[JustinH]

I'm looking to get my car to stop a little better. My 95 has the regular tbird brakes, and the rear drum brakes. This is totally inadaquate for such a big car.

I was pretty much set on getting markviii brakes, but then I see some guys talking about dual piston mustang gt brakes. A couple questions. I know markviii's have the same bolt pattern as my car, so I can use their rotors no problem. But how would someone go about a mustang gt brake on a tbird? Would you have to redrill the gt rotors to the 5x4.25 pattern, or would you be able to use markviii rotors? That one really has me thinking.



Justin

 

[AverageJoe]

Well, I know of at least one guy here who went with Mustang spindles all around so he could use genuine Cobra R wheels. So he had mustang brakes. Have you considered the KVR brake upgrades for our cars? If you get 17" or bigger wheels, you can upgrade to 13" rotors and dual or 4 piston calpiers. *drools)

 

[JustinH]

Joe,
I have 16'' wheels, and am not looking into the big cobra brake kit. That is too much money, and I'm on a budget. I've looked into the kvr's but they are pricey as well.

JH

 

[AverageJoe]

The KVR does have 10.5" or 11.5" dual piston upgrades for our cars that'll fit under the stock wheels. I have aspirations of those big 13" brakes under the front end of my car one day (I also dream of a blown DOHC cobra under the hood too ), forgive me for drooling on myself.

 

[GreenBird]

Remember...

16" wheels only accomodate 11.57" brakes. Also remember your spare can't fit over 11.57" brakes!

I would get some REAR brakes. The braking on my 96 is ALOT better than my 89 or 91, yet it has the same size front brakes. What makes the difference is that it has rear discs. You could pick up some rear spindles from a Mark8, SC, XR-7, Sport or mid96+ really cheap.

 

[WaLieN]

The 4 disc brakes on my Tbird are kinda weak, also. I dunno if it's the ABS, or what, but compared to my bro's Exploder Sport 2k, my brakes look like they should belong on Geo Metros.

 

[Sir William]

I have the dual piston KVR upgrade and it's a HUGE improvement over stock. I would strongly recommend them.

 

[JordanSypek]

or if your really on a budget...

just upgrade the rears to disc, and get KVR Cross drilled rotors all the way around, with the carbon pads... I got quoted for the fronts with pads for $228 with TCCOA discount... If your going to purchase the rear calipers and everything to convert, skip buying the stock rotors and pickup that cost with the kvr's, also they dont come in 10.5 its 10.8 if your dont have the sport package....

 

[RichardM]

Why dual pistons

Rear drums definitely need to be converted , but don't get carried away.
The Mustang Brakes use the same rotor as the Bird, Just different bolt pattern.
So you can put that caliper and all right on without much trouble.

One thing this swap seems to do is bias the brakes a little more to the rear.

the other thing this does is uses a pad that is larger than the stock bird one on the same rotor size. This increase in area helps to reduce heat and improve fade. The other thing it does is allows you to buy better type pads since Mustangs are supported better than Birds in that respect. IE kevlar pads or something else.

www.flash.net/~rfm2 has a link to an article

 

[J.Miller]

KVR Brakes...

I have a KVR dual piston brake kit for 15" tires. They take the calipers from a 1999 Mustang GT, add their brake pads and throw in cross-drilled rotors and high performance brake fluid.

The brake pads for the 99 GT have at least twice the surface area compared to stock brake pads.

 

[FoMoCoSVT]

REALLY??

So you are saying that the 99 GT has a 10.8" rotor??? If so, I am going shopping!

 

[Generalee]

I think the 2 piston Mustang calipers(anchor plate) will mount directly to the Tbird spindle. This means you can use 11.57" Tbird sport rotors with the mustang calipers, Provided you have 16" wheels and spare. I have seen new take off mustang calipers w/anchor plate for around $70 EA + shipping. You will also need to swap the banjo bolt out of the Tbird brake lines to the shorter mustang bolt(use new crush washers also). I haven't tried this yet as I trying to wait until after christmas.

 

[GreenBird]

no. you put GT calipers on your LX. no need for new wheels or rotors.

 

[Generalee]

15" Wheels & 10.8" rotors is a drop in. To go to 11.57" (Mark VIII) rotors you need 16" Wheels. Right?

 

[jturmel]

I'm literally right in the middle of this swap myself, I actually just came in the house a few minutes ago to call it a night.

Since mine is a '91 I had to get newer style spindles, but yes the brakes are for the most part a direct bolt on, the banjo bolts from the Mustang must be used as the thread is different pitch, also you might have to grind down part of the caliper where teh banjo bolt/block go onto the caliper but other than that it's directly bolted on, I'm also replacing my lower control arms while I'm doing this, perfect opportunity.

I'll have pictures up tomorrow.