89 gt brake upgrade

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rice23

New Member

Aug 30, 2004

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0

1

ny,nj

Dec 24, 2011

#1

• Dec 24, 2011

• #1

so i have a 89 gt, stock brakes suck as we all know. i would like to stay 4 lug for now so what do i need to upgrade the brakes? thanks guys

 

bigvino

Member

Mar 22, 2010

259

1

19

Corpus Christi, TEXAS

Dec 28, 2011

#2

• Dec 28, 2011

• #2

latemodelrestoration has a couple of brake kits which will increase your stopping power

 

89stang1

Stroked and Juiced

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Nov 5, 2008

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Dec 28, 2011

#3

• Dec 28, 2011

• #3

i have a SSBC rear disc brake kit 4 lug on my 89 with stock front calipers and drilled and slotted rotors im very pleased

 

Onefine88

Previously 89SSC18

10 Year Member

Aug 3, 2006

1,422

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154

Dec 28, 2011

#4

• Dec 28, 2011

• #4

The 88 TBird Turbo coupe rear disk brakes work well. I landed a set off a real low mile car a few years ago. Work great on my '88GT vert. I also installed the Crown Vic/SVO style front calipers, master cylinder and a proportioning valve.
Long story short, its still 4 lug and stops good enough for me. 50 times better than stock.

 

aar0s

Founding Member

Dec 20, 1998

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Dec 28, 2011

#5

• Dec 28, 2011

• #5

I have this kit http://www.maximummotorsports.com/s...product_info&cPath=49_136_141&products_id=676 and like it well enough. Helped with the poor stops and did'nt break the bank.
But there is a thread around here about putting a set of 4 piston calipers and 13 inch rotors on a fox.

You know that if your locking up your tires on hard stops then your breaks are overpowering your tires, better tires would reduce your breaking distance and give you better handling.

89stang, where did you find that rear disk conversion at?

 

89stang1

Stroked and Juiced

10 Year Member

Nov 5, 2008

730

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Dec 28, 2011

#6

• Dec 28, 2011

• #6

aar0s said:

I have this kit http://www.maximummotorsports.com/s...product_info&cPath=49_136_141&products_id=676 and like it well enough. Helped with the poor stops and did'nt break the bank.
But there is a thread around here about putting a set of 4 piston calipers and 13 inch rotors on a fox.

You know that if your locking up your tires on hard stops then your breaks are overpowering your tires, better tires would reduce your breaking distance and give you better handling.

89stang, where did you find that rear disk conversion at?

Click to expand...

its been on car for 5 years now so far so good
http://www.jegs.com/i/Stainless+Steel+Brakes/884/A112-1/10002/-1

 

jrichker

StangNet's favorite TOOL

In Remembrance. Thank you for your contributions

Mar 10, 2000

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Dublin GA

Dec 28, 2011

#7

• Dec 28, 2011

• #7

Been there and done that! With success!

Do the 87-88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe rear end swap!

Auto trans 87-88 Tbird Turbo Coupes come with 3.73 gears and manual Turbo Coupes come with 3.55 gears. Cost is $125-$300 for the rear axle. Add another $100-$200 or so to complete the brake upgrade.

I choose 3.55 since I do more highway driving. Both ratios have 10 5/16" disk brakes with vented rotors as standard equipment.

It takes 2 guys the first day to get the old rear end out and the new one bolted in place. It takes 1 guy another whole day to do the brakes.

You will need a several sets of fittings, I recommend that you get them from Matt90GT's website, http://home.comcast.net/~mjbobbitt/mustang/page5.html. Read Matt's instructions thoroughly, everything you need to know about the brakes is all there. You need to be patient and follow all the internal links, and there are many of them. You will need 2 fittings in the rear to adapt your old brake tubing to the TC disk brakes. The fittings go between the steel tube and the caliper brake hose. You will need another set of fittings to make a 2 port to 3 port adapter. To make life simpler, just buy the kits from Matt. You could piece them together, but it's not worth the time unless you work at an auto parts store with all the fittings ever made.

You will need to drill the quad shock mounting holes 2” below the holes drilled for the Turbo Coupe mounting points. The bolts are metric, so don’t loose them or the nuts. A 15/32” drill should be about the right size unless you have access to metric sized drill bits. Going without quad shocks is not an option unless you have aftermarket parts to soak up the wheel hop.

You will need a proportioning valve, Summit has one for $40 + shipping.
You will need a kit (FMS makes the part) to gut the stock proportioning valve, Summit also has that, about $10.


You will need a new master cylinder, see Matt's site and make you choice. I used a 94-95 Mustang master cylinder. Note that rebuilt 94-95 Mustang master cylinders do not come with a reservoir. That means a trip to the junkyard and some more money spent.

