I have a 73 Ford Maverick Grabber with drum brakes all the way around. I was wondering how hard it would be to replace the drum brakes with disc. I have a 75 Maverick parts car with disc brakes to use so I have all the parts to do it. I was also wondering if I put a late model rearend in the Grabber from a mustang or something how would I get it to work. Just bolt the rearend up and install the brake lines or what?
Unless you are in the 500+ horsepower range, keep the reliable 8in rear. There are several disc conversions you can adapt to it. S-10 rotors and calipers off a four wheel drive will work and cost is less than 200 for all new parts around here, complete. Redrill the rotors for Ford bolt pattern, check archives for other options on this conversion. Parking brake is only problem to doing it this way, wonder how many people use theirs anyway?
It's not hard at all to convert to front disc brakes when you have all of the parts from a disc brake-equipped Maverick. It can take several hours though....
Piece of cake of you have a parts car sitting there ... Just swap all the parts one side at a time so you have the other side for referance on how they go together. If the suspension is good on the disk brake car I would swap the entire setup including the upper and lower control arms ... that way you only have a few bolts to contend with instead of having to screw around with ball joints. It also helps to swap the M/C and all the front brake lanes since the drum M/C and brake lines are different ... don't forget the prop valve.
