Ok almost ate a moving van yesterday. Brake help....

joelliott

joelliott

New Member
May 17, 2004
210
0
0
Gainesville, FL
#1
My 85gt has stock brakes. 4 lug. Yeaterday while cruisin about 70 a moving van pulled out in front of me about 40ft. I damn near ate the back of that truck. It cought me by suprise due to trees and I slammed the t5 outa gear and smashed the brake. The pedal went to the floor and It was close enuf to pucker my ass up. I actually flew around him in the end shifting into 2nd and hoping no cops were around. other wise it woulda been bad. :notnice:

The brakes were revamped about a year ago with new pads all around. Unfortuantely the local ford shop looked at them alittle after due to poor braking and they forgot to hook a brake line up. So my father who picked it up almost wrecked due to NO brakes at all and went back to dealer and they supposidly fix it. This was probably 10 months ago.

I usually downshift in traffic rather than use brakes cuz Im not real confident in em. But this is rediculous. Will some slotted rotors with better pads help much? in not gonna go 5 lug, and Im cant spend a $grand on wilwood stuff. I just need an economy brake upgrade. Thanks
Joe E.
 
#3
yeah those brakes suck, I don't think slotted and crossed drilled will really help you that much. They are like that to disapate heat when lots of braking is done. Try doing just a good brake job and don't forget to bleed the brakes and turn the drums and rotors. It shouldn't be that bad already. Don't take it to ford... but if you want better braking do the all wheel disc braks and get a wildwood proportioning valve and maybe some stainless steel brake cables.
 
#4
Thanks for the replies guys. I know the up to 86 brakes suck bad. I really havent heard anything good about them. lol. So no on the slotted rotors. ?.. What about pads? Are there types of pads that are better than others? Like I said before I cant afford super wilwood or baer brake systems. I wish I could but they get such absurd $$$ for them. What would a porportion vaulve do to help? Not familiar with how they work other than directing pressure to different brakes. Im gonna check the SVO link asap too. Thanks again guys and have a Merry Xmas, and safe one! ttyl
Joe E.
 
#5
Oh, your car is an 85?

In that case, you can upgrade fairly cheap, to a newer 87-93 system that is much better than those 10" brakes..

If you want to stay 4lug, and do an inexpensive upgrade.. i'd suggest spindles from a 87-93 with new rotors, 73mm lincoln calipers (bolt right on), and a new MC+booster from a 94/95 v6 or GT (same parts).

Calipers, with exchange, maybe $50 pair... new rotors $60 pair, spindles you could get dirt cheap $50 tops. MC and booster you could find used for under $100 i would assume, brand new the MC is $50 with exchange. Or maybe someone around you is selling these parts cheaper, keep your eyes open!

Good luck.

EDIT... you'd need new bearings, another $40 or so, pads too. Total price around $300 but you could find a package deal much cheaper.
 
#7
I know the feeling! I did the smasheroo with the rear of a Datsun truck when I still had the stock brakes about 4 years ago. The stock 87-93 brakes are bad too!

Read Matt's website posted, and then find someone with a 87-93 that changed to 5 lugs. Get their spindles and possibly rotors if they are good. Get the 73mm Mark VII or SVO calipers and some good pads for them, along with a MC upgrade for the larger calipers. A little bit more braking can be achieved with stainless steel lines and ss bushing inserts. An adjustable PV will not do much for you until you put in rear disc. It is designed to give the rears the right amount of pressure. For disc rears they need more pressure than the drum PV will allow, thus the need for an adjustable PV to replace the stock one.

You can upgrade the 4 lug brakes for probably $200 - 250 or so with spindles, good used rotors, rebuilt larger calipers and good pads and rebuilt larger capacity MC. Add the SS parts for another $100 or so. Of course there are a few fancy kits too, but IMO they are too pricey.

Good luck!
 
#8
Hows it goin guys. I wanna stay 4 lug. I have corba Rs that are about 5 months old and cant ditch em. I went to the local yard yesterday and saw 6 mustangs (2 84notches, 2 late 80s hatches, and 2 sn95s) So the parts are there for me to grab locally. There is also a good bit of lincolns there so maybe I can find a parts for the 73mm rotors too.
Are the 86+ spindles a bolt in for up to 85 stangs? I know the strut will need a 1/8 spacer to bolt up right. But other than that do the spindles bolt on nice with no alteration to the suspension? Again, are some pads better than others? Like hawk etc? Would it be worth paying the extra $ for them over generic pads? Thanks
Joe E.
 
#10
Thanks green. Gotta a nice ride yourself. Im trying to get mine cleaned up and looking good. I love my 4 eye. Id be heart broken if I banged her up. I was just ****tin when I hit the brake and it went to the floor and really didnt lock down good. I dont wanna take a chance like that again so thats why Im looking into the above. You have any brake mods??? ttyl.
Joe E.
 
#11
The spindles should bolt right up, with just needing spacers or washers for the strut. Check around the auto parts places on the 73MM calipers. I can get them rebuilt for less than $20 each locally. If you get some from a salvage yard, just keep that in mind. Of course you will need cores to save the core charge.
 
#12
no i am still useing the stock brakes to, they dont seems to be to bad but i never had to slam them on real hard before either, but id imagine they would do the same thing to my car as it did to yours. did you lower your car any? what size of rims and tires are you running. thanks
 
#13
Whats up guys. Yeah my car is lowered. Ford C springs. I also have 17 in cobra R 8in wide front and 9in wide rear with 255-40-17s. I didnt think about the rolling mass difference. Im still looking into the spindles etc for the front. Being Xmas everything is closed up right now. sucks. Thanks for your help too guys and have a Merry Christmas.
Joe E.
 
#14
You want 87+ V8 spindles if you want to upgrade to 11" brakes. Not 86 spindles. They would be the same as your '85's.

To be honest, the 87+ brakes are not all that much better. I've had a few panic stops with mine and amost needed a new nose.

Personally i would upgrade to modern SN95 stuff. The fox stuff is just an antique by today's standards.
 
#15
i upgraded my 88 hatch from the original 10" brakes to the 87-93 11" brakes and it was worth it.i went ahead and replaced the original struts with some kyb gr-2s.i later upgraded to 73mm svo calipers and didn't see where it helped.i also did the t-bird rear disc swap and besides the looks it didn't improve braking around town.it supposedly brakes better above 80mph but that doesn't help around town none.if i were you i would just upgrade to stock 87-93 spindles and upgrade to braided hoses.expensive drilled or slotted rotors will do nothing in town and race brake pads have to be heated up to work properly.also sometimes a simple rear brake adjustment does wonders.
 
#16
Great info guys. Thanks for the help. Im lookin into the spindles and 11in rotors. If nothing else I think Im gonna get some quality pads front and rear and new stainless lines and new fluid etc. See if it helps any. Short term fix on a after Xmas budget. Maybe buy me time to read more on the sn95 setup or something. Thanks again for your help.
Joe E.
 
#18
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that your brake pedal went completely to the floor. If so try bleeding them. Also I recomend upgrading to steel brake lines. Over time the OE hoses flex decreasing your stopping power.

hope it helps
 
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