Category: Brakes- repairs/upgrades - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

ford4v429 · 12-29-2003, 15:51

If youve done it- please share how, if you are doing it, please ask any questions you might have here

ford4v429 · 12-29-2003, 17:55

I've heard stainless lines are hard to seal/prone to leak at fittings as tubing is harder than the mating surface- havent even driven the car yet, but am expecting leaks sooner or later with my luck...any one out there have any suggestions for easy fix?

ford4v429 · 12-29-2003, 20:33

Anyone looking to change from power to manual, drum to disk, etc. please take a minute to look thru here(and the rest of mpbrakes FAQ section):
http://mpbrakes.com/mpfaqmasters.htm
They have a ton of info, all about pedal ratio/bore diameters/valving etc...I have always turned my own rotors, done my own brake work, but after reading this stuff, realize how little I knew about brakes.
The 65 galaxie has 5:1 pedal, so dual circuit drum conversion needs 1" bore master for decent pedal feel- so it says. Luckily the one I bought was 1", and had the residual valves built in, but was just luck. now I know it should work.(was single circuit power drums, converted to dual circuit manual drums). One thing I didnt like, the pedal was too high if pushrod sized for full stroke before hitting floor- ended up taking 3/8 off (4 7/8 now -hole center to end) to get pedal back to normal released height. when bleeding one circuit, other still built pressure, so I'm pretty sure travel is adequate if one circuit fails. havent driven it yet, will post update to say how brakes feel once its on the road- very close now, week or two, but wont take it out until rain washes salt away...

ford4v429 · 03-07-2004, 20:35

Well,
putting manual brakes on this old boat was a mistake. Finally got it on the road, but takes a heavy foot to stop it...with the floaty ride, and feather light steering, heavy brakes are way out of place. Gonna go back thru all 4 wheels, make sure adjusters working, etc, but most likely will end up putting a booster back on...afraid to trust the old one, as it was pretty rusty(and just plain old), might just pick up newer model used one.
Had driven other non-power brake cars, didnt seem that severe a difference, but this thing is awful heavy and its still got 4 wheel drums- needs discs really, but at least boosted the pedal should feel ok again...

1965galaxie500 · 03-20-2004, 16:19

I just converted to a manual dual master cylinder on my 65 galaxie this past week. It was pretty stright foward. I used a master cylinder from a 68 galaxie w/ manual brakes and the porportioning valve from a 69 fairlane w/ all drums. The car has been sitting for a few years so I redid the brakes and rebuilt the wheel cylinders. Most of the brake lines were also replaced, the only one that wasn't was the front passenger side becasue it is in good condition. The only problem that I ran into was the rear rubber brake hose. It wasnt a big problem but I couldnt seem to find anyone that made the o.e. style y-block. So I just settled for the gm style t-block and used stainless steel flexable hose instead of rubber hose. I took it out for a test run down the street today and everything worked perfectally.

ford4v429 · 03-23-2004, 21:51

Hows the pedal feel? mine takes an awful heavy foot...I just did some work in the rears that may help, my parking brake spreader bar was way too loose, and I think by the time the cables were adjusted up, might have been binding a bit- cars in the air again, wont be able to drive for a little while to find out- decided to strip/repaint one of the quarters to see how it comes out...

1965galaxie500 · 03-26-2004, 16:04

The pedal is a little hard, I have no trouble pressing it...you really don't need power brakes if you have all drums. But I also have manual steering so everything is in porportion.