Foxbody brake upgrade ideas?
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 156
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From: Tx
Foxbody brake upgrade ideas? Currently have 4cyl spindle,rotor,caliper. I would like to upgrade to bigger V8 brakes what would i need to convert the 4cyl front brakes to v8 brakes? I knoe spindle off a v8,rotor and caliper off a v8 but what about brake lines and brake booster, master cylinder?
negative on the struts. i have 03 cobra spindles on my 86 coupe with the same struts. if you wanna run a 17" wheel i would go with cobra/mach 1 brakes they are fairly cheap and work real well. if you wanna run a 15" runner the go with 99-04 front brakes, they have dual piston calipers and will clear a 15" wheel. both are cheap compared to the aftermarket and work real well. my 03 cobra calipers and 86 v6 calipers took the same exact brake line, no difference at all. as far as the mc and booster go, im gunna run a 93 cobra setup on mine and see how that goes and adjustable proportioning valve and make my own brake lines. right now im running everything stock in the 86 coupe with the cobra brakes front and rear. pedal is spongy but it will stop on a dime and leave 9 cents change. if you go with the 94+ spindles you will have to change your ball joints if you wanna do it right. im running the SVT control arms and im tucking a 275/40/17 in the front
Post #2 you can see my brake swap
Post #5 you can see it tucking 275/40/17 in the front
https://ls1tech.com/forums/small-blo...k-warning.html
Post #2 you can see my brake swap
Post #5 you can see it tucking 275/40/17 in the front
https://ls1tech.com/forums/small-blo...k-warning.html
Last edited by v8sten; Dec 19, 2013 at 11:20 PM.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 625
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From: Raleigh, NC
The front spindles and struts on the 2.3L cars are wider than the spindles and struts on the 87-93 5.0 cars, not the other way around. The 1979-86 5.0 cars all had the same font brakes as the 2.3L of the same years, which were basically the same as the 2.3L brakes of all years.
The 2.3L struts can be used on 5.0 spindles and SN95 spindles if you run two 1/8" spacers on each side of the spindle mounting surface.
The bolt centers on the 2.3L spindles are different than the bolt centers on the 5.0 spindles. OEM ford struts typically have a slot on one of the holes for the spindle bolts, so either strut will work with either spindle if a spacer is used in the correct permutation.
If the 2.3L struts fit perfectly on a 5.0 spindle with no spacers, then it is either not a 2.3L strut, or it is not a 5.0 spindle.
It is not possible to machine a 2.3L spindle from 1.000" to .740" to accept an aftermarket 5.0 strut, because the bottom of the aftermarket struts will hit the ball joint stud and not be able to be installed. I know this because I tried it with my 2.3L spinldes and Koni struts. Maybe this will work with OEM struts but I just went and bought 5.0 spindles and brakes for $80 and was done with it until I convert to five lug at a later date.
Fox 5.0 front brakes from 87-93 can use the same booster, master cylinder, and hard brake lines as the 2.3L brakes. You may need new soft brake lines but I honestly can't remember.
The 2.3L struts can be used on 5.0 spindles and SN95 spindles if you run two 1/8" spacers on each side of the spindle mounting surface.
The bolt centers on the 2.3L spindles are different than the bolt centers on the 5.0 spindles. OEM ford struts typically have a slot on one of the holes for the spindle bolts, so either strut will work with either spindle if a spacer is used in the correct permutation.
If the 2.3L struts fit perfectly on a 5.0 spindle with no spacers, then it is either not a 2.3L strut, or it is not a 5.0 spindle.
It is not possible to machine a 2.3L spindle from 1.000" to .740" to accept an aftermarket 5.0 strut, because the bottom of the aftermarket struts will hit the ball joint stud and not be able to be installed. I know this because I tried it with my 2.3L spinldes and Koni struts. Maybe this will work with OEM struts but I just went and bought 5.0 spindles and brakes for $80 and was done with it until I convert to five lug at a later date.
Fox 5.0 front brakes from 87-93 can use the same booster, master cylinder, and hard brake lines as the 2.3L brakes. You may need new soft brake lines but I honestly can't remember.
What is the intended use for the car? Street/strip? Drag? Road race?
In most cases, you can just change out the calipers/rotors/spindles for the Fox V8 stuff, and keep your lines, master cylinder and booster. There can be issues with the rear brake lines and the exhaust as the 4 banger cars came with single exhaust so they ran the brake line where the duel exhaust tailpipe would go. usually no big deal if you're running dumps.
It gets more complex if you want the 95+ up stuff, but not terrible.
To run 99+ front brakes with a drag style skinny, pretty massive grinding of the caliper is required.
Other than being lighter than the V8 stuff, the best thing that can be said about the 4-cylinder brakes is that you can pretty easily convert them to 5 lug using late 80s/early 90s ranger rotors (I believe its 88-91). Ditto for the drums on the back but you'll need 5 lug axles too.
The worst thing about the 4 cylinder spindles is that many of the popular struts are not available for the added width of the 4 cylinder spindle. Strange for example. Lakewoods used to fit-the struts was wider, but included shims for V8 spindle apps, but I have heard from several sources that they no longer do.
They're not powerful stoppers by any stretch, but if I wanted to, I could always hit the first exit to the return road and my car ran 125+ (in the quarter).
Hope this helps,
Steve
In most cases, you can just change out the calipers/rotors/spindles for the Fox V8 stuff, and keep your lines, master cylinder and booster. There can be issues with the rear brake lines and the exhaust as the 4 banger cars came with single exhaust so they ran the brake line where the duel exhaust tailpipe would go. usually no big deal if you're running dumps.
It gets more complex if you want the 95+ up stuff, but not terrible.
To run 99+ front brakes with a drag style skinny, pretty massive grinding of the caliper is required.
Other than being lighter than the V8 stuff, the best thing that can be said about the 4-cylinder brakes is that you can pretty easily convert them to 5 lug using late 80s/early 90s ranger rotors (I believe its 88-91). Ditto for the drums on the back but you'll need 5 lug axles too.
The worst thing about the 4 cylinder spindles is that many of the popular struts are not available for the added width of the 4 cylinder spindle. Strange for example. Lakewoods used to fit-the struts was wider, but included shims for V8 spindle apps, but I have heard from several sources that they no longer do.
They're not powerful stoppers by any stretch, but if I wanted to, I could always hit the first exit to the return road and my car ran 125+ (in the quarter).
Hope this helps,
Steve
