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Hello to everybody,
A friend of mine just bought a '64 Galaxie 500 XL and I will have to do some jobs on that car. My experience in Galaxie front ends is limited and therefore tought to ask the experts on here about my problems.
1. Is there anybody making affordable lower a-arms for a '64 Galaxie? Or What is the best way to get the front excentric bolt elminated or fixed?
2. What is the way to get disc brakes on this car, if possible only Ford parts? What did ford used for disc brakes in '64? Am I wrong to assume that the stock Galaxie disc setup included K/H 4 piston calipers and 11" rotors (the ones Mustang's used too ?). If so, there must be some kind of different spindle for disc brake cars or a special Bracket - Which one is true.
I need to find the easiest way to do this because in my part of the world, there are no T-birds nor LTD's in junkyards - I live in Turkey!
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Mustsed
Last edited by Mustsed (March 25, 2014 12:32 pm)
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To the best of my knowledge there are no aftermarket or even replacement control arms being made for the early Galaxies.
As to the offset shafts:
The brakes are going to be harder and easier. Harder because I don't think you will find donor parts. Even the race Galaxies were not usually disc brakes, they used the bigger drums. Late 60s early 70s Galaxies and other big Ford cars did come with disc brakes, so if you can find one as a donor that is an option. However if it were me I think I would fab up a bracket that mounts to the OEM drum spindles then you can pick what ever rotor and caliper you can find. I modified a set of disc spindles to use PBR calipers. The drum spindles are a little different but similar enough you should be able to do something similar.
On the original Galaxie forum Daze wrote:
for those of you not familiar with the PBR calipers they came on 99-04 Mustang GT and Cobra cars and are an aluminum body with dual pistons
Anyway I was already going to retrofit a set on to my Mustang and got to thinking they would be a fantastic upgrade for the Gal as well. currently I have 78 LTD II disc brakes on my 62 and as has been discussed many times those are not always a good choice due to camber issues, any way I am parting out a 72 country squire on Wednesday and the disc brakes are one of the parts I will be taking. I am think that with these spindles on the bench I should be able to design a way to mate the PBR calipers to the OEM spindles. More to come as I know more.
After my original post about my bracketry to attach PBR brackets to some Galaxie spindles I new several things had to be changed.
1. 1/4" angle iron was a little on the thin side
2. the two brackets needed to be tied together.
3. I needed a second mount on the upper bracket besides where I had threaded the 1/4" angle iron
No matter how I sliced it there were there was only room for 1/4" angle at the top mount, but I think I came up with a solution for all the issues.
First I drilled and tapped the body of the spindle so there was a second mount for the upper bracket not just the one through the side of the upright. Then I took a piece of 1/4" plate and cut it to fit inside the angle iron and doubled the thickness.
here is the set up with just the 1/4" angle iron and the new mounting location.
and here it is with the additional 1/4" plate
by doubling the material I now have a thickness of 1/2" I realize it will not be as strong as if it was a 1 piece bracket rather than a 3 piece, but it should be comparable to a 3/8" thick bracket. I still need to make some aesthetic changes, but I think I am on the right track. thoughts??
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FatMan Fabrications is making tubular control arms for early Galaxies. Rare Parts has the offset shaft eliminator kit. Gearhead Cruisers was also making control arms for early Galaxies but I believe they are out of business.
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I went to fatman's web site and they didn't have any control arms listed for the galaxie.
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Thanks a bunch for the info!
I guess I have the excentric bolt issue solved mentally and only need to do it :-)))
As for the brake system I will use what I have, 2 K/H calipers and Mustang rotors that will attach to the spindle via fabbed brackets. If I can talk the owner into 17" wheel then I could also use the 2005 PBR calipers and chrysler 300C rotors that collect dust on my shelf.
Thanks for all the replys,
Mustsed
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I went to fatman's web site and they didn't have any control arms listed for the galaxie.
For some reason they've never shown up in the catalog, saw them mentioned in Mustang and Ford's magazine, apparently if you call them they have them. Not sure why they never updated the website or catalog. Not enough interest? Check out this link:
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Not trying to diss FatMan but at $900 for a pair these arms better be made of gold. I can think of a bunch of ways to make the stock arm better for less than $100. and I can think of 900 better ways to spend $900
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"............ and I can think of 900 better ways to spend $900
yes. My beter way to spend the $$$ would be gasoline, so I'd be driving these old iron heroes instead of working on them. Working on them is rewarding and such, but the driving beats all.
Z.
Last edited by zray (April 6, 2014 5:02 am)
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Hi everybody,
Just want to share some workk done to the brakes issue of the '64 Galaxie 500 XL. As mentioned before I did the install of the K/H 4 piston calipers and some slotted/vented rotors (all from a '67 Mustang) with some easy fabbed brackets. I did a lot of disc brake swaps in various cars and these were the easiest I ever did. I like the fact that everything remains Ford parts.
Sorry for the crappy mobile hone pics and thanks everybody for their inputs!
Mustsed
This is the spacer needed to keep the rotor from touching the spindle and leaving some space for the 11mm bracket. I made it 11mm thick which gives me 1mm gap between the rotor and the upper mounting arm. 
This is the installed bracket which will hold the calipers to the spindle. The lower two threaded holes bolt to the spindle and the upper two hold the calipers.
This is how it looks from the backside. I made two 20mm threaded bosses for the calipers to mount to. 
After bolting everything up, I measured the distance from the bracket to the upper spindle hole. The upright flat is the same 11mm material used on the bracket. There is a 2mm gap between the rotor and the upright. This gap is determined by the collar on the axle pin as seen in the first pic.
All bolted up and testet out fine. The righth side axle was damaged beyond use so we ordered a new one from a junk yard. As soon as it shows up, I will shoot some more detailed pics and show them here.
I installed the left side onto the car and have ordered some custom brake hoses. The stock Mustang hoses won't work and the use of banjo bolts and according hoses is mandetory. All parts came off of a '67 Mustang (calipers, rotors, bearings) and the bracket parts were done on a lathle. The hoses are done buy a local hose manufacturer. 14" Mustang Mach1 alloy wheels didn't fit and I didn't had the chance to test other wheels!
Last edited by Mustsed (September 15, 2014 12:55 am)
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Nice work Mustsed!! what rotors did you use and what was the purpose of the spacer/collar between the rotor and the bracket plate you made?? I would love a little detail to go with the pix as to what you have and why you did it that way.
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