granada disc brakes on '64 Fairlane....

Has anybody here done it? How about bumpsteer issues? I can find lots of info on Mustangs, but very little solid info specific to the '64 Fairlane. If you have done this swap, I would appreciate any info you can provide. Thanks.

Jeff,
Go to www.midnightangelracing.com Joe, (az fairlane) shows up there some too.
Charlie, the site owner has a wagon hes converted over, plus other 64 stuff.
Al

www.mustangsteve.com on the right middle side of home page in the tech info.

Thanks for the links guys. I'll check 'em out.

Try this web site, should be able to answer your questions
Dave

http://www.woodyg.com/fairlane/

I have the Granada Spindles on my car. I did it 13 years ago but I think it was basically a bolt on deal. The only thing I remember buying special was the tie rod ends. I bought them from Crites restorations. I believe the stock ball joints from the Fairlane even worked. I used a master cylinder from a 69 Mustang disc/drum car. Recently I changed out the Mustang master cylinder for a 95 Ford ranger pick up cylinder to pick up some valve cover clearance and save some weight. Both Master cylinders were bolt on's in place of my factory non-power master cylinder. I used factory Granada brake hoses. Easy swap.

Chris has a lot of good info here... including a real parts number list.
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod/diskbrakes.html

Good luck with it Jeff.

Tom

512Fairlane wrote:I have the Granada Spindles on my car. I did it 13 years ago but I think it was basically a bolt on deal. The only thing I remember buying special was the tie rod ends. I bought them from Crites restorations. I believe the stock ball joints from the Fairlane even worked. I used a master cylinder from a 69 Mustang disc/drum car. Recently I changed out the Mustang master cylinder for a 95 Ford ranger pick up cylinder to pick up some valve cover clearance and save some weight. Both Master cylinders were bolt on's in place of my factory non-power master cylinder. I used factory Granada brake hoses. Easy swap.

Thanks for all the info and links guys.

512, so I can take it from your wheels-up picture that bumpsteer is not an issue when you come back down. I think I'm gonna go for it.

Something else we did that I forgot to mention is that we lowered the upper A-arm mounting point. This was not necessary for the spindle swap but it improved the suspension geometry. Most of these cars will have a great deal of camber when the front end is off the ground. We lowered the mount around 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" I believe (its been a while). This allowed the upper spindle to travel in an arc instead of moving inward as the front end comes up. This was an old Shelby trick on the Mustangs unfortunately on the Fairlane it is much more difficult to do. We had to cut the mounting point off the frame, section it and lower it. Then reweld it to the frame and beef it up with a 1/4" plate. We also made a wedge shaped spacer in between the upper a-arm and ball joint since the a-arm is angled upward towards the spindle at ride height instead of level. I'm not sure I have any digital pictures of the upper mounts but I'll take a look.

cletus66 wrote:

512, so I can take it from your wheels-up picture that bumpsteer is not an issue when you come back down. I think I'm gonna go for it.

I wouldn't say bumpsteer doesn't exist but I don't have any handling issues even at 130 MPH. The biggest problem I've had with the wheelies is that the upper a-arms tend to slide in. Since they bolt straight down instead of into the side of the shock tower like a Mustang they tend to slide in after a few wheel stands. I wish I would have tack welded them in place the last time I had the motor out like the factory did. I have to keep an eye on toe in but when its set right the car drives straight.

512Fairlane, thanks for your real-world info. A google search left me somewhere between "it is no problem", and "a pothole will put you into the trees".....


For what I'm doing with this car, it should be a good, cost effective upgrade.

Just a thought jeff. Have you thought of just using a Mustang upper?Maybe easier to install than the fairlane one. As long as all the pivot centers were the same, and allow enough room for the different mounting? That way your ball-joint would be in the same location.
Keep the questions comming Jeff.we will come up with something.
Regards.
Al

Al Martin wrote:Just a thought jeff. Have you thought of just using a Mustang upper?Maybe easier to install than the fairlane one. As long as all the pivot centers were the same, and allow enough room for the different mounting? That way your ball-joint would be in the same location.
Keep the questions comming Jeff.we will come up with something.
Regards.
Al

I'm just going to leave that stock with new parts. The Mustang inner bolts are horizontal, and the Fairlane bolts are vertical. I'm not gonna open that can of worms. This will be a cruiser only. No racing involved.

Jeff, If you don't want to replace your tie rod ends they make a tapered bushing to adapt the smaller stud on your factory tie rods to the granada spindle. Like was said its basically a bolt on deal. It's a nice low buck swap. Ken

Thanks Ken, I'm going to redo the complete front suspension with a kit from PST. Their kit comes with outer tie rod ends, and I'll have them send Granada parts. I have used their parts on 2 cars and had good luck with them. Their kit is 249 bucks, and has all the stuff I need.