over each rotor.
10 Now you'll need to remove...
10 Now you'll need to remove the caliper center bridge retaining bolt so you can install the included brake pads.
11 The pads slide snuggly...
11 The pads slide snuggly into the caliper. Wilwood includes shims to allow you to align the caliper and pads over the rotor for optimum pad placement. You simply add or remove the same amount of spacers from each stud to raise or lower the caliper as needed. Once the final optimum position has ben obtained, remove the caliper mounting bracket bolts one at a time, apply red Loctite theadlocker and torque them to 47 ft-lbs. You can then apply red Loctite to the caliper mounting stud threads, and torque the nuts to 35 ft-lbs.
12 Our Wilwood calipers feature...
12 Our Wilwood calipers feature four bleeder screws to allow proper bleeding across a variety of mounting options. Getting the air out of the braking system is critical for optimum performance.
13 Wilwood's Superlite 6R...
13 Wilwood's Superlite 6R calipers use a single, large piston and a pair of small pistons to clamp down on the pads. According to Wilwood, this design is a lot more common with six-piston calipers than most realize. The design allows a pressure differential between the leading and trailing edge of the caliper, which provides an even wear pattern along the entire length of the brake pad, thus controlling brake pad taper. Wilwood notes that this is necessary because incandescent material and debris from the leading edge of the pad is trapped between the pad and rotor; it tends to float the trailing edge of the pad off the rotor. A larger piston at the trailing edge of the pad provides more pressure to compensate for this debris buildup and keep the pad flat against the rotor.
14 Supplementing our front...
14 Supplementing our front and rear Wilwood braking system is the company's master cylinder with billet reservoir, proportioning valve, front brake lines, and parking brake cables for the integrated rear parking brake system.
15 And speaking of the rear...
15 And speaking of the rear brake system, Wilwood sent us its forged-billet SL4R rear disc system that includes a suitably large set of rotors with an integrated parking brake. The rotor hat actually doubles as the drum for the parking brake. Our particular kit has had changes made to the rotor hat to allow it to bolt to the hub of a full floater rear axle assembly that we plan to use. Buyers can also kit the kit for the standard big bearing Ford rearend.
16 Here is the internal shoe...
16 Here is the internal shoe system of the parking brake. Having it hidden internally in the rotor provides a clean installation with superior static holding power for parking.
17 Wilwood's SL4R four-piston...
17 Wilwood's SL4R four-piston calipers are made from a similarly sized piece of forged billet aluminum so physically they match our six-piston front calipers. They utilize all of the features that the six-pot binders have, including the radial mounting for optimum performance.