You may remember I mentioned a couple of months back, when I unveiled the new plans for my modified project, that I decided to use four-wheel disc brakes rather than early Ford drums. Since my plans include street use as well as lakes racing, I also wanted to incorporate an emergency brake. It just so happens that Wilwood Engineering not only manufactures a vented disc brake kit that bolts right up to an early Ford spindle, but also offers a similar setup for 8- and 9-inch Ford rearends that include an emergency brake.
Though I have an 8-inch axle, it is a Currie Enterprises item and has the bigger 9-inch bearings and housing ends, so I needed a kit for a 9-inch. Of course I forgot that the first time and had to reorder. Duh!
1 When Currie Enterprises built the 8-inch rearend for this project, I asked them to install the SO-CAL Speed Shop cast spring hangers to the axle tubes prior to welding the bearing housings in place, and weld the hangers on at the same time.
Wilwood makes rotors in various diameters, as well as solid, vented, and cross-drilled, but I selected the Dynalite Pro Series vented and drilled option for front and rear, after speaking with the guys at Wilwood who advised that it’d be ideal for my application. The rear rotors measure 12.19 inches in diameter, with the front coming in at 11 inches. I’ll also use Wilwood master cylinders, as I’m using the company’s through-firewall pedal assembly. This has a balance bar to adjust front to rear brake bias, so you’ll see three cylinders used rather than two.
However, before I could install the brakes, I had to swap out the old Mercury rearend for the Currie 8-inch. It had been sitting on the floor of the shop for a couple months since picking it up from Currie, and embarrassingly, the nice bare metal surface had started to acquire surface rust. It’s nothing that can’t be cleaned prior to paint, however, though it doesn’t look great right now. Sorry Currie!
