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Messages - Aerocoupe

2507
Drivetrain Tech / 5 lug swap with 94 cobra brakes
On the Mustangs the anti-moans have a U-bolt that is used to secure them to the axle tube.  They also mate up to the inboard side of the axle  bracket and are secured by passing the caliper bolts through the anti-moan bracket & the axle  bracket to be threaded into the caliper bracket.  Hopefully you are with me so far.  As has been pointed out the axle  bracket is different from the TC to the SN95 GT/V6 cars to the 94 and up to the 03-04 Cobras (IRS does not require the bracket).  This is due to the diameter, thickness, and offset of the rotors which are all different.  The bracket basically moves the caliper in space so it aligns with the center line of the rotor.  This will cause the anti-moan brackets to be different as they will differ in a couple of dimensions but mostly it is the length from the CL of the axle tube to the LC of the caliper bracket bolt holes.  Again, most of this is due to the change in diameter of the rotors but it also has to do with how far away from the axle tube  the CL of the rotor is located.  On my T-Bird I used the North Racecars axle brackets so I could utilize the stock Fox Mustang axle width to get more tire under the car and I am not going to run ABS on it.  On the Coupe I ran the stock Cobra axle brackets as I have the ABS off of the SN95 cars on it and need the additional 3/4" the SN95 axles provide for the ABS exciter rings on the axles.

I cut the quad shock brackets off the Mustang rear end in the T-Bird with an air driven cut off wheel and then dressed the area on the axle tubes with an electric 4" grinder that had an 80 grit paddle wheel on it.  I am not running the quad shocks and they were in the way of the Cobra anti-moan brackets.  The SN95 GT/V6 anti-moans will fit with the quad shock brackets still on the rear end.  This is just what my dad and I have at the shop so I made these work as I am sure there are all kinds of ways to do it.  I would suggest you do the same with the anti-moan brackets on your TC rear so that you can install the correct SN95 anti-moan brackets for the rear brake set up that you chose to go with.  You may also have to remove the quad shock brackets but I am not sure on the TC rear ends.

Probably more reading than you wanted but I wanted to pass on what I learned so maybe it will be easier for others.

Darren
2508
Drivetrain Tech / 5 lug swap with 94 cobra brakes
You can use the SN95 GT rear caliper brackets if you are okay with grinding on them so they clear the wider rotors as you pointed out with the pads.  There are several threads on this topic on the Corral and Stangnet.  I just was not comfortable with it so I bought the Cobra specific brackets.

Darren
2509
Drivetrain Tech / 5 lug swap with 94 cobra brakes
Chuck,

I worked over the Mustang sites and it appears by all measures one should not use the T-Bird 45mm Varga calipers when doing the Cobra rear conversion.  The SN95 mustang rear calipers are all the same from the V6 cars to the GT to the Cobra and the are the 38mm Vargas.  What is different is the caliper bracket and it gets a bit more confusing so let me try and explain what I had to do on my Coupe.  I had originally converted the car over to the base SN95 GT Mustang brakes with the booster and MC and ABS out of the same car.  Brakes were awesome for several years.  I decided to move up to the Cobra brakes for those times when I could actually get to a road course and need the larger brakes.  The front conversion was swap rotors, bolt on loaded calipers, and install new SS braided lines.  The rear was not too bad as I had heard you could reuse the rear calipers but needed to swap over to the Cobra brackets.  I bought the same kit the OP is looking at and found only one problem.  There are actually two brackets in the rear.  There is the one in the kit that bolts to the axle  and then there is the one the caliper is fastened to on the sliders which bolts to the brackets in the kit.  It is the ones on the caliper that are different to compensate for the larger diameter of the Cobra rotor.  Fortunately these can be had at Autozone for about $12 each.  I will post some pictures of each when I get home to point out the differences.  The other difference is that the Cobra pads are thinner than the GT/V6 pads and some of the parts stores show them to be the same only for you to get home and swear that something is all jacked up.  I know several guys have simply ground the stock GT caliper brackets to clear the Cobra rotors but I opted for the Cobra caliper brackets.



Here is a picture of the 10th Anniversery Calipers which show the same bracket as above:



Another thing to be very wary of is aftermarket axles.  They tend to not be the correct length which can cause the need to shim the caliper brackets out if they are longer or as my case was mill the bosses on the caliper bracket mounting points to move them inward.  I have a couple of pics of that I can post as well.

