Thunderbird as a donor for disk brakes?

[Jondors]

I'd like to put Disk brakes on my 1962 Convertible. Continental parts cars are rare and prices are rising. Can I use a 66-69 or later Thunderbird as a donor for the brakes?

[Dan Szwarc]

Thunderbird only has 4.5” bolt circle. So you’d need to replace the rims.

[action]

Full sized Ford and Mercury from model year 1966 to 1968 used the same exact discs, spindles and calipers as did Continental of the era. Which are the 4 piston calipers that are on my '66 Lincoln.

In model year 1969 Ford and Mercury moved to single piston calipers because of the issues with four piston calipers. I think full sized Lincoln was still using 4 piston calipers for a time after that. Mark III was never equipped with 4 piston calipers.
That single piston caliper from full sized Ford and Mercury may be the same as on my 1970 Mark III. And Mark III was built off of the Thunderbird platform.
If the disc brakes on the donor Thunderbird are single piston, that application may be close.

The service issue with four piston calipers was two fold. Some of these were assembled with phenolic (plastic) pistons. Those pistons had a bad charastic of absorbing moisture over long periods of time. When that happened the piston would stick in the caliper with one of two results. No braking action for that piston or the brakes were stuck on and the vehicle would not move. Stainless steel was the solution except in Northern climes that uses salt on the road. If the boot around the piston got a crack, salt could get in there and corrode the piston to caliper. Didn't happen often and it was an issue with 4 pistons as they had less of a job than a single piston. This is not as much of an issue for a hobby car because the use would likely NOT include winter (snow & ice) driving.

A consideration for a donor vehicle is the steering geometry based on the spindle choice. (and maybe ball joint tie rod connection as well) You may be better off considering an aftermarket installation and using the existing spindle.

Action

[Dan Szwarc]

What Dave says is correct EXCEPT I dispute that the ROTOR is the SAME for a 66 or 67 T-bird. I assert is is not. (Sorry, Dave. I researched this years ago because TBird rotors were so much cheaper than 66-69 Lincoln rotors, I wondered why.)

This is why: The bolt circle is not the same as I stated in my reply. Lincoln = 5 inches, T-bird & Merury = 4.5 inches.
Again, new rims will make it work, which one may need anyway to clear the disks (1962 used 14" rims, 66-9 used 15".

Everything else might be the same. The MPC backs me up that they are different.

Click to embiggen

C5VY-1102-C (Lincoln) vs. C5SZ-1102-A (Thunderbird).

Not fitment guide will cross a Lincoln to a T-bird for 1966 or 67.

As for steering geometry, the spindle swap from 65-69 to 61-64 is a very common swap. It's been done.

Now I just need to figure out why I can't upload a picture to this thread!

[AlT63bird]

I have seen reference to a company, CSRP, http://www.discbrskeswap.com, supplying disc brake conversion kits for Ford products in the 52-59 Ford forum on the HAMB with one kit using the original style K-H 4 piston calipers. I suspect a person could get new hubs/calipers and have a machine shop redrill to 5" bolt circle, but now you also need to get into wheel bearing sizing compared to spindle sizing. Machining a spindle to cut it down, or add a sleeve to increase its diameter, will send you down a 'rabbit hole' researching what will work pretty quickly.

Hub snout/wheel center hole size also important as the car is designed for the car's weight to bear on the hub and not on the wheel lug studs. You'd need to machine the hub snot if too big for a wheel being used, or use a spacer/filler ring to center a wheel with a larger center hole to a smaller hub. To paraphrase from the movie "Valkyrie," "Any problem can be solved with the proper application of machinist skills."

BTW, '68 TBird used single piston calipers. As noted above, hubs used 4.5"-bolt circle through 1971, and changed in '72 to match Mk. IVs.

[TonyC]

Ah, but there is one little factor that many people fail to acknowledge: The Suicide Lincoln is NOT your typical Ford, so parts that can fit any Ford will not fit on these Lincolns; a good 87% of these cars was exclusive only to that make. That said, I won't say it's impossible to fit them; but I am saying that it can be a lot more complicated and expensive to do such a refit, due to a chain-reaction of other parts that would need replacing as well. I personally think that it would be easier to cannibalize a later Suicide organ donor for parts to do the retrofit, because they have a much better likelihood of fitting with few if any complications. And many of those parts are still available new/rebuilt.

---Tony