looking for updraded front brakes (Wilwood)?

Have you contacted the vendors? try www.saccrestorations.net or Dennis Quella at Pantera Performance in Colo. or www.precisionproformance.com

Not yet,

I know there's BBK kits available, I was hoping to maybe find a used set that maybe someone had laying around, or needed rebuilding, that I could find on the cheap.

I'm just throwing this out there, see if I hook anything, I'm on a low budget anyways and should just be enjoying the car as it sits for a while.

Mike if you are on a low budget I suggest stick with the stock brakes. They are really not that bad. Once you get your car sorted and have a few pennies in the bank I would look at the kit offered by Scott at SACC. It uses the stock rotors and simply replaces the calipers. I have it on my car and I love it. It is probably one of the most economical kits available IMO.

From what I understand a simple upgrade to a better pad (Porterfield?) makes quite a bit of difference.

Brake upgrades are one of the "slippery slope" mods hot-rodders always talk about. The simplest is- as was mentioned- using stock calipers and 0.810" thick stock solid rotors with dash-3 ss brake lines, high quality fluid and Porterfield R4-S pads. They will work fine on the street, for about 3-4 hard stops in rapid succession and will overheat on track rapidly.

Next is substituting same-thickness ventilated rotors and adding bigger rear calipers, with a manual proportioning valve to rebalance your braking. You already have a 'gutted' stock proportioning valve. The armored AN lines, Porterfield pads and high quality fluid remain in place. This system will be great for the street, fast mountain runs and even light open-track running but will still overheat if pushed too hard.

Last is adding big OD rotors in 1.25" thickness, which calls for big matching calipers both front & rear and some sort of adapted semi-street-legal e-brake system, with all the foregoing still in place. Because the big wide rotors and calipers (plus your current 17" wheels & tires) are much heavier than stock, you will also need high quality adjustable coil-over shocks and bigger, better built anti-swaybars, tweaked suspension settings and upgraded rear stub-axles... slippery slope, remember? This rig is semi-pro open-track-ready and approximates what was successfully used at LeMans in the '70s.

Left out of the previously suggested brake vendors is Larry Stock's Pantera Parts Connection in Carson City, who sells the above series of brakes as three grades of step-up-options. He also sells piece-parts for those who know what they want/need. Welcome to the Club!

Updating the fronts without updating the rears is not recommended. It doesn't address the core problems which are (1) very poor rear brakes AND (2) a proportioning valve in the front circuit instead of the rear circuit.

No matter how strong of a front brake system you install, it will be limited by that proportioning valve in the front circuit. The proportioning valve was installed because the front rotors were unventilated and/or to better balance the front brakes with the weak rear brakes.

To upgrade the brakes you have to address the proportioning valve. The "best bang for the buck" upgrade includes:

• ventilated front rotors
  
• removal of the proportioning valve
  
• replacement rear brakes from SACC Restorations (Wilwood)

If you go with larger diameter rotors, it makes a future return to the stock 15" wheels more difficult. So if you're going to replace the brakes entirely I'd suggest going in one of two directions:

• Use 12.19" diameter rotors (the largest rotors that fit in a 15" wheel)
  
• Or keep all the parts you remove.

Frankly 12.19" rotors were used in Indy cars for a long time. They are more than enough for the street. Food for thought.

quote:

a simple upgrade to a better pad (Porterfield?) makes quite a bit of difference.

+1
These pads are a brake upgrade by themselves!

Also, upgrading to 66 Mustang rotors will get you vented rotors on the cheap. Search this forum for threads on 66 Mustang rotors - they're not all created equal, and they don't all fit properly (rotor hat issues). But, surely the best way to upgrade inexpensively until you save enough for a big brake kit.

And swap out those old rubber brake lines with braided stainless lines. This one's just plain a matter of safety.