Better brakes on a Fox (budget)?
 

Thinking about future mods...

...want 99 Cobra 17x8" wheels, 245/45/17 tires, and 4 wheel disks. I'm gonna switch to the 94/95 SN95 spindle (better geometry, sealed bearings, wheels fit over dust cap... and in 96 the geometry's a little too different).

Baer and 13"/12" cobra kits are too pricie.

Are the T-bird rear disks the same as the SN95?

I'm thinking this is the way to go... axle length should be shorter than SN95, and it's an easy way to pick up some 3.55's or 3.73's. I beleive the disks are around 10.5"... and given the fact the rears don't do much, the 12" cobra's would probably be overkill on a street car.

Now up front, the SN95 disks are 12" right?
This would be an economical step up from the 11" disks.

The 94-98 front calipers are probably better than even the old 73mm's, but I'm thinking the 99/2000 two piston calipers are the way to go. Wonder what the price difference is...

Any SN95 master cylinder should work right?

Won't be as good as the cobra setup, but should be a significant improvement on my lightweight fox.

Anyone done it? Any other comments/ideas?


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'89.5 5L LX, hatch, Medium Canyon Red, 150K Km (No winters), 5sp, 3.08, GT interior, a/c, Alpine CD, K/N, Crane PS91, Walbro 190 LPH, March Pulleys, Mr. Gasket 180 therm (HP balanced), 3 core rad, Polygraphite front bushings, FMS-5300B springs, 6 KYB's, 73mm Calipers, Maximum Motorsport 4pt chassis brace, Western Motorsport Racing's Sub-frame connectors. Re-ringed bottom end, melling oil pump, FMS-C50 waterpump, GT40P heads (blended, pollished, milled .03"), Explorer intake (pollished & port matched), Manley Race Flow Valves, FMS ceramic headers (2 head gaskets & Accel P526S plug for #8 cyl.), Taylor 90* wires with sleeves, Crane 1.7rr, 2031 cam and fuel pressure regulator (43PSI), fabricated ram air and strut mounts.

http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/ViewIt.cgi?http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/moi-display.cgi*960
http://phystutor.tripod.com/stang/index.html

You can do piece-meal brakes, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get all the pieces. Then you still have inferior brakes to something like Baer or M2300K.
In my opinion, go for something as a kit.

I just order Power Slot brakes for about 80 buck a rotor and 29 bucks for "high performance" front pads @ www.mmrusa.com. Eli gave me a deal. Ill let you know what I think (maybe this weekend

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94 Convertable 5.0, K&N, Flow Masters/CAT backs, Power Slot brakes, Under Drives.

Ya, problem is the kits are about $1600US... right now our exchange is aweful... costs about 1.5 times as much... plus 15% tax, potential customs fees, and shipping... Would end up being about $3000 Canadian... tough to justify on a student budget. Add the wheels, tires, H-pipe I'll need, and potential suspension mods, and we're talking some serious coin.

(my 'budget' engine rebuild and upgrades this year cost me about 6 G's). It's tough being a Canadian student... and the line of credit is almost maxed out ;-( But I'll quit whining.

It's probably easiest to just go the SN95 route... it'd improve braking, not break the bank, and allow future upgrades.

I don't have any plans for track use in the near future, so the lighter fox should do fine on the street.

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'89.5 5L LX, hatch, Medium Canyon Red, 150K Km (No winters), 5sp, 3.08, GT interior, a/c, Alpine CD, K/N, Crane PS91, Walbro 190 LPH, March Pulleys, Mr. Gasket 180 therm (HP balanced), 3 core rad, Polygraphite front bushings, FMS-5300B springs, 6 KYB's, 73mm Calipers, Maximum Motorsport 4pt chassis brace, Western Motorsport Racing's Sub-frame connectors. Re-ringed bottom end, melling oil pump, FMS-C50 waterpump, GT40P heads (blended, pollished, milled .03"), Explorer intake (pollished & port matched), Manley Race Flow Valves, FMS ceramic headers (2 head gaskets & Accel P526S plug for #8 cyl.), Taylor 90* wires with sleeves, Crane 1.7rr, 2031 cam and fuel pressure regulator (43PSI), fabricated ram air and strut mounts.

http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/ViewIt.cgi?http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/moi-display.cgi*960
http://phystutor.tripod.com/stang/index.html

put the power slots and pads on the front last night and the car stops on a dime. all for $207 including shipping from CA to VA from WWW.MMRUSA.COM

I heard somewhere that you could swap in a Grand Marquis or Crown Vic. rear axle and get the discs and I believe 3.73!

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C ME FLY

88 Coupe, riding on 17'z and Eibachz making noize

Some things I've found out:

Mark VII rear disks are bigger than the T-birds, but the 1.25" longer axles are too long for the same backspacing (T-birds/SN95 are only .75" longer than stock... I think the SN95 disks are better though).

SN95's only have 11" disks up front, but you can upgrade to as much as 13". Even so, they provide 20% more braking surface, and the dual piston calipers should be better.

So, I think I'll go with a total SN95 brake setup.

As for the wheels though, the 17" Pony R's http://www.ponyr.com really peak my interest... the 99 cobra's would certainly be more budget oriented though.