Disc brake upgrade

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

The single piston GM Calipers will make a significant improvement over the much smaller Mistang II Brake package although the calipers themselves are faily heavy. I used Calipers from a Nova which are similar to that of a Camaro except for how the brake hose attaches. You can also upgrade to different pads for another major improvement. Unless you are doing open track often, the 11" rotors and GM Calipers provide quite adequite stopping power, they aren't as nice to look at as a set of Brembo, Baer or Wilwoods, but the expense is much less too. Combine them with Mustang Cobra or TBird Turbo Cpe rear brakes and it makes a very good inexpensive package. Ive been using this combo for several years with no regrets . Pictures are in my gallery,

Certainly the pad and rotor sizes are larger in the various 'big brake' kits, and I'm thinking more pad and a larger rotor diameter should provide more braking power. The kits I've been looking at have a 70mm piston, but I'm curious about how much larger those are than what I currently have. Any idea what size the pistons are in a Mustang II or Pinto caliper?

My rear axle is 9" Ford (large bearing, so-called 'late style' or 'Torino' ends), not 8.8", so the Cobra or Turbo Coupe brakes won't work. I note many of the 'big brake' kits using GM calipers are also available for this, but I may do that as a later upgrade (fronts now, rears later), or maybe I should just leap in and do it all at once. Perhaps if I'm swapping out the fronts and bleeding the brakes I may as well do it all at once.

The reservoirs attached to the brake and clutch master cylinders on West Coast Cobras can only be accessed through the wheel well, which makes checking and adding brake fluid a PITA. I have a couple of reservoirs I'm going to install at the same time as remote reservoirs to address this issue. I only need to figure out a good spot to locate them and get appropriate tubing / hoses to connect them to the master cylinders.

The plan is also to reverse bleed the whole system, discharging the old fluid through the remote reservoir hoses before connecting them to the reservoirs which I'll then fill with fresh fluid.

Thoughts?