I am about to start my next big change on my ranchero, which is disc brake conversion. does anyone on here have first hand knowledge of using the scarbird adapters on thier 57? my ranchero is a daily so i try to research everything i may run into before doing a big project. i usually take a week off work to get the project done so any suprises i can eliminate first really help with my timeline.
punch 'scarbird' into the SEARCH box...that vendor/style has been discussed several times
Gasman, your reply got my curiosity going so did as suggested go nothing but the original post and your reply. Went to the site home page and then only got your reply.
Now can someone provide more info maybe a solid link or two?
Zap- :unitedstates:
OK! Its scarEbird not scarbird, has good reviews on other Ford Forums. Doing your homework is always a good thing, Personally like to gather up everything needed prior to starting such a project. Nothing worse than being held up in the middle by some simple part made of unobtanium. Read as many discussions as possible to assure you cover all bases.
The scarbird is one option, there are many out there. If you want discs, but don't want to change spindles, its a good way to go. There is an active post with a guy using an all included kit, price looked good Mark
i did a search and most posts were about wanting to change to disc brakes and what company to go with. i'm not asking what company to go with, i'm asking if anyone has used thier disc brake set up and what hang ups did they run into or was it pretty straight forward.
if I happened to miss a posting that described what i'm looking for please post a link.
i just put disks on my 57 ranchero last week and used 1977 cougar. they bolt right on no mods.i believe they fit 72 to 77 on the cougar ltd 2 .i have my own wrecking yard so i can look up exact interchange on monday if you want. still fairly common stuff.len
I did the Granada swap several years ago. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Spindles provide a little drop. Plenty of brake quality. All Ford parts...available anywhere. Brake hoses are a little effort but minimal. Requires outer tie rod change? Huge list of donor cars!
Not the best picture but you get the idea.
(http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o531/gasman826/57bags003.jpg)
i put scarebird brakes on the ranchero i am building..... yes very straight forward no issues...did have to buy longer bolts to put the adapter on the spindle... but was told that would be fixed in the kit by the company...so you should have no problems!
thanks for the reply, it's exactly what I was looking for.
Quote from: milo1957 on 2012-10-28 08:59
i put scarebird brakes on the ranchero i am building..... yes very straight forward no issues...did have to buy longer bolts to put the adapter on the spindle... but was told that would be fixed in the kit by the company...so you should have no problems!
Quote from: len on 2012-10-27 06:02... used 1977 cougar. they bolt right on no mods.
I assume you mean spindles & all.
yup.len
Quote from: len on 2012-10-27 06:02... I have my own wrecking yard so i can look up exact interchange on monday if you want. still fairly common stuff.
Len, could you please look that interchange info for us?
Finding any parts around here for a 72 to 77 Cougar would be next to hopeless. Be nice to know all the options.
Tom my notes while not all inclusive show 73 - 76 Torino, 77 - 79 T-Bird and 70 LTD in addition to the Granada. The Mercury counter parts are the same.....hopefully Len can come up with more.
just curious, is that all with 15" rims?
Yup....unless you can find Granada 14" disc brakes wheels.
thats the only reason i decided to go with scarbird, i like the 14" wheel option. especially since that is what is on my car now with fresh tires. also I like that they use more modern vehicles to adapt parts from. makes them way easier to find and cheaper. of course the con is that you are using parts from multiple vehicles and have to keep track of it.
sorry guys i havent been at my computor in a while. will get exact interchange on t bird spindles today and post. sorry about the delay.len
I read somewhere that the scarebird conversion uses mustang rotors, about $100 a pop. My torino rotors were much cheaper, autozone chinese stuff. No problems with warping, I lay on em pretty hard sometimes. Mark
I was just talking to a friend that owns a shop sat and he just did the scarebird kit on a 59 ranchero for a customer. said it cost around $400 for everything needed. it was pretty straight forward and it was for the 14" wheel kit. the only thing the instructions did not say is that you have to change the studs. he said that the ones on the spindles they say to buy look like they will work but if you look close they don't seat right. he said he can get me the part number of the ones he used.
which studs do they say to use? part number? I'm considering the scarebird bracket kit with Wilwood metric calipers, so just wondering.
i thought i heard that if you use the 77 cougar /t-bird parts that to get coerrect suspension geometry you need to cut the upper control arms and remove a section then re weld them is this true?
it is because of the above rumor that i was palnning on using the scarebird set-up
I'll try to get the numbers as soon as I can he couldn't remember them off the top of his head
Quote from: JPotter57 on 2012-11-05 08:34
which studs do they say to use? part number? I'm considering the scarebird bracket kit with Wilwood metric calipers, so just wondering.
only if you lower the car, I'd say. I have had a set of these on the car before, and they were ok until you tried to cut springs to lower it, then it would not line up., The Granada setup on the other hand, is no problem. I dont plan on lowering this car, at least right away, so the scarebird setup will do nicely, plus a lot more lightweight than the Thunderbird setup which is H-E-A-V-Y.
The scarebird setup uses chevy s-10 calipers. 1968-69 Mustang/ Torino/ Fairlane/ Montego stuff also fits, along with 70-71 Mustang /Torino which use a slightly heavier duty spindle.
I wont use Chevy calipers, I found a set of Wilwood aluminum calipers with the metric mounting positions. I guess you would call them aftermarket replacements, but thats ok with me. Plus they are anodized aluminum, look awesome. I wondered if the early Mustang and Fairlane stuff would work, I figured it would. Wilwood makes brake kits for early Mustang and Fairlane spindles.
You probably saw my old post, we set it up with a camber/caster gauge. Couldn't get it right where we wanted it, so I milled about 1/4 to 3/8 off the face of the cross shafts. Turns out I only needed to do that on one side. Ron and someone else just got it as close as they could, and have no problems with it. Mark
Not Scarebird related but to the subject of brakes. I did the Granada thing. I also like '70s Lincolns. No new news yet! When I was scraping one on the Lincolns, I wanted to see if there was any re-use of the big front brakes. The Granada spindles and Lincoln spindles accept the same wheel bearings and rotors!!. The brake caliper 'horns' unbolt from the spindle and will interchange. If big brakes are desired, the 12" rotors, calipers, and caliper 'horns' off the Lincoln will fit the Granada spindles. Unfortunately, the Lincoln wheel bolt circle is 5" and only 15" OEM wheels will clear the calipers. 5" bolt circle is common in '30s Ford as well as the racing world. Much of this will carry over to many other FLM models.
Really? You could have tbose redrilled..so what Lincoln calioer brackets and rotors interchange with Granada spindles? Towncar, Mark V, VI? Very interesting info there...I may rethink my strategy as I have a set of modded Granada spindles...
'74-'78 Continentals and Marks didn't change much. If I was to guess...'74 Continental. I have a set saved back...you know...in case I ever go G-machine. With Bigs and Littles, the Granada brakes are all the Littles can stand!
Quote from: gasman826 on 2012-11-07 07:185" bolt circle ...
'30s Fords had 5.5" bolt circle.
yep..now some 50's Mercs had 5 inch pattern, though 50's Lincolns had 5.5 inch. They should have just used one common wheel throughout the lines.
Just talked to the owner of a '63 1/2 Galaxie. He did the brake swap with an LTD spindle and the 12" rotors. No problem but had the rotors drilled for the 4 1/2" bolt circle. Since the Granada swap works on '57-'64, the LTD swap should retro to the other models.
Are they rear steer?
YEP