 

Darren
2510
Drivetrain Tech / 5 lug swap with 94 cobra brakes
I believe the TC rears are 43mm psitons and the SN95/Cobra rears are 38mm pistons.  Physically it appears that they will both bolt up and work but you will definitely need to install a brake proportioning valve so you can get the bias correct.

Pics -

   

I did not have one of the front with the wheel off but they rotor hats are now black.

Darren
2511
Suspension/Steering / Power steering noise!
If you want to fix the whine then replace the rack, pump, high pressure hose and flush the low pressure hose.  I use Mobil 1 synthetic fluid on mine and don't have issues.  Installation and priming the system before you start the motor seem to help as well.  Install all the parts and do not put the belt on the pump pulley.  I fill the pump reservoir and then turn the pump pulley by hand and continue to do this until it no longer need to be filled and the majority of the air bubbles are gone.  Keep the front end jacked up so it is easier to turn the wheels lock to lock as it reduces the pressure required by the pump to assist in turning the wheels.  Start the car and slowly turn the wheels one direction but do not max it out or if it becomes maxed out do not hold it there.  Do this both directions a couple of time and kill the motor.  Check the fluid level frequently as once you run one of these pumps low it will whine for the rest of its life.

Kitz Kat mentioned flushing the system and I agree completely with him as typically the rack starts to fail and aluminum shavings get into the system and this is what kills the pump.  Most people replace the pump or rack only to have it fail shortly after due to the shavings not being flushed.  I find its just easier to replace them both with lifetime units and if one ever fails later down the road then just replace them both under warranty and be done with it.

Darren
2512
Drivetrain Tech / 5 lug swap with 94 cobra brakes
I have the Cobra brakes on my 83 and the 93 and you will be absolutely floored at the braking improvement.  I had the SN-95 GT brakes on the Coupe which was a dramatic improvement over the SVO 73mm front brakes and the stock drum brakes.  On that setup I ran a set of 99 V-6 calipers as they are two piston calipers and they only required a little grinding on the spindles to get them to clear.  I also ran the Hawk HP pads which definitely helped with the stopping power.  I switched to the Cobra setup about two years ago on that car and installed the Cobra brakes on the Bird a little over a year ago.

The dust shields for the SN-95 GT cars work with the Cobra brakes just fine as that is what I used on both of my cars.  You can get them here:

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/products/Mustang-Brake-Dust-Shields

If you have not ordered any of your brakes yet then look for kits as they typically come with all of the stuff you need including the dust shields.

If you want to keep the stock Fox length axles then you will need to get a set of these rear caliper brackets:

http://www.northracecars.com/Brakes.html

Its the bracket only and the one for the Cobra.  This is what I used on my T-Bird with a Fox Mustang 8.8 and Fox Mustang Moser axles.  With the correct offset on the wheels it allows a 305 width tire with no sheet metal work.

I have a ton of pics of the installs if you want to see them.

Darren
2514
Engine Tech / Exhausted over HCI swap problem
Does your injector harness plug into the main EEC harness like the Mustangs do with the two ten-pin connectors at the back of the intakes?  I was having all kinds of issues with my Coupe and it turned out to be these connectors.

I also had a problem with the car due to the O2 sensor harness coming unplugged from the main EEC harness.

I would keep the MAF and injectors you have in the car until you sort out the electrical issues.  No sense in chasing a possible lean condition with the car is running pig rich.

Darren
2515
Engine Tech / H.O. swap about to commence
If you are running a standard starter then you should have the 4 ga. cable from the Battery + and all of the other wires on one side of the inner fender mounted starter solenoid.  The other side of the solenoid should have the 4 ga. wire that goes to the starter itself.

If you are running a high torque mini-starter then you should have the 4 ga. cable from the Battery +, the large 4 ga. cable to the starter, and all the other wires on one side of the inner fender mounted starter solenoid.  The other side of the solenoid will have the smaller (typically 10 ga.) wire that goes to the mini-starter.  It is kind of redundant to have two solenoids but for our cars it is the easiest way to wire in a mini-starter.

There is usually a light blue with a red stripe wire that is connected to the solenoid which comes from the ignition module under the steering column.  This is what energizes the solenoid when the key is turned to start the car.

