Lincoln Continental brake swap ?

[avarageerod]

First post but have been reading alot on here. I have a 1972 Mustang that I bought for my son to work on. It has everything but disc brakes, and I found a 1973 complete Continental that would be a good parts car, if the parts would work. Anyone know if the front disc from the Continental would work on the Muatang? The Continental has disc on the rear but it is a 9" and I don't think would work on his car

Pics of our Mustang and the Lincoln, because everyone likes pictures

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[73pony]

Welcome from Iowa. Great father son project. Not sure if the continental brakes will work. I do believe front discs from a Granada will work though. What are some of the details of the mustang? Engine? Trans? If it was a 351 it would have a Ford 9”’rear.

 

[avarageerod]

I didn't even think about giving the details of the car. It is a all original car with a 351c, auto, factory air, and power steering. It even has the factory spare tire in the trunk. I am the third owner. It was bought in the small town I live in and stayed in family until I got it. The car sat from 2002 until I got it in September. Put a fuel pump on it, a master cylinder and a sending unit and we have been driving it since.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[73pony]

351 so it would have a 9” rear. There should be a white door tag that has a bunch of codes on it. This will tell you what trans, rear gear ratio, interior color etc that the car came with.

 

[rcadd1ct]

Might be cheaper to get a rear disk brake conversion kit from jegs or summit. If the mustang axle is ok, just get their and you get new parts.

 

[Don C]

Not all that practical. The Lincoln's from that era have 5 inch diameter bolt patterns on the wheels and the spindles are different.

This thread may help you, other disc brake discussions can be found by searching this forum.

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-drums-to-rotors

 

[red351]

Most of the big Lincoln's used a big rear axle bearing (like a pickup 9"). And some cars had 9 3/8" ring gears others 9". And if they had the big bearing didn't always mean a 31 spline axle as a lot axles got machined down to 28 spline ends. No real pattern as to why Ford did things on the Lincoln's back then.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

On the Lincoln the big Lincolns are wider and springs are different. Lots of people have put the Lincoln Verssile, how is that spelled, disc brake 9" rear in a Mustang. I do believe the width is right just have to mount the leaf spring mounts.

BTW the 84 - 86 SVO uses the Lincoln forged lower control arms and disc brakes.

On the front I just sold a pair of spindles and everything off the front for $200. I sold the brake booster and master cylinder to another guy for $100.

When you switch it is a little complicated.

You need a donor car to get the following.

Front spindles with caliper and disc. Just separate the upper and lower ball joints and get everything.

The brake pedal assembly from under the dash. Pivot point is different for PDB.

Master cylinder and booster. PDB has a 15/16" cylinder and drum has 1" dia. I believe.

Proportioning valve and all the hard lines up front including the flex lines.

You should probably get new lines when installing just need old to compare.

The Granada is also a possibility for the spindles but the tie rod ends are a different size and you have to change them also.

I think it is easier to do the work if you remove the dash. You will probably be putting new heater core in also and maybe have to replace the cowl. Check up under the dash on each extreme side and see if there is holes through the lower cowl. That allows water to get in the floor and rust it out. You will soon find out that these cars have lots of places to rust.

Search the forum many posts on the PDB switch for sure.

Never toss anything keep every part take lots of pics and tag and bag.

I just did a complete tear down of a 72 vert by myself to a bare chassis in 30 hours. bagging all the parts and I am 69 so not a difficult task and this car was crashed to make it more difficult.

David

 

[avarageerod]

Thanks for all of the advise. I had hoped that the Lincoln would be a good brake swap candidate but wasn't sure. I appreciate the responses.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[mustang7173]

avarageerod,

Can you provide better pictures? I see that the coupe has the trim on the lower bottom of the car.

Please take a look at this Front Disc Brake Conversion Brackets. You can use your drum brake spindles and convert to front disc brakes from OEM over the counter parts. I performed the 1994-2004 Mustang COBRA 13″ Front conversion. Much bigger than stock. You will need to look into the distribution block swap and the master cylinder.

https://www.mustangsteve.com/product-category/front-disc-brake-conversion-brackets/

Now, per Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs, can you find a donor mustang with disc brakes?

https://www.mustangsteve.com/gt-front-and-rear-disc-brake-retrofit-kits/