Wilwood front disc brakes on 67-69 mustang

[rcodecj]

Some added info, may be a bit more accurate.
The packing list from Wilwood lists the brake kit weight as 42.10 lbs. (obviously they have a more accurate scale than I used)
Minus all the boxes, that's not much weight for the kit.

[cjshaker]

For what it's worth the Wilwood kit on the front of my 69 Mach 1 saved 40 pounds over the stock disc brakes.

That sure is a significant savings in weight, especially on the front of a drag car! I wouldn't have guessed it to be so much less. That alone would make up the difference in an aftermarket iron block over a stock one. Hmmm, now I'm going to be considering them on my next build. Dang, sometimes I hate this place

[Heo]

For what it's worth the Wilwood kit on the front of my 69 Mach 1 saved 40 pounds over the stock disc brakes.  Seems like that is pretty much in line with what rcodecj measured.  Mine also came with spacers, but they were wider, .060" I think.

Hmmm thats the weightsaving my wife tell me i need to do to my self

[rcodecj]

I managed to get everything installed. The 18" brake lines fit just right, they come with 90 degree fittings. I will bleed them tomorrow and see how they work.
I don't see any major difference in track width. My 14" spare does not fit now but it might if I space if out a lot since I have 3" wheel studs.
I have 3.5 by 15 Prostar wheels and they fit with plenty of caliper clearance, in fact I believe I could have bought the 140-12947D kit with the 12.19 rotors and 6 piston calipers,
these are 11 inch rotors and 4 pistons. If I don't think this brakes good enough I may get that kit, but I'm going to add rear discs first.

I have manual brakes, is there a point where larger rotors and 6 piston calipers would be too hard to press the brake pedal?

Jay, are you running the 11" rotor with 4 pistons?

[jayb]

Yes, I think the rotors are 11.2" in diameter if I recall correctly, and the calipers are 4 piston units.  I wanted to go bigger, but I also wanted to keep the Magnum 500 wheels, and they won't fit the bigger brakes.

[Heo]

rcodecj i Think those brakes overpower the tires you
can mount on 3,5 inch Wheels so absolutly no reason
to go with bigger brakes the tires is the limitation

[ScotiaFE]

Jay,
I have been thinking of getting a brake pressure gauge.
In your case I think it would help to determine whether or not your line lock is leaking down.
I like this one:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ssb-a1704/overview/

I have that kit, actually I have two so I can fit the front and back at the same time.
It's a great service tool when adjusting the proportioning valve and for seeing actual line pressure.
Worth the coin when building custom brake setups.

[rcodecj]

According to Wilwood the bedding is done in 3 steps, light, med to firm, and hard, applying the brakes for 3-5 seconds, and then allow them to fully release for a period about twice as long.
  I have done this before so no problem, but as I applied the brakes for the light part there was some groaning as the car just came to a stop. I tried to avoid stopping completely for this part to not make this noise. I checked the rotors before I pulled out onto the road and the side I heard the groan from looked a bit more lightly scuffed. I didn't like that. So on to the med to firm part and this time I slowed and I could hear the pads and rotors bedding in smoothly with no groaning and I felt a bit better.  Going through the 3rd (hard) step was from 65 to 25 but hitting the pedal pretty hard.
   At first I thought darn this thing does not stop any better but Wilwood said do 8 to 10 times so that was what I did. By the 8th stop the car was stopping better than ever and I even had to modulate the pedal to not lock the front wheels up. On to 9 and 10 and it was stopping even better. I then pulled over and slowed down to a stop fearing the groaning sound but it was fine. When I got home I looked at the rotors and they looked great. The groaning never happened at all with the SSBC brakes I believe because Wilwood uses a more aggressive pad. 

   Somewhat because of the Calvert drag shocks I have some nose dive even with big block front springs so I am going to put my Edelbrock IAS shocks on it and see what that does. I am also going to look into the pressure to the rear because I have my proportioning valve wide open and I can't even begin to lock up the rear, of course I do have skinnies on front and 275/60/15's on 9' rim on the rear. If the drums are all ok and getting proper pressure it may help to go to a more aggressive pad on the rear drums. I could put on larger rear drums but that would be more weight. I think I would just go for the rear disc kit instead though.

