disc brake conversion

jaguar6165 said:
I would love a set up like disc brakes on mine. I know its over kill and can be argued forever, but driving it on a daily basis in Central Fl traffic is a bit of a thrill and not always the good kind. People cant drive around here and have no problem cutting off a car that doesn't stop as quickly as theirs. I would love hydraulic drums too, just time and money I guess..
Click to expand...

I honestly believe your mindset is the same as many others. There is a (false) sense of security that comes with disc brakes however the issue is not stopping the wheel from turning, -but more about stopping the tire from sliding. On a rebuilt to factory specs stock braking system, I can make 9 quick 40-0 mph stops and on the 10th time, I can slide all four tires. A set of disc brakes cannot do any better.
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
I honestly believe your mindset is the same as many others. There is a (false) sense of security that comes with disc brakes however the issue is not stopping the wheel from turning, -but more about stopping the tire from sliding. On a rebuilt to factory specs stock braking system, I can make 9 quick 40-0 mph stops and on the 10th time, I can slide all four tires. A set of disc brakes cannot do any better.
Click to expand...


I could not agree more. A lot of the model A,s that I have seen, the brake parts are all wore out. They have good brakes when they are fixed right.
I worked on one guys car that had 40 Ford hyd brakes on it, what a mess. You could put both feet on the pedal and it would not stop. Cylinder was hung from the battery box. Had the wrong leverage, some copper lines not supported. It was just a mess. He use to go on tour with us, not fit to be on the road. After that I won,t work on cars with rigged up brakes. Don't need a law suite.
 
So you guys are telling me that disc brake mostly don't need vacuum.
I know they didn't always in the distant past come with boosting, as I stated I owned a car without boosting and was glad to enjoy the luxury of a boosted system.
For every race car you say I need to count there would be ten fold more production cars that have boosted systems.
So I am just wondering why my statement deserved to be WRONG...
I hardly see the relationship between that of driving a restored Model A Ford to that of a race car.
I would think better brakes would be considered to preserve a nice old car having to run amongst modern day traffic.

I like juice brakes as they seem to be the best middle of the road way to go with better braking and compatibility with wheels...
 
Last edited:
My town sedan has great brakes. Cast iron drums, all done before I bought the car. I do adjust the brakes myself and get excellent results.

I want to do some tests to measure stopping distances to get some real data and compare that with my daily driver 2013 Focus - just so I know. What we think is happening and what is actually happening can be very different. It might be a fun club activity to do some tests.

What worries me most about my car is the tires. There is only so much friction area where the tire meets the road.
 
sooooo on the boost debate. discs brake calipers dont need a booster, the master cylinder you may use may need a booster. the booster is to make the brake all nice and super easy to use. get in a large boosted old caddy and see why everyones grandma loves it. it needs next to no pressure from the foot. so hydro pressure is a combition of the force on your piston/ the size of the the master cyl in relation to the size of slave cyl/ the pivot point vs levrage against the point applied to the piston. get a master cyl designed for manual and it should be fine. or a formally boosted cyl and increase leverage by moving the pivot point. but if your brakes scare you in traffic they need to be adjusted. i hit the brakes on a snowy gravel road at about 30 and had to quickly remeber all the things you need to know about bringing a car out of a 4 wheel slide and keeping it out of the trees.
 
A typical thread on any common car subject will have 99% of the answers relate to personal experience or repeating an experience of a friend, NOT, engineering data derived from testing.
A properly designed disc brake system on a passenger car does not require power assist. It won't stop the car any quicker. Originally it was a sales gimmick and people liked it because they perceived that the car stopped quicker.
 
Last edited:
fiftyv8 said:
So you guys are telling me that disc brake mostly don't need vacuum.
I know they didn't always in the distant past come with boosting, as I stated I owned a car without boosting and was glad to enjoy the luxury of a boosted system.
For every race car you say I need to count there would be ten fold more production cars that have boosted systems.
So I am just wondering why my statement deserved to be WRONG...
I hardly see the relationship between that of driving a restored Model A Ford to that of a race car.
I would think better brakes would be considered to preserve a nice old car having to run amongst modern day traffic.

