5 Lug Swap

[yogi4476]

Hey guys I'm looking into doing the 5 lug swap. I noticed the kits sold by companies like American muscle all say they will NOT fit the 4cyl cars. What parts regarding this differ from the 4cyl and the 5.0. Also if you know where to get the right parts that would be appreciated.

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[Gearbanger 101]

I believe the 4-cylinder front spindles are different than the '87-up V8 cars.

You'd need to convert to later Fox front spindles for their front rotor/hub assy to work.

Personally, if you were going to go through that trouble, you're far better off swapping to a '94-'95 front spindles assembly. That way, there are no restrictions on the type of wheel you can use....and more importantly, much better brake options.

 

[91TwighlightGT]

There are different ways to do this swap.

The cheapest way is to use front rotors from a mid 80's rwd ranger on the front and swap to the correct length 5 lug axles and drums on the rear. No spindle swapping is required to do it this way.

However, the downside to this method is that you are limited to wheels that will clear the dust cap. So, some 5 lug wheels will work, such as 94-95 tribar gt wheels, while others such as 99-01 cobra wheels will not clear the dust cap. To fit those wheels you need later model spindles and hubs. Your struts also need spacers or to be swapped to 5.0 versions to fit correctly.

 

[yogi4476]

Another slight question regarding this what spline count comes in the 4cyl cars 28 spline or 31 spline

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[Mustang5L5]

28 spline.

The rear brakes on the 4 cly are identical to the 5.0. The only difference is the axle they are bolted to. But you could remove the drums and axles from a 5.0, and bolt them onto a 2.3L housing and they would be the same.

Up front, the main differences are that the spindles, calipers and brake lines are different between the 2.3L and 5.0. So your swap up front is much more involved. You could buy that kit, but then you need additional parts like spindles, calipers, brake lines. At that point, get yourself an Sn95 swap up front.

 

[yogi4476]

For the front SN95 swap do I need the master cylinder too

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[Mustang5L5]

If leaving the rear drums...no.

There isn't a proper MC that will work with rear drums. Everything else is a 4-wheel disk brake MC. You pretty much are stuck with whatever pedal feel you get...which fortunately happens to be adequate usually.

 

[yogi4476]

From what I gathered from another post on this subject is SN95 ball joints but not tie rods and new brake lines are also needed.

also recently picked up the full front brake kit for the 94-95 sn95. Figured I would piece this together so now minus ball joint and brake lines I have full front setup. Now I just need axles and drums for the rear. Correct

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[Mustang5L5]

Yes to brake lines up front. No to tie rods, depends on the balljoints

You can use the fox balljoints, but you need a .330 spacer, like shown. I machined my own, but you can use 5/8" washers.

 

[yogi4476]

Getting pretty close to doing the swap on the front of my LX while I source the axles and drums for the rear.

picked up these 17s from a 97 today and ordered the new brake lines as well as some poly bushings. Figured I would upgrade those since the cars been sitting since 2004.

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[Mustang5L5]

Nice choice of wheels. Always had a thing for those

 

[yogi4476]

Well after piecing together all the parts I believed I needed I was able to complete the front end portion of the swap in 1 weekend. The parts used were:
SN95 spindles
SN95 ball joints
Poly bushings (maximummotorsports.com)
Fox to SN95 braided steel brake lines (maximummotorsports.com )
Powerstop evolution brake kit (pepboys.com)
OE replacement Monroe struts
Caliper mount bolts (autozone)will give part number later

All things considering went smoothly (unlike my last 2 projects) only replaced the struts because 1 was leaking.



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