When I took the pictures it was right after pulling out of the garage and I noticed the front was a bit higher because it had not settled completely down yet from jacking it up but after coming back from the drive I'm sure I have the same or really close track width as I had before.

[XR7]

rugh row...  It looks nice but... I think you have the calipers&brackets switched side for side. The caliper usually goes on toward the back of the car, not the front side. Maybe that is why it "groaned"?

I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Maybe check into that! My buddy does brakes and he said that a lot of the new cars do put them in front so maybe it will work either way. My factory discs are to the back.

I sure appreciate all the info though as I will be doing this as well. I may go with the 12.19" rotors though, just seems like it would take the heat away better than the 11". The calipers are the same, in fact, the "Dust booted" Dynapro caliper is available and they have better wheel clearance, versus the dynalight caliper, with the same size rotor.

[rcodecj]

rugh row...  It looks nice but... I think you have the calipers&brackets switched side for side. The caliper usually goes on toward the back of the car, not the front side. Maybe that is why it "groaned"?

I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Maybe check into that! My buddy does brakes and he said that a lot of the new cars do put them in front so maybe it will work either way. My factory discs are to the back.

I sure appreciate all the info though as I will be doing this as well. I may go with the 12.19" rotors though, just seems like it would take the heat away better than the 11". The calipers are the same, in fact, the "Dust booted" Dynapro caliper is available and they have better wheel clearance, versus the dynalight caliper, with the same size rotor.

They go in the front as per the instructions and here's a few pictures:

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitAdvisor.aspx?year=1967&make=Ford&model=Mustang&option=Drum+Brake+Front+Spindle

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitsProdFront.aspx?itemno=140-11071-D&year=1967&make=Ford&model=Mustang&option=Drum+Brake+Front+Spindle

Hey, thanks for looking out for me though!
No groaning now and brakes are working great! The beginning groaning was very minimal. I called a buddy who installed the same kit and he said his did the same in the very
beginning.

I am betting you have the newer floating caliper with one piston, my 69 has that and the caliper is in the back.
I even checked SSBC for 67, shows it in the front:
http://ssbrakes.com/attachment/63291-Instruction%20Manual

[XR7]

That is weird... I do have the single piston caliper. But I looked through some you-tube videos, including one done by Wilwood, and they install the caliper on the back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPhNmaLKrMY

I saw another video, and they installed the caliper on the front on a 65, so maybe it just doesn't matter?

[rcodecj]

That is weird... I do have the single piston caliper. But I looked through some you-tube videos, including one done by Wilwood, and they install the caliper on the back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPhNmaLKrMY

I saw another video, and they installed the caliper on the front on a 65, so maybe it just doesn't matter?

Ah, see that video is a 69 mustang, they are in the rear on that year.
On the 65 mustang they would be in the front as my 67 is.

[XR7]

I looked at the illustration for a 67 and a 69 and they both show left side with caliper on the front! Strange... I guess I'll worry about it when the time comes, LOL. Maybe I'll drill some new holes and mount it straight up on the top!!!~ 

[rcodecj]

In that video they show tapping the seal in with a hammer, the Wilwood instructions say to press the seal in and for good reason. It would be difficult to tap in because it wants to pop up on one side even if you have it in quite even. Even though I have tapped in seals without pressing before, I tried tapping the Wilwood seal in with a piece of aluminum and it jumped all over, not saying it can't be done but much easier to press it in like the Wilwood instructions say. I pressed mine in easily.

2nd is where he is torqueing the wheel studs to 77 lbs in the hub. Try actually doing that by holding the hub with your hands and you had better have superman grip.
I torqued mine by placing the hub in a wheel with a tire on it. I saw no damage whatsoever on the stud threads as you are not jerking on it, just applying smooth and steady torque.

[rcodecj]

Here is my 69 disc brake caliper in the stock location: