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10/11/2016 10:38 PM  #1


Disc Brakes for 14 inch Steel Wheel's with hubcaps /Ballin on a budget

Hello Mustangers,

I am looking to change my drum front brakes to disc but I want to keep my 14" steel rims with the hubcaps. 1965 fastback with 289. Drums currently. Has anyone done this and what kit did you find would work with them? Has anyone changed out the rear drum to discs for simplicity sake?

Wilwood, Scott Drake, and an SSBC says 14 X 7 wheels work I was going to post links but couldn't due to spam prevention.

If money was no option I would go with the $465 per wheel Shelby 17 X 7s with some sort of fancy giant discs. But since I am the only one working and the daily driver will need tires in a couple months we need to stay small.  Any ideas to make this work or pitfalls?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Kevin
 

 

10/11/2016 11:24 PM  #2


Re: Disc Brakes for 14 inch Steel Wheel's with hubcaps /Ballin on a budget

fastbacktoback wrote:

Hello Mustangers,

I am looking to change my drum front brakes to disc but I want to keep my 14" steel rims with the hubcaps. 1965 fastback with 289. Drums currently. Has anyone done this and what kit did you find would work with them? Has anyone changed out the rear drum to discs for simplicity sake?

Wilwood, Scott Drake, and an SSBC says 14 X 7 wheels work I was going to post links but couldn't due to spam prevention.

If money was no option I would go with the $465 per wheel Shelby 17 X 7s with some sort of fancy giant discs. But since I am the only one working and the daily driver will need tires in a couple months we need to stay small.  Any ideas to make this work or pitfalls?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Kevin
 

I don't know about the others, but the SSBC 11" brakes are an exact copy of the stock K-H disks that came on 65-67 Mustangs.  It is a bolt on change, but you will need a new master cylinder.  There are several other suppliers that also copy the Ford brakes, so check around.  Most of them will have a kit that includes MC, flex hoses, and most anything else you need.  You may also need some new front brake lines.

One caveat.  Your drum brake 65 steel wheels do not fit on disk brakes.  The disk brake steel wheels are different.  You can get later model 14" steel wheels that do fit.  Probably starting in 68 or 69 on any Ford even those with drum brakes.  They should be cheap at a junk yard.   Or you could go with any Ford 15" (get 15x7's with 4.25 bs) wheel.  All will work, but then your hubcaps will not fit.  Ford dog dish hubs are cheap and look pretty good with ss trim rings.  The styled steel wheels will also fit, but they are more expensive.

Another possibility is spacers. 1/4" spacers should be enough for your 14x6 rims.

At this time, I would not recommend rear disks.  They cost a lot and give almost no added braking capability unless you are racing.

Here is my '66 with 15" wheels from long ago.

Last edited by lowercasesteve (10/11/2016 11:37 PM)


Original owner - 351w,T-5, 4whl disks, power R&P
 

10/12/2016 1:44 AM  #3


Re: Disc Brakes for 14 inch Steel Wheel's with hubcaps /Ballin on a budget

Pay attention on rear brake if you wanna change them . i am now returning the brake kit because was wrong . my mistake , i havent read the last bottom page , microscope written that are for 15 rims .
i am soo happy to pay 2 times shipping cost from Italy !!!!!
Looking at some kit to change i was surprised that a lot of them are virtually for 14 wheels but also in this case in the bottom page there written very little " for big bearing .  but i got small ones . you must have 100 eyes also with ssbc
So ... Dont trust the first page " fits Ford from 1964. To 1970 " because is not true .
And also pay attention on cable brake , sometimes is not long enough .

 

10/12/2016 9:36 AM  #4


Re: Disc Brakes for 14 inch Steel Wheel's with hubcaps /Ballin on a budget

As lowercasesteve pointed out, there are exact copy disc brakes available for your car.  Before I was aware of MustangSteve, and this site, I bought a CSRP kit a few years back from discbrakeswap.com.  That kit came with every single part needed for the swap.  I'm not 100% sure, but I believe MustangSteve is/was a distributor for that kit, as well.  My 65 has the original styled steel wheels, and the disc brakes fit just fine behind these wheels.

If simplicity is what you are after, keep the rear drums.

 

10/12/2016 9:23 PM  #5


Re: Disc Brakes for 14 inch Steel Wheel's with hubcaps /Ballin on a budget

Good suggestions everyone. Thanks Lower Case Steve, I like the photo of your coupe! I really do like my steel wheels with the spinner hubcaps.

Allesandro! Italy! PREGO!, that is unfortunate you didn't get the kit you needed. Small type will get you every time.

Tim C! Thanks for the suggestion on keeping the drums in the rear. I guess I'll just redo the pads and find the cylinder that's grabbing the car sideways when I brake and rebuild it too. I think it might be better to put the money in air conditioning maybe since it gets blazing hot here in Southern California. Then I can drive it more. I need to save up for the Shelby 17 X 7 Wheel's and some a big phat disc set.

Thanks again everyone. I appreciate the feedback.

Kevin

     Thread Starter
 

10/13/2016 6:34 PM  #6


Re: Disc Brakes for 14 inch Steel Wheel's with hubcaps /Ballin on a budget

I just heard from an old friend today. He has a brand new set of original type K/H front discs he bought for his 65 fastback. He never installed them, opting to go with one of my Cobra kits instead. He has new caliper brackets with bolts, rebuilt ( I think they are actually brand new) calipers, pads, dust shields, rotors with hubs.  All you need to install these are master cylinder, proportioning valve and hoses.  Like the originals, they use original spindles.  If interested, email me steve@mustangsteve.com and I will get you two together.
These fit 14" stock wheels, but they have to be disc brake-capable wheels.


Money you enjoy wasting is NOT wasted money... unless your wife finds out.
 

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