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My 1950 f1
I started with a kit from Sacramento Vintage Ford. It's pretty simple--just 2 brackets that bolt to the axle and hold the calipers, 2 bearing adaptors that slide over the stock spindles, and assorted nuts, bolts, and spacers. This kit comes in 2 flavors (both are $100) depending on what bolt pattern you want. There's a Chevy kit (5x5 I think) and a Ford kit (5x4.5). I chose the Ford kit.
The brake parts are an interesting selection, using pieces from each of the big 3 auto manufacturers. The rotors and bearings are from a Plymouth Volare. Calipers are from a Pontiac Firebird/Chevy Camaro. The rear bearing seal is from a 65-80 Corvette. You retain the stock spindle nut and keyed washer.
The first thing you have to do is remove your stock drum brake assemblies.
Then clean everything up real good.
Now is a good time to reverse your king-pin retaining bolts. You need to do this because the nut that holds them on are very long and will hit the bracket when you turn hard right or left. It only takes about 2 minutes per side.
Bolt the bracket to the axle. While you can mount it with the caliper facing front, the manufacturer recommends that you mount the caliper to the rear. (You'll see why when you get the calipers on)
Next comes the problematic part, installing the bearing adaptors. They slide over the stock spindles so that you can use the Volare bearings. They're a tight fit. No, they're beyond a tight fit. They're a damn tight fit. Getting them on the spindles is much easier thanks to a tip that a friend passed on (thanks Wayne!)--heat them in the oven (475 for 15 minutes). They'll go on with a minimal amount of hammering then. Resist the temptation to "test fit" them just to see how tight they are--trust me, they're plenty tight. I did this on one side and the damn thing got stuck where I couldn't move it any farther on or get it off. I ended up heating it with a torch and hammering it on a little at a time, and it took an hour to do. You need to sand the hell out of the top of the adaptors because there's just no way the bearing can slide on otherwise. I sanded for half an hour to no avail--then I whipped out the Dremmel and took off enough meat so that the bearing would slide on with minimal resistance. Again, don't test fit--I got the bearing stuck and had to ruin it to get it off.
With that, you're over the tough part. Go have lunch and watch some tv--just watch where you sit your greasy self down or your wife might kill you...or worse...
From here on it's a cakewalk. Get out your handy tub of bearing grease and pack those bearings. Get them into the hub and install the rear seal--you're ready to roll. Slide the rotor & hub assembly onto the spindle, install the washer and nut and adjust the bearings in the usual manner.
Installing the calipers is a snap--the pads are way easy to get in because there's no pressure on the piston--no clamps and 2x4's to worry about. Be sure to use silicon grease on the backs of the pads and the caliper bolts. Be sure you put the proper caliper on the proper side! The bleeder should face straight up.
You're almost done. All you need now is to attach the flexible brake lines to the calipers. Now, here's where I had some major disappointment. I had planned to reuse the stock style brake hoses since they were only a couple years old and they were exactly the right length. Unfortunately, the GM calipers use banjo fittings so I wasn't able to use my hoses. My local Pep Boys had the Firebird hoses in stock (and coincidentally they're just the right length) but they cost $36 each! That's an expense I hadn't planned on (one of many--see below.)
To top things off you're probably going to need new wheels. Remember, these rotors have a 5x4.5 bolt pattern and stock is 5x5.5. I lucked out at the junkyard and got 2 15x7's with decent looking 215/70 Good Year Eagle GT's from a 74 Torino for 12 bucks each. Note, I love Torinos and Rancheros--I find the best stuff on them in the junkyard. I think I'd like to do a Ranchero for my next project, but that's a story for a different time.
There, you're done! Pat yourself on the back. You can bleed the brakes some other time--but before you do, put a 2lb residual pressure valve in the line to the front brakes.
Things i would have done differently
I think I did a good job, but I could have done a few things to save time, headache and money.
1.) Get the calipers from a junkyard. I bought mine rebuilt for $35 a piece and they're only $12 at the junkyard. There are so many expensive "little things" that I didn't think about that I would have gotten had I been at the junkyard. I had to buy the pins that hold the calipers. They cost $7 and there's 4 of them--you'd get 'em free at the junkyard. The hoses--I talked about this earlier. The spring on the inboard brake pad--they don't come with the calipers or the pads--you need to buy them separately in a kit that costs $5 (multiplied by 2). I spent way too much money on the calipers and related hardware and all the expensive little trinkets would have been free had I gone to Pick A Part and pulled my own calipers.
2.) Heat up the bearing adaptors first thing and don't play around with them. Everything ended up fine but it was really scary for a while when I was in the "heat, pound, heat, pound" cycle and wondering if I was going to ruin the adaptor.
