9" Ford Brake Gap

[fordsbyjay]

I have a 64 Galaxie that I want to add rear disc brakes to so I have it apart measuring before ordering to hopefully avoid any mistakes. This is a 289 Galaxie so it has a small bearing 9" (3 3/8" x 2" bolt spacing on the axle flange). It still has the drum backing plate on it but measuring the brake gap I only come up with a smidge under 2 1/4". All the brake kits I have looked at for the small bearing are 2 1/2" or 2.66" offset. Can the backing plate be 1/4" thick at the bolt area or do I have some oddball configuration (or am I just doing something wrong)?

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/Bra...ch.aspx?flg=15

[oleyeller]

They do make brake kits for your application, 2.5" is more common, but 2.375" is out there. I bought a shortened 9" off Craigslist and mine ended up measuring 2.33". Just talk to your brake vendor and tell them what the measurement is. They have kits to fit it....

[fordsbyjay]

Thanks for the tip.

I took out one axle retainer bolt so I could measure past the brake drum backing plate and it looks to be 2 3/8 which very well could be 2.33". I will look for a 2.33" offset but what about running a 1/8" spacer behind the rotor to make it 2 1/2"?

[toddz69]

What kind of kit were you thinking of running?

I wouldn't recommend a spacer behind the rotor.

Wilwood makes a number of kits for the 2 3/8" offset. We run into the same problem on early Broncos as they have the 2 3/8" offset.

Todd Z.

[fordsbyjay]

I was looking to do an OEM swap from Mustang Steve for the rear. No one makes brackets for the front of a Galaxie so I was going to make my own. The wilwood stuff is nice but the prices for 13" kits is too high (IMO) being that 12.5-13" brakes are standard now and you can buy OEM 14" and 15" brakes. It's not a race car, I am just after major braking improvements over drums but not on a race car level so 13" Mustang 4 piston brakes and 12-13" rear brakes would be plenty and very affordable.