I like juice brakes as they seem to be the best middle of the road way to go with better braking and compatibility with wheels...
Click to expand...
Maybe its just a little confusion between WANTS and NEEDS. A lot of people will WANT the boosted system, so, as someone pointed out, anybody's Grandma can step on the pedal and have plenty of force make it to the caliper. But it doesnt NEED boost to be an effective system. Maybe WRONG was too harsh of a word for you. We just have a different opinion of our NEEDS. But you are correct, many more people want them and think they need them , boosted.:)
Just like no one NEEDS disc Brakes, but they may think they do, and maybe if they WANT them bad enough they will put them on. If it means they feel better about the old car and take it out on the road and enjoy it, then more power to them....but its no longer a RESTORED Model A now is it?:D
Let's not get all hung up in the wording, somebody may get some good info out of this thread yet.
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
I honestly believe your mindset is the same as many others. There is a (false) sense of security that comes with disc brakes however the issue is not stopping the wheel from turning, -but more about stopping the tire from sliding. On a rebuilt to factory specs stock braking system, I can make 9 quick 40-0 mph stops and on the 10th time, I can slide all four tires. A set of disc brakes cannot do any better.
Click to expand...


Oh now you have done it! ;) How long will it be before we get a post asking how to install an anti-lock brake system on their model A? :eek:
 
fiftyv8 said:
So you guys are telling me that disc brake mostly don't need vacuum.
I know they didn't always in the distant past come with boosting, as I stated I owned a car without boosting and was glad to enjoy the luxury of a boosted system.
For every race car you say I need to count there would be ten fold more production cars that have boosted systems.
So I am just wondering why my statement deserved to be WRONG...
I hardly see the relationship between that of driving a restored Model A Ford to that of a race car.
I would think better brakes would be considered to preserve a nice old car having to run amongst modern day traffic.

I like juice brakes as they seem to be the best middle of the road way to go with better braking and compatibility with wheels...
Click to expand...

I live in northern New Jersey it dont get no tougher than that when it comes to traffic I use properly adjusted stock brakes - you use what makes you happy -
 
One brake idea that did catch my attention some years back out of CA I think, was a vacuum actuator device that was attached to main central brake lever bar under the central cross member that looked like it boosted stock mechanical brakes.

I would liken it in appearance at least but smaller in size to the actuators (hoping the term is right) that can be seen on the axle of a semi trailer at each wheel.

I am guessing it was not popular or had some issues as I have not seen it promoted anywhere for a long time now.

The idea seemed sound but who knows...

Has anybody out there seen or used this device and may have some feedback about its performance.
 
Last edited:
Could it be that the mechanical park brake part of some disc brake calipers would be good enough to stop a model A better than the original brakes?
That is just a question not a statement...
 
fiftyv8 said:
Could it be that the mechanical park brake part of some disc brake calipers would be good enough to stop a model A better than the original brakes?
That is just a question not a statement...
Click to expand...
Few cars now days have disk parking brake. While it is fun to entertain the idea i have noticed that the few cars i worked on with disk parking brakes had a threaded shaft type thing that that pulled or pushed the pads together. The 'nut' on the thread ratcheted. In order to replace the pads they had to be wound out again. Self adjusting but.... i forgot where i was going with this, i think it was something to do with losing mechanical leverage unless you made many trick parts for such a conversion.
 
Don't laugh we are fabricating an ABS system right now on a 1948 for station wagon. We did one on this customers 1964 Fairlane and he liked it so much we are doing the wagon now.
 
There was a late model Ford sedan (mid 1990's) that I saw which had from memory, rods that pulled on the caliper into the center of the diff for parking brake and then a cable that went forward to the hand brake lever.
That was the kind of thing I was thinking off.
Still does not give you disc brakes up front, I guess and not everybody likes cables...
 
Last edited:
Model A Man said:
I always wonder if mechanical disc brakes would be possible!
Click to expand...

There are a few used on motorcycles, '60's MV 600 for one (but they weren't supposed to be very good):

PA-NZ_MV600GT-012_10.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top