Question: '87-'93 to '94-'04 Cobra front brake conversion

[thezonster]

I am doing this conversion this morning and I have a problem.

I am finding that the 2 mounting holes for the spindle to strut conection are about 1 to1.5" apart. Cant get them to come together.

If I put a jack under the control arm, the whole car goes up, and the holes stay the same distance apart.

Cant pull the strut lower any further down to meet up with the spindle.

None of the conversion posts that I have read said that later model struts were a requirement of this conversion.

I have '94 spindles.

What am I missing here??

 

[Mustang5L5]

So in other words, you just can't jack the a arm up high enough to bolt the spindle to the strut?

Try putting the jack under the ball joint and jacking it up.

Is there an engine in the car? What springs you running?

 

[TenorPlayinGuy]

Yeah, control arm jacking at the ball joint would be the best way, it may be more difficult if there is no weight from the engine if it isn't there, or perhaps the control arms were not lubed when installed so they are binding instead of pivoting on the k-member. It may even lift the body slightly, but it should still compress up.

 

[thezonster]

OK, after my original post I went back out and looked at the tops of the struts. I have caster plates that are about 3/4" off the top of the strut tower, and another 3/4" spacer on top of that, at the top of the strut rod, under the attachment nut.

I noticed that the '94 spindles dont reach as high as the '87-'93 spindles do, up to the two holes that mount the spindle to the bottom of the strut. This is what caused the problem.

I removed the top spacers, attached the 2 bottom bolts first, and was then able to pull the strut rods upward enough to catch the first few threads at the top of the strut rod, then impacted the nuts down into place.

All is well.