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The big brake set-up I had has been SOLD!

Thanks to all who inquired.

Cheers
Greg

Two of the master cylinders are SOLD. I have four of the 1" left.

Cheers
Greg

I'll do a covid test and see if the rotors originated in China. LOL

Had these things near on 25 years. Probably made in the good old USA.

Cheers
Greg

Thanks Doug. So I guess I shouldn't call my rotors OEM NOS, although they may be.

Cheers
Greg

Hi Doug. You got me on that one.

There are absolutely no markings of any kind on the rotors. Ford sold them back then as a rotor/hub assembly I think.

I found one of the 68 T-Bird hubs (haven't found the other yet) and it has Kelsey Hayes markings and numbers on it.

Didn't Kelsey Hayes make a lot of Ford brake stuff back then?

Cheers
Greg

Hi Doug. The OEM NOS T-Bird rotors I have had sitting on the shelf all these years are a full 12 inches in diameter. I believe the aftermarket rotors came in at 11.75 inches

Cheers
Greg

Hi again shelbydoug.

I do remember quite a bit of chatter about 15 ofr 20 years ago here on the forum about aluminum calipers. But as you said. Didn't go anywhwere.

Those rotors and calipers are HEAVY. We used an old caliper that I'm sure had been used as a boat anchor (based on the rust inside) to test fit everything up at the time.

Cheers
Greg

Hi shelbydoug. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I don't remember any jabonga-ing going down the street, just a loud exhaust!

I understand that there were wheel fitment problems, especially with the older 10 spokes (minilites?) but the newer ones have more clearance on the inside of the wheel and aren't a problem.

Also, the caliper/rotor configuration in your pics appear to be a one piece rotor/hat and mounted on the outside of the hub.

I believe the original Boss 302 Trans/Am big brake setup used the 1968 T-bird one piece rotor /hat and was mounted on the inside of the hub which gave it more rotor/caliper offset to the inside and didn't have a wheel clearance problem.

At least that's what I recall reading on very old posts. But I am getting old you know.

The set-up I've shown has the rotor mounted on the inside of the hub. I'll post some pics later.

Cheers
Greg

It's been pointed out that I made a could of typos and labelled a pic incorrectly.

The OEM Mustang 4 piston caliper brackets were from 1965-1967.

I have corrected the text and the pic correctly labelled is attached below.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Greg

The Boss 302/TransAm racing T-Bird big brake caliper bracket dilemma,
Or
The big brake caliper bracket eureka moment at the turn of the century!

Is that a long enough title?

Anyway. After posting some spare parts I had on the shelf for many years for the Boss 302/TransAm racing T-Bird big brake set-up, I got a lot of questions asking if I had all the parts for the set-up.

So I went looking through more boxes and crates.

I am a sick person. I have parts for parts that I didn't know even needed parts. Parts I didn't even know/remember I had, when I got them or where I got them from. Too many projects under the bridge. Well under the bridge is where I found more boxes. Sort of.

But enough about my neurosies.

The part everyone considers the holy grail of the Boss 302 TransAm big brake set-up is the T-Bird big caliper bracket that attaches to the 1970 Mustang drum brake big spindle setup.

Well guess what? I don't have those brackets. Surprise. Surprise.

But what I have is the result of the big brake caliper bracket eureka moment at the turn of the century, OK, the late 1990's early 2000's.

In the 1990's I was helping a good friend build up a 1970 Mustang as a Boss 302 clone for "club racing" and test session fun at Willow Springs. Being a clone build and a low budget project to boot, parts were scrounged from friends, back yards, and wreckers. But the big brake caliper bracket proved elusive. This may have been before Cobra Automotive offered a bracket, or maybe we just didn't want to spend the money.

But we had the internet. And luckily we stumbled on some Ford/Mustang website where this very problem was being kicked around. Was the big brake caliper OEM from Ford the only solution?

Disclaimer! I am not taking credit for the following innovative and imaginative solution. My old notes say a website poster with the handle "1RadRod" came up with this.

The genesis of the Boss 302 big brake caliper kit is well known. Kar Kraft, Bud Moore and others scoured the Ford parts book and came up with the solution and Ford Racing/Kar Kraft Engineering came up with a new caliper bracket. But was it new? Unique to thisTransAm application for sure. But the design concept – was it new?

Perhaps not.

If you compare the Boss 302 big caliper bracket with a 1965 to 1967 Mustang regular production caliper bracket they are remarkably similar. In fact the same where it attaches to the spindle, but different for the spacing of the caliper mount pedestals – wider apart for the bigger T-Bird calipers.  Were the big caliper brackets thicker or stronger. I don't think so, but I don't know for sure. Seems to me there would be more stress risers in the big caliper bracket with those caliper pedestals hanging out there.

See pic 1 below as an attachment(I still can't figure out how to insert a pic into this text)

So what was "1RatRod"s solution?

A simple but effective use of steel bar stock commonly found in any shop. (or McMaster Carr ).

A ½" thick by 1.25" wide by 6" long steel bar "bridge" was fabricated and drilled (see pics) that attached to the caliper bosses on the existing spot faced surface using the existing 9/16" tapped bosses in the caliper.
Then a 5/8" thick by 1" wide by approx. 3.75" long "bridge support" was fabricated and drilled to match the narrower 65-67 Mustang regular production caliper bracket 7/16" holes mounting holes. (see pic 2 below)

The two are then welded together to form a very rigid "T" shaped "bridge bracket". (see pic 3 below)

The caliper does not need to be spot faced on the back side of the caliper threaded attachment bosses since the OEM T-Bird caliper attaching face is used as originally purposed. (see pic 4 below)

In fact, any fine tuning to centering the caliper (in and out) on the rotor can be done with shims.

And the "bridge bracket" can be sized/positioned to accommodate the positioning of the original 68 T-Bird rotor on the inside of the hub (as we did) or the Coleman rotor/hat assy on the outside of the hub. It's just a matter of sizing the steel bars and positioning the "bridge bracket" relative to the attachment bosses on the stock Mustang caliper bracket.

Easy ( a couple of hours work), cheap ( about $25 for 4 pieces of 6"bar stock from McMaster Carr) and strong.

This solution worked just fine.

Eloquent in its simplicity.

I'm interested in your comments.

But let me go make some popcorn made before the comments start flying.

Cheers
Greg

PS. I'll be posting the complete set up I have for sale in the SAAC classifieds.

The Cobra oval air cleaner assy is SOLD.

Cheers
Greg

Hi all. I am reducing the prices further on the remaining Cobra parts I have to sell.

1) 427 Cobra convertible top (white), bows and all hardware for installation. All components are NEW and not used. Total retail price would be close to $2000. MY SELLING PRICE: $750.00 plus shipping.

2) 427 Cobra front and rear bumper hoops and 4 bumperettes. All new and never installed. Total retail price would be $900.
My SELLING PRICE: $450.00 plus shipping.

3) SS Hex Head knock off nuts (instead of the 3 eared knock-off spinners) with Halibrand safety clips. New and never used. Retail price $600.
MY SELLING PRICE: $400.00 plus shipping
I also have the tool to install them (if you don't happen to to one in your toolbox LOL) at an additional cost.

Please PM me with any interest you may have.

Cheers
Greg

Is it April Fool's Day already??

Cheers
Greg

The Cobra FE427 headers are SOLD.

Cheers
Greg

I do not have the caliper brackets. They are available from various aftermarket sources.

The calipers and rotors I have were shelf stock spares.

" Do they work with the stock master cylinder?" What car? What size master cylinder?

I know they worked for a 69 Boss 302 Mustang.

Cheers
Greg