November 2010
With the front brakes already determined by the wire wheel choice, I had yet to figure out which way to go on the rears. Initially I had thought about staying with drums, but trying to stick with OEM Ford pieces was difficult to figure out while using what was left on the 8". Plus, I'd still be stuck with drums. I had wanted, in my head, to have black Wilwood disc brake calipers (with white lettering) visible through the back wheels. Can't recall for sure, but I think I recall finding out that they weren't really an ideal setup for something like a T. I know, I know. Running go kart style Airheart calipers on the front, I can't really complain about anything that might be used on the back. But the cost was also a consideration. I know lots of streetrod guys using the GM metric calipers, and I briefly thought about them too. I mean, they don't cost much and they have a proven track record, but if you're going to go to the trouble of running a Ford drivetrain in a Ford, you might as well go all the way, right?
I then thought that it would be cool looking, that instead of a black Wilwood w/lettering showing through, that a COBRA caliper, black with the lettering would be even cooler. Problem is that all those calipers were fronts (late '90's Mustang Cobra) with no e-brake provision. The rears have a built-in e-brake internal to the caliper instead of the fairly popular Ford Explorer setup which has park brake shoes that run inside the hat of the disc brake rotor. I'm not sure why I decided against using the Explorer setup, and I even looked at Crown Vic/Marquis/Town Car rear brakes, but the car stuff uses the same part on both sides. Meaning, the left side caliper mounts on the front and the right side mounts on the rear of the axle. Not cool. I think the expense of the Explorer version may have been part of the problem, but more likely, that system just looks bulky and well, OEM. The Musters/Frankenstein look, has weird things hanging off here and there, sort of an industrial look, not simple or aerodynamic or module-ized. The Explorer brakes are popular enough that Lokar makes cables for the e-brake however, so that was always in the back of my mind.
While thumbing through the Motorsport catalog, I noticed a part number for a pair of rear calipers for something like a '94-04 Mustang. I looked up a single caliper at work and picked one up from a local supplier and looked it over. Like the GM metric caliper with e-brake, they had that industrial look I wanted AND they said FORD on them. Bonus!
Coming up with a mounting bracket wouldn't be hard, but wasn't sure about the rotors. The 4.5" bolt pattern? Easy. The diameter? Easy. The correct centering hole for the axle hub? Problem! As luck would have it, I found a couple places that were supplying Mustang rear disc upgrade kits and they had what I needed.
From Currie Enterprises I got:
Hub centering adapters....
...that keep the 11 5/8" vented rotor centered on the axle hub.
I sent the one caliper back and bought the Motorsport set off ebay (cheap deal at the time), so I now had a pair plus pads.
Also from Currie, I bought their caliper mounting plates that allows you to mount the caliper in about 8 different positions on the axle. They also act as bearing/axle retainers. Bonus!
I had also called Lokar, and asked them the dimensions of the threaded ferrule on the end of their Explorer cables and it was close enough that I picked up a set off ebay to play around with. Minor trimming and they fit the mounting hole on the Mustang calipers. The only issue that I see right now is the nut on the back side to hold the cable ferrule to the caliper.....there isn't much distance between the portion of the caliper with the hole for the cable and the lever for the e-brake. The nut for the ferrule takes about 1/4" of that distance. So until I get the e-brake handle hooked up, the calipers bled and adjusted, I won't know if there's enough room for the lever on the caliper to fully engage the park brake before the lever hits the nut on the ferrel. We'll see!