99-04 Dual piston calipers on a 94?

ratio411 · Oct 25, 2011

I heard on TV this weekend (forgot which show) that SN95 single piston calipers can be replaced with 99-04 dual piston calipers (front brakes).

Is this a direct bolt on, or are the brake lines different?
Sounds like a great upgrade if it is just plug n play.

VibrantRedGT · Oct 25, 2011

If you're talking about 99+ PBR Calipers they are not direct bolt on, there is some grinding involved. If you can get your hands on some Cobra Calipers 94-95 well those are obviously direct bolt on's. Plus when you look through the rim your calipers will say Cobra. Just a nicer caliper than the aluminum PBR's.

turbogt · Oct 25, 2011

ratio411 said:
I heard on TV this weekend (forgot which show) that SN95 single piston calipers can be replaced with 99-04 dual piston calipers (front brakes).

Is this a direct bolt on, or are the brake lines different?
Sounds like a great upgrade if it is just plug n play.

99-04 GT brakes still suck compared to the Cobra brakes.. been there.

Just find a set of 94-04 brakes.. They used to be $399 with calipers, brackets and rotors, but recently that price went up ALOT

Chythar · Oct 25, 2011

I was going to do a 99-04 caliper upgrade on my V6, before I found a wrecked Cobra and made it into the Cobra clone. Both VibrantRedGT and turbogt are correct. You need to grind some metal off of the spindle in order to get the caliper to bolt on. It's not structural metal, so no worries. While I agree that a Cobra caliper upgrade is much better, the 99-04 calipers are a nice intermediate upgrade IMO. I still have the 99-04 front calipers that I was going to upgrade with; I need to get rid of them one of these days.

auto02 · Oct 25, 2011

I'd go for the cobra brakes as previously mentioned.The 99-04 brakes have a nasty habit of dragging bad on the rotor.I went with a set of 03 cobra brakes not for the stopping power but to simply lose the drag.With the stock brakes it took a bit of effort to spin the wheel,the cobra's are effortless!

SableSal · Oct 25, 2011

The show was MuscleCar on Spike.

Yes, you can fit them on. Yes there is grinding involved. Don't waste your time, get Cobras.

I hated my PBRs, funny I say that... because Cobras are PBR calipers too! Hah

revhead347 · Oct 25, 2011

Funny thing, I don't much care for the Cobra brake caliper either. It's kind of a crappy design in my opinion. It does stop a whole lot better that GT brakes though.

Kurt

Last5.0 · Oct 25, 2011

I've been running stock '99-04 PBR calipers for over 5 years and have never had any problems. I got them cheap, like $50 with pads, rotors, soft lines and banjo bolts. The rotors are the same as stock ones on my '95 GT and the grinding is just a little bit on the back of the spindle so that one of the bracket bolt holes lines up correctly. Takes about a minute with an angle grinder to do each one. They do have more stopping power than the stock '94+ GT brakes and are a lot lighter.

They're not going to be as good as the cobra brakes because they are the same diameter rotor (not bigger like the cobras), but they can also be found a lot cheaper than the cobra brakes and will also clear 15" wheels incase you run 15" drag wheels, which the cobras wont.

toyman · Oct 25, 2011

I had no issues with my Mach1 caliper/rotor swap. Needed a different banjo bolt. Changed the M/C at the same time to a '94 cobra piece and the lines to the proportioning valve needed to be changed as well IIRC.

Last5.0 · Oct 25, 2011

Here's a link to some swap info and pics

Ford Mustang: Mustang Tech: Brakes: Low Budget PBR brake upgrade

Also a pic of where the spindle needs to be ground...

JonezySN95 · Oct 26, 2011

How about this link... not too bad IMO

1994-04 Mustang SVE 13" Cobra Style Front Brake Kit at LRS - Same Day Shipping!

Chythar · Oct 26, 2011

toyman said:
I had no issues with my Mach1 caliper/rotor swap. Needed a different banjo bolt. Changed the M/C at the same time to a '94 cobra piece and the lines to the proportioning valve needed to be changed as well IIRC.

