Brakes Them's The Brakes!

Five bolt front brake conversion 101.

Step one: Secure a Ford Mustang II or for that matter a Ford Pinto or Mercury Bobcat.
View attachment 398026

Step Two: Get a brake kit. Mine was an Allstar Kit.


My photo almost looks as good as theirs. hehe.

Check out the rotor size differance!


Step Three: Remove your stock rotors, cailpers and cailiper brackets. I think the fog in the picture was my breath (cold here in the winter)


Step Four: Bolt on kit supplied cailiper bracket. You will need a 1/2 fine thread bolt for the upper mount that is not included in the kit.


Step Five: Remove the stock rotor dust shields. They are too small to be effective and they rub the new rotors
(ask me how I know )

Step Six: Clearance the lower control arms slightly. (I used an angle grinder). The left was worse then the right for some reason. Paint the exposed metal so it does not rust.


Hard to see in the picture but, if you look close you can see the rotor just brushes the lower control arm before clearancing.


Step Seven: Pack the supplied wheel bearings and instal the supplied rotor grease seals and instal the new rotors. You need to resuse your: spindle nut, spindle washer and bearing dust cap.


Step Eight: Load the brake pads and install the brake cailiper. (Brake pad changes take 2 minutes with this new set-up, Kool for open track days!!) Remember to lube the slider bolts with cailper lube.


Step Nine: Install the flex lines. I used Allstars brake line kit. I found it to be a little short. The actual line is just generic dash 3 brake line with threaded fittings on both ends, so I will likely use the supplied fittings and a 1" or 2" longer line. In Allstars defence this kit is intended for Hot Rods and Race cars and not a true bolt-on Mustang II brake upgrade. The lines were not designed to fit factory Mustang II flex line bracketry. The brake line kit was also very inexpensive.

Step Ten: Bleed the brake system. At this point the front is finished. It is now time to bolt on one of the 10 million new wheel choices that fit a Ford 5 on 4 1/2" or GM 5 on 4 3/4" bolt pattern.
(you can order the kit with either popular bolt pattern)
I ordered The Ford kit because GM cailipers was as far as I would dare go to the other side!

This thread is for entertainment and information purposes ONLY. Always use Jack Stands when working under your car! Please don't sue me if you injure yourself messing with your brakes:SNSign:

Stay tuned, I will post a "how to" on the rear 5 bolt conversion shortly. It will be called either "Mustang II axles don't like to come out" or "When your father said doing brake stands would kill your wheel cylinders, he was right".

I am just going to an Automotive machine shop to have the drums and axles re-drilled. I have some $$$$ into the 8". If I didn't, I would have looked into a 8.8" out of a Bronco II, Explorer or Fox Mustang. (leaf spring mounts would have to be welded on).

I almost bought a Granada rear-end for $150.00. I am told they are not a direct bolt-in either (1/4" off on the spring perches)?????. Then I though, I will just use the Granada Axles. Well the Granada axles have a different axle flange bolt pattern. You can press II bearings and flanges on the Granada axles, but they are reported to be slightly too long for a II housing??????

In the end, I said screw it! Mustang II axles are known to fit in a Mustang II housing. Go with the sure bet. My desision was also based on budget constraints. If you add up all the parts it becomes big bucks:

-front brake kit.
-used rear-end.
-modify the used rear-end.
-rebuild the used rear-end.
-new brakes in the used rear-end.
-new 14"+ wheels and tires.

I may eventually replace the 8" which I feel would be a project on its own.
I will post pictures of the rear-end 5 bolt conversion soon.

I got my axles back from the machine shop. The shop did an excellent job. They welded two of the original holes shut, then they machined both sides of the axle flange and re-drilled them to 5 on 4 1/2" bolt pattern. They also re-drilled the stock drums. Two holes intersect on the drums, but the holes are 95% complete. I will post some pictures soon. The shop also sand blasted the bearing retainers and pressed on new bearings. The axles look like new!

I don't think I do. I can snap some soon though. I have yucky crusty dodge ralley wheels on the II (complete with moldy green flat tires). I gave up waiting for my tax return, or my stupid truck to sell to buy wheels. I bought a crusty set of 14" magnum 500's that I am going to refinish for now.

No deflection detected on the cailper brackets. The hoses have held up great so-far. I have driven the car every day this summer. I would feel better if they were a few inchs longer. I was concerned they would get squashed by the front coil springs, but the springs don't compress enough (even during my very spirited driving). The hoses look strained when the car is on the jack stands also. The only thing I notice is the brake pedal is about a 1/2" lower. The brakes don't feel any different at normal cruising speed. Pulling it down from over 100mph is way better feeling then the stock system. I used to think the car went faster when you hit the brakes at over 100!!

Darryl (posts here sometimes) did a similar swap and he used stock type lines.
http://www.a351must2.atfreeweb.com/
(Go to "updates" (the link won't take you right to it).

I am going to get some longer lines. The Allstar line kit came with all the fittings, so two slightly longer generic Earls -3 brake lines will fix it up.

Hope this helps.

Jason flippin' though the Earl's catalog brake lines
The Allstar lines are 15",
18" should give you plenty of lenght.

Earls:

(2) P/N 63010118 18" long -3 female swivel both ends size 3 hose
(2) P/N 997631 10mm Banjo -3 adapters
(2) P/N 977520 10mm x1.50 bango bolts
(2) P/N 989543 3/8" female to -3 male threaded adapter

Allstar or generic parts store brake line clips:

All50150 "u" shaped brake line clips

THE COBRAMAN said:

What do you think about these.... the II kit line is 19". I was thinking buy the II kit and use the GM banjo bolt, since it appears that they are the same diameter as the metric banjo bolts specified in the kit, just diff thread pitch?

Click to expand...

I don't think those will work, but these would work. Note you can change the two last two digits of the part numbers to change the length.
http://www.holley.com/63010220ERL.asp

Then you just need a couple of these
http://www.holley.com/989543ERL.asp

And a couple of these
http://www.holley.com/977520ERL.asp

The ones you picked out are intended for Mustang II cailipers. (Not the GM metric that the "Big" brake kits use)

The banjo would be a 7/16 on the II lines, You would need the 3/8" A.K.A (10mm) banjo to work with the GM metric cailpers.

The cailpers came with two different threads. 7/16"-20 or 10X1.5" The lines you linked would work with the kit you linked. Generally AN -3 brake lines come with either 3/8" (10 mm) or 7/16" ends on them so the kit for the 7/16" kit would be intended for 7/16" Banjo bolts. The hole in the line would be too large for a 10mm banjo bolt.

http://www.holley.com/63010220ERL.asp
10mm (3/8" line)

http://www.holley.com/63011620ERL.asp
7/16 Banjo

From the pictures they look the same, but there not, likely the same with the speedway lines.

The only axles that fit in a Mustang II 8" rear end are custom made ones or stock Mustang II axles! Some say maverick (Too short), Some say 60's Mustang(too long). I beat the snot out of the II all summer 300HP + 100HP shot of nitrous. Have your axles re-drilled or have some new ones made. In your case the re-drilled Mustang II axles will be plenty strong enough.

http://forums.stangnet.com/738531-ordering-new-axles.html