4 lug brake upgrade for 1991 LX 5.0

[georgost]

Hey guys. Purchased a 1991 5.0 LX Vert and thinking of converting to rear discs. I know there are better ways to do this using SN95 parts but I am a sucker for the stock look and want to keep my ponys. Am thinking of just buying the complete 4-bolt rear disc kit from North Race Cars http://www.northracecars.com/Brakes.html. My question is....what do I do with the fronts? The guy from North Race Cars suggested if I wanted to do an upgrade, go to the Lincoln Mark 7 or Turco Coupe front caliper as it had a bigger piston (but still single) and then upgrade the master cylinder to a cobra master cylinder with no proportioning valve.

Has anyone ever used this combo, or heard of someone using it? Your thoughts on the front upgrade to the calipers? Worth it?

Thanks

[tulowd]

I put SSBC/Turbo Coupe 4 lug brakes on the back of my 84.... it improved the braking performance and pedal feel to something on the better side of an ox cart, although still with the older 10" front brakes. Didn't make it great in terms of performance tho.

If you only want decent panic braking capability (aka one hard panic stop), rear discs with good soft front pads and slotted rotors on your stock calipers is adequate and will stiffen the pedal up nicely with new braided brake hoses all around).

If you truly want better braking such as for "spirited" driving or mild road course use; you are looking at doing a 4 lug Baer PBR based 12" front kit. Big 5.0 has one and swears by it; not sure if it would clear your wheels tho.

Whatever you decide to do, if you change to rear discs etc be sure to intall an adjustable proportioning/limiter valve so you get max braking without locking ur rears and spinning.

Anything else is a waste in my opinion;

P

[ZR]

Baer front upgrade, personally can not get passed the fact they use a stock spindle with mild steel tabs welded to. The rear caliper they use positions the park brake cable into your tail pipe making it a bit of a cluster you know what as well. Performance wise, with good pads it does work well, have a couple of guys running that set up.
If your after decent gains, Hawk pads, Maximum caliper guides and SS front lines + Maximums performance rear brake shoes. Nice gain without breaking the bank.

[georgost]

So Rick, you don't think there is really any gain to the rear disk conversion, other than visual?

[ZR]

To me, weakest link at this point is the fronts, fix them first n see if it meets your expectations. If it doesn't get you close, doubt you'd be happy with a rear disc conversion on top of that. At that point you'd best look to the Baer set up (to retain 4 lug wheels) or move to 5 lug with Cobra fronts + either GT or Cobra rears.
While I'm not a fan of how Baer mods the front spindles, have yet to hear of any failing. Combined with Hawk street pads (vs Baers house brand included in the kit) brake performance is very impressive.
Cool part of doing 5 lug these days, master and line kit from Maximum Motorsports has it looking more stock vs stock.

[FABMAN]

These days you can run 5 lug pony wheels and keep the look you like. They even come in 17".

https://lmr.com/products/79-93-Mustang-Pony-Wheels#11530

[ZR]

^^ Good point Fab.

[stangstevers]

I would just get the 5 lug ponies and upgrade the entire braking system, even PBR calipers up front from a 99 Mustang and 95 rear calipers will upgrade it by a large margin and gives you better wheel choices in the future, better brake upgrades (or more common and cheaper upgrades) and increases the value of your fox more than spending a fortune on brakes that, at the end of the day, still on defunct 4 bolt pattern.

Otherwise, just upgrade pads and shoes and don't bother with it if staying 4 lug. IMO of course. I'm not in your shoes. I just know that I hate owning a fox with the 4 bolt pattern and rear ugly ass drums lol Just bugs me.