My understanding is the Mach 1 and Bullitt brakes are Cobra brakes without the "COBRA" etched into them.

ratio411 · Oct 27, 2011

JonezySN95 said:
How about this link... not too bad IMO

1994-04 Mustang SVE 13" Cobra Style Front Brake Kit at LRS - Same Day Shipping!

Thanks for the ideas guys, but we are way out of bounds here.
I am just thinking about swapping calipers when I do a brake job on my 17 year old's 94 GT, not spending $550.

I figure the price at the parts house won't be much different between the 94-98 calipers and the later ones, and if they bolt right on, that's awesome.

I didn't know it was a common upgrade with a 'name'.
I have seen the term "PBR upgrade", but had no idea that was it.

Sounds like I can just throw them on if I do a quick grind and get the proper banjo bolt?

ratio411 · Oct 27, 2011

Last5.0 said:
Here's a link to some swap info and pics

Ford Mustang: Mustang Tech: Brakes: Low Budget PBR brake upgrade

That link is cool, but the author bought EVERYTHING from a donor car, even parts that I know aren't needed, like rotors. However they don't tell you which parts are the ones that are needed, and which ones were surplus in their purchase.

For example, do I need the caliper brackets, or will the 94 caliper brackets work.
The TV show made it sound like I could just go to AZ and buy the calipers and drop them in (I don't mind the grinding). Of course AZ won't have the caliper brackets, so if I need those, it's a whole different ballgame because then I need to shop junkyard, not parts house.

ratio411 · Oct 27, 2011

Since we are talking stock part brake upgrades...

Is there a plug n play master cylinder that is better than the 94?
(I find that the first year of a new model is always upgraded with better parts in following years as bugs are worked out.)

JonezySN95 · Oct 27, 2011

ratio411 said:
Thanks for the ideas guys, but we are way out of bounds here.
I am just thinking about swapping calipers when I do a brake job on my 17 year old's 94 GT, not spending $550.

I figure the price at the parts house won't be much different between the 94-98 calipers and the later ones, and if they bolt right on, that's awesome.

I didn't know it was a common upgrade with a 'name'.
I have seen the term "PBR upgrade", but had no idea that was it.

Sounds like I can just throw them on if I do a quick grind and get the proper banjo bolt?

Oh sorry I guess I misunderstood you. I was assuming you were just trying to up grade for better stopping power, and since everyone was saying go cobra brakes I figured I would share the link I found. I think its a good deal considering it's a 13" conversion with steel braided lines and hassle free bolt on. It is also the option I was looking at for when I decide to upgrade mine.

ratio411 · Oct 27, 2011

JonezySN95 said:
Oh sorry I guess I misunderstood you. I was assuming you were just trying to up grade for better stopping power, and since everyone was saying go cobra brakes I figured I would share the link I found. I think its a good deal considering it's a 13" conversion with steel braided lines and hassle free bolt on. It is also the option I was looking at for when I decide to upgrade mine.

No need for apology brother!
I was just setting the conversation back on track, nothing personal.
I appreciate that you were trying to help.

Last5.0 · Oct 27, 2011

ratio411 said:
That link is cool, but the author bought EVERYTHING from a donor car, even parts that I know aren't needed, like rotors. However they don't tell you which parts are the ones that are needed, and which ones were surplus in their purchase.

For example, do I need the caliper brackets, or will the 94 caliper brackets work.
The TV show made it sound like I could just go to AZ and buy the calipers and drop them in (I don't mind the grinding). Of course AZ won't have the caliper brackets, so if I need those, it's a whole different ballgame because then I need to shop junkyard, not parts house.

Remove the calipers with the brackets from the spindles. You should be able to get the '99-04 calipers with brackets from the parts store along with the lines and they are a direct bolt-on with the exception of the bit of grinding on the spindle bosses. Make sure you get the lines for '99-04 because the '94-98 lines won't fit the calipers.

When I did my swap, the parts I had were from a buddy that upgraded his '99-04 with bigger cobra brakes and sold me the calipers/brackets with lines attached all one piece. After grinding the spindles I just bolted them on and connected the line to the hard line in the wheel well then bled them.

99-04 Dual piston calipers on a 94?

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