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thunder2100
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- Thunderbird Year
- 1960
Thought I would share my experience with my disk brake conversion that I'm attempting on my 60 tbird. Have been taking pictures as I go, and run into several dead ends, but think I'm finally making some good progress.
To start with I did quite a bit of research and tried to follow other people's guides, but in the end it was easier to simply follow the latest kit. My kit I mean the scarebird adapter kit. I first started with the assumption that I would need to get the scarebird kit, buy new 14" disc brake rims, and many other parts to pair up with that plan, but the guys over at Scarebird switched things up on me.
I had ordered the adapter and since it was on backorder I waited and waited and finally had to email them to find out what was going on. They stated they were redesigning the adapter as there were some flaws in their original design. They refunded my money and told me to check back in 3 or 4 weeks. By this time I had already traced down a good set of 14" rims designed for early disc brakes, rotors, calipers, etc. I was all set to go I thought!
When I checked back with Scarebird, they had a completely new adapter, and it was designed to work with the original 14" rims - no need for the disc brake ready rims I had sourced. Not only that, they designed it to work with a specific caliper, rotor, etc. So all my parts I had were now useless - wasted money. On the flip side, I was glad that I could use the stock 14 rims as I always prefer to be as stock as safely possible. Oh well - that's the cost of originality I guess.
I ordered the new Scarebird kit, which was now quite a bit more expensive. It comes with all the bearings needed, hubs, adapter bracket, seals, pins, bolts, etc. It is designed to work with 1990-97 Aerostar AWD rotors and 1990 Celebrity calipers. The good news is these rotors and calipers are very cheap and easy to find. Got mine from RockAuto.
Eventually all the parts came in and it was time to kick things off. So I went out with my daughter and jacked up the car and got started!!
First order of business was to take the wheels off and check out the drum brakes. I haven't worked on drum brakes since I was a teenager. I knew then after changing them on my 85 toyota pickup that I would never buy a car with drum brakes if I could help it as they are a real pain to work on.
So anyway, I proceeded to tear into it...
To start with I did quite a bit of research and tried to follow other people's guides, but in the end it was easier to simply follow the latest kit. My kit I mean the scarebird adapter kit. I first started with the assumption that I would need to get the scarebird kit, buy new 14" disc brake rims, and many other parts to pair up with that plan, but the guys over at Scarebird switched things up on me.
I had ordered the adapter and since it was on backorder I waited and waited and finally had to email them to find out what was going on. They stated they were redesigning the adapter as there were some flaws in their original design. They refunded my money and told me to check back in 3 or 4 weeks. By this time I had already traced down a good set of 14" rims designed for early disc brakes, rotors, calipers, etc. I was all set to go I thought!
When I checked back with Scarebird, they had a completely new adapter, and it was designed to work with the original 14" rims - no need for the disc brake ready rims I had sourced. Not only that, they designed it to work with a specific caliper, rotor, etc. So all my parts I had were now useless - wasted money. On the flip side, I was glad that I could use the stock 14 rims as I always prefer to be as stock as safely possible. Oh well - that's the cost of originality I guess.
I ordered the new Scarebird kit, which was now quite a bit more expensive. It comes with all the bearings needed, hubs, adapter bracket, seals, pins, bolts, etc. It is designed to work with 1990-97 Aerostar AWD rotors and 1990 Celebrity calipers. The good news is these rotors and calipers are very cheap and easy to find. Got mine from RockAuto.
Eventually all the parts came in and it was time to kick things off. So I went out with my daughter and jacked up the car and got started!!
First order of business was to take the wheels off and check out the drum brakes. I haven't worked on drum brakes since I was a teenager. I knew then after changing them on my 85 toyota pickup that I would never buy a car with drum brakes if I could help it as they are a real pain to work on.
So anyway, I proceeded to tear into it...
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