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Limitations of rear drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter dubbsix
  • Start date Start date Dec 10, 2006

dubbsix

Member
Oct 18, 2006
347
2
19
Katy,TX
Dec 10, 2006
#1
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #1
Guys,

I have have rear drums and wanted to know just how well they'd perform for mild strip use.. but mostly High performance street use.
 

bubba-dough

Active Member
Dec 28, 2004
1,044
2
38
Indiana
Dec 10, 2006
#2
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #2
If you can afford to upgrade do so. This is coming from a guy with a sprayed 347 still running rear drums.
 

bryce93lx

Member
Jan 20, 2006
88
1
19
Luke AFB AZ
Dec 10, 2006
#3
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #3
the issue with fox brakes is the tiny one pistion front calipers, drums stop just fine if they are in good shape the real disadvatage of drums is they get hot faster and thus fade quicker which really does not come into play in strip use, they are however ugly
 

dubbsix

Member
Oct 18, 2006
347
2
19
Katy,TX
Dec 10, 2006
#4
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #4
Agreed- They are ass ugly and more difficult to change. What is usually involved with converting to rear disc brakes?

Also are there any 'affordable' brake upgrades for my 89 LX ?
 

bubba-dough

Active Member
Dec 28, 2004
1,044
2
38
Indiana
Dec 10, 2006
#5
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #5
http://mjbobbitt.home.comcast.net/mustang/5lug.html
 

dubbsix

Member
Oct 18, 2006
347
2
19
Katy,TX
Dec 10, 2006
#6
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #6
Thanks!
 

jrichker

StangNet's favorite TOOL
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Mar 10, 2000
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Dublin GA
Dec 10, 2006
#7
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #7
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” 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://www.svo73mm.cjb.net/. 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. Do a search on garden and you'll find it complete with 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.
 

dubbsix

Member
Oct 18, 2006
347
2
19
Katy,TX
Dec 10, 2006
#8
  • Dec 10, 2006
  • #8
Hey thanks for the post, but all that is probably more than im capable of doing now. I am going to copy your post and give it a whurl if i ever buy a house in California *ouch*
 
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