I recently bought a 57 Ford Custom 4 door. Love the car. It's been sitting a bit, I got to put some miles on it (50 or so), but I am replacing radiator tomorrow. Heater core is shot, but I'll worry about that later. Brakes are my concern now. Front drums are hammered anyway so I am going to do a disc conversion. I see the ebay kits with everything. Will a stock 272 have enough vacuum from the intake to run power brakes? If so I am just going to go with a power disc kit unless there is a reason I shouldn't. Finally I have 14" knockoff wire wheels, does anyone know if they'll clear disc brake kit? Not a big fan of knock offs, but it is what I have now. Thanks guys,
This subject has been discussed numerous times on this forum. Disc brake kits for the most part will not fit original OEM wheels, not sure about real wire wheels. There are later 14" wheels that will work with SOME kits. Vacuum boosters generally need more room than is available, you will need a 7" dual diaphragm style. Some people have not been happy with those. The factory power brake boosters were located under the dash. You can use the "search" function to find almost any specific info you are looking for. I am using a Wilwood kit with fixed (4) piston calipers, no booster and a Galaxie master cylinder for a car with manual disc/drum brakes. I have a 14" wheel (from an LTD) as a spare that fits these brakes. The 272 if it is healthy it will have plenty of vacuum.
Thank you, I was reading old posts, but it was hard to sort through to find the information I needed. I have a Monte Carlo and a 47 Chevy both with manual disc drum set ups, and have no problem with manual brakes. Is master cylinder to the firewall a direct bolt on?
Yes, the master I have came from Rock Auto, it bolted directly on. (I believe it was for a '67?) You obviously have to redo the lines.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=309050&cc=1403323&jsn=473
I think this is it.
Thanks you, you gave me some great information. Now I can start planning what direction I want to go.
I also went with the Wilwood (140-13653)set up on my 58 Ranchero. If you go to the Wilwood site they show you how to measure your wheel to insure proper clearance on a 14" wheel, I myself have 15" Cragar SS
Now to fit Real wire wheels you are going to have to call around about that. I see rock auto is out of stock on that master cylinder that was refereed to. But I got mine at Pep Boys and all it is is for a 69 big Ford for manual brakes, it has a 1" bore so my pedal pressure is not bad. My M/C also has the brake lines coming off the fender side of the unit. I did take my M/C apart to drill and tap 1/8 NPT for the brake light sender to screw into the front of it, I like everything neat and tidy, no extra tee's in a brake line. I didn't put a proportioning vlave in but everything seems to work fine. I can lock all the wheels up pretty easily but I'm not on a race track and don't plan to be. While I was messin with the brakes I put self adjusters on the rear. So far so good but really not to many miles on it this year. Hope this could help. Bill