On my '83 the pig tail was connected to the ground that wend to the EEC-III processor.  I found this out when the car would not run and had to take it to a shop only to find out this connection had corroded so badly that it no longer provided a good connection.  Two cuts and a butt splice and the car was running.

Darren
2516
Suspension/Steering / Fox Body Mustang Front End Parts for T-Bird?
I have the MM CC plates on my 83 and they are specific to the T-Birds.  Sway bar was off of a Fox Mustang GT but it now has an ADDCO sway bar.  The end links will work but depending on the ride height you may have to shorten the spacer between the sway bar and the lower control arm.  The bolt may have to be  shorter as well which usually means getting two new bolts as the threads are pretty short on most end link kits.

The strut tower brace will fit with an injected motor but I am not sure if it will with a carbed motor.  The '85 Mustangs were carbed so the one for that setup may fit but I am not 100% sure.  Call MM and ask as they are pretty knowledgeable.

I have had all kinds of brake setups on the '83 as well as suspension so if you have any more questions use the search function first and if you cannot find the answer just ask!

Darren
2517
Archive & Library (Read Only) / aftermarket control arms
They are really nice pieces.  They even provide the E-brake bracket on them.  Its been 12 years since I installed mine but I believe when you install the full length subframes you have to remove the factory E-brake bracket or something like that.  Anyhow, really nice and they tuck up tight against the floor board as they do not install below the existing subrames.

Darren
2518
Archive & Library (Read Only) / aftermarket control arms
The Fox body Mustang LCA's are actually shorter by about 3/8".  The Mustang UCA's are 1-1/8" shorter which is quite a bit more than the LCA's.

I used the South Side LCA's on my 83 for a Mustang but they come with an additional bracket that mounts to the rear end so I could make up the difference there and not change the wheel base.

Darren
2519
Archive & Library (Read Only) / aftermarket control arms
This one is pretty old but I thought I would post up some hopefully useful information.

Griggs Racing sells lower control arms for the rear of our cars and I can say that they are nice pieces as the '83 has a set.  The ones I have are for coil over cars but that does solve the issue of wanting to adjust the rear ride height.  The part number for those using coil overs is MCA 4500 N and the part number for those running conventional coil springs is MCA 4500 S.  These are for a Fox Mustang but they are adjustable and work on our cars just fine.  Griggs does not make an upper control arm as they want you to run a torque arm in conjunction with a Watts link or panhard bar.

http://www.griggsracing.com

Global West sells both the lower control arms and the upper control arms for our cars.  The lower is T-Bird/Cougar specific and the upper is for a GM A-Body more specifically the 68-72.  I talked to Doug at GWS and they have a specific part number for the T-Bird UCA which is TBF-88.  The LCA is part number TBF-2.  They also have full length subframe connectors which I have on both of my cars and I will say they are awesome!  Easy to install and work like a champ.  The part number for the subframe connectors is 918 and I would also suggest getting the seat supports (part number 920) which are the same for the Fox Mustang.  I have a set of the TBF-88's but they are not installed to date...busy time of year in the pipeline world.

http://www.globalwest.net

My Mustang is a full Maximum Motorsports car (K-member, front lower control arms, CC plates, front coil overs, strut tower brace, torque arm, rear LCA's, rear coil overs, panhard bar) and I can say they build some of the best parts out there.

http://www.maximummotorsports.com

For those of you experiencing torque box issues I would have to say that if you did not fully weld them out then I am not surprised.  I had a buddy MIG weld the torque boxes and he also welded up the UCA mount points as well.  I have had zero issues on both cars.  The T-Bird had South Side Lift bars and ET Streets on it for about five years and if you know anything about the SSLB's they are absolutely one of the most punishing LCA's on torque boxes.  I do remember an article in MM&FF on welding out the torque boxes and it had some goofy title like "Torque Box Rebop" or something uncool like that but it was a really good article.  I may have that at the house as well so I will post back if I have it available for anyone who would like a copy.

With all of that said the GWS and Griggs parts are more expensive the the CHE's.  I have heard nothing but good things on this board about CHE both in parts and customer service so that in itself is fantastic.  I just wanted to post up what I have found and give some options for those that want to take it a step further in performance.

Darren
2520
Engine Tech / header gaskets
Fel-Pro 1415. Retorque after heating them up and good to go. Have them on my BBK's and no issues.

Darren