Your brake pedal may be very hard and almost impossible to lock up the brakes. I had to replace the front calipers with 73 mm calipers from a 91 Lincoln Mark 7 to get the braking performance up to par.

Bleeding the brakes will require 2 people and some coordinated effort. I don’t recommend using you wife or girlfriend to pump the pedal – they get offended when you yell at them. I used a homemade power brake bleeder constructed from a garden sprayer and some fittings from Home Depot. It cost about $25 and was worth every penny. See http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?p=6143048 for details and pictures.

See http://www.mustangcentral.net/tech/brake.html for help with the emergency brake. The red words link to some very useful photos on how to modify the handle. The stock setup tends to lock up and not release properly.
All in all I have been very pleased with the results.

Turbo Coupe parts list:
87-88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe Rear axle
94-95 Mustang Master Cylinder with reservoir
Brake line Adapter fittings http://home.comcast.net/~mjbobbitt/mustang/page5.html.
3 line to 2 line brake fitting kit http://home.comcast.net/~mjbobbitt/mustang/page5.html..
Proportioning valve, Wildwood 260-8419 Summit or Jegs
Kit to gut the stock proportioning valve Ford Racing M-2450-A Summit or Jegs
Reuse stock brake booster – no changes needed with the parts in this list
73 mm front calipers from a 91 Lincoln Mark 7 (two calipers) local auto parts store
Emergency brake cable parts: Summit or Jegs or Late Model Restoration
79-92 Mustangs use: M-2809-A* Parking Brake Cable (need 2)
93 Mustangs: use 93 Cobra Ebrake cables.
All years use: M-2810-A* Parking Brake Cable (short cable that attaches to the parking brake handle)

I recommend that you use reman calipers and use the calipers from the Turbo Coupe axle for cores to return. The parking brake mechanism and the caliper slides tend to lockup and freeze

Identifying a Turbo Coupe rear axle:
1.) Measure the rotors - a TC disk brake uses 10 5/16" vented rotors.
2.) Measure the length of the quad shock mount arm and compare it to the mount on your existing stock axle. The TC quad shock mount arm is about 8" long if I remember correctly.
3.) Measure the distance between the axle flanges and compare it to stock. The TC rear axle assembly is 3/4" wider per side, or 1 1/2" wider for both sides.

Five lug Turbo Coupe conversion:
Use the 94-98 axles Mustang axles. Use 1990 Mazda MPV 3.0 V6 front rotors (10", 5 lug x 4.5" pattern, 2 7/16" offset ). While you are at the auto parts store, set a TC rear rotor side by side with the Mazda rotor and they are the same except for the offset.

The next step fixes the offset problem:
Use a Maximum MotorSports 1/8 spacer (MMWS6, Maximum Motorsports, the Latemodel Mustang Performance Suspension Leader! ) between the inside of the rotor and the axle flange. The spacers may need to have the OD machined to fit properly. The stock rotor offset is 2 5/16" and the Mazda rotors are 2 7/16" offset. The 1/8" spacer puts the rotor back dead center alignment with the calipers.

The Mazda rotors are under $30 each, and I have seen them for $20 each. The MM spacers are two for $30 + $9 shipping. So the entire package costs $99. That saves $41, which most of us could find a very good use for.

 

R

rice23

New Member

Aug 30, 2004

14

0

1

ny,nj

Jan 8, 2012

#8

• Jan 8, 2012

• #8

wow. thanks guys for the help. this was alot more fun when i was young and single with no kids.lol.

 

aar0s

Founding Member

Dec 20, 1998

1,015

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69

Jan 8, 2012

#9

• Jan 8, 2012

• #9

have you decided on a route to go with it or done it yet?

 

R

rice23

New Member

Aug 30, 2004

14

0

1

ny,nj

Jan 8, 2012

#10

• Jan 8, 2012

• #10

im gonna go to valley performance in bloomfield nj, i heard good stuff about them, i want to see what he would charge cause i dont have time to do everything myself. ive been redoing all the interior panels, i have front racing seats, just missing rear seats. little by little shell come together.

 

R

rice23

New Member

Aug 30, 2004

14

0

1

ny,nj

Jan 8, 2012

#11

• Jan 8, 2012

• #11

unless somebody live in nj area that wants to do a side job???

 

cobra10494

Founding Member

May 14, 2000

206

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29

North Jersey

Jan 15, 2012

#12

• Jan 15, 2012

• #12

rice23 said:

im gonna go to valley performance in bloomfield nj, i heard good stuff about them, i want to see what he would charge cause i dont have time to do everything myself. ive been redoing all the interior panels, i have front racing seats, just missing rear seats. little by little shell come together.

Click to expand...

I live 2 miles from valley performance and have been dealing with alfredo for years.Great guy and great mechanic you wont be dissapointed!