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Text and images by Richard Mousir
DIY or not?
Converting your early Mustang or Falcon from drum to disc
brakes requires little convincing that it is the right thing
to do. Anyone who has experienced the unpredictability of
front drum brakes during a panic situation has put a disc
brake conversion in the top three of their to-do list. However,
while there is no shortage of desire there is usually a shortage
of funds. Disc brake swaps the likes of Wilwood, Baer or SSBC
are not cheap and often require near $1000 to aquire. On the
other end of the spectrum are the junkyard swaps. While not
ideal, a Granada brake conversion, for instance, get's you
at least out of the 1960's braking technology and into the
mid-70's disc brake realm. Of course, this is still "settling"
and ideally we'd prefer more modern stopping. What to do?
I found myself in this same predicament with my 1966 Mustang.
The front drums sucked (so do the rear, but that's for another
day.) I wasn't about to drop a grand on one of the aforementioned
conversion kits - though their engineered design and convinience
was tempting. On the other hand I really did not feel like
pulling Granada or Monarch spindles from a rusted donor car
at the local Pick n' Pull. After doing some searching I came
across the ideal compromise. Scarebird Classic Brakes in Washington
State offers conversion brackets. These laser cut and mig-welded
steel brackets simply bolt to the existing drum brake spindles
and allow the use of modern, commonly available, rotors, calipers
and hoses. The brackets are just $130 a pair, and figure another
couple hundred bucks for the calipers, rotors, hoses, mastercylinder
and fluids. For under $500 I had a modern brake system. Here
is how I did it.
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The Scarebird kit for 1963-1973 Falcon, Mustand and Cougar
comes with two brackets and a pair of bearing and caliper
spacer rings for each side. The brackets were not painted.
I painted them black to make them look good. There are
two sets of rings. One is a spacer for the spindle (small
ring) and the other is a spacer for the caliper (large
ring).
Scarebird recommends using rotors from a late model
Ranger truck. Which model year rotors you use depends
on which year Mustang or Falcon you have:
Scarebird specifies several hoses to connect from the
factory hardline to the caliper. Which hose you use depends
on the length you need:
Along with pads I picked up a few other items to ensure
the brake job was done right. I replaced the inner and
outer wheel bearings (use the bearings specified for your
original spindles - in my case 1966 Mustang.) You'll need
the bearing seal, which has to be for the Ranger rotor.
First remember SAFETY when doing any under car work. So
once you have the car jacked up and on stands. Remove
the wheels to expose the horrendous offenders for the
final time.
Remove the drum by popping the dust cap off. Then remove
the cotter pin, nut lock, and the spindle nut. Put them
to the side. You will need the nut and the nut lock. I
replaced the cotter pin. I used a hammer to knock the
drum off as the pads may be holding it tight.
I cut the brake hose and then removed the entire backing
plate with pads and wheel cylinder as one unit . All it
takes is undoing the four 9/16" bolts that hold the
backing plate to the spindle. Keep the 4 nuts & bolts
to use on the install of the other parts or you can choose
to replace them.
Now you get to use the bearing spacer rings. The small
ring is a spacer that helps everything line up nice. On
the inside of the ring is an angled edge. This goes on
the spindle towards the spindle. If you put it on right
it will butt up against the spindle nice and tight. If
not you will have a space. Space is BAD! 
After thoroughly cleaning all the old grease and gunk
off the spindle (use brake cleaner), slide the bearing
spacer ring on such that it sits flush against the spindle
as shown. 
