Want to go from 4.25" lug bolt pattern to 4.5", how hard is it?

phils89sc

Registered User
Hello Everyone,

I have been out of the Supercoupe arena for quite some time now, around 2011. I went to another Ford faction, the 2.3L turbo with an 85 SVO. Now I am coming back. I am going to buy a 93-95 (preferably 94-5 with auto trans). The last SC I had was an 90 auto. Before I sold it, I had gone the route of converting the front brakes to 99-04 Mustang PBR calipers and 11.57" rotors. This kept me with the factory 4.25" wheel lug spacing, which, at the time was fine.

Fast forward to the near future. What I would like to do is to convert the wheels lug bolts pattern to the 4.5", which is much more common (IIRC) than the 4.25" pattern and gives a greater selection of wheels. I have done some searching on the internet and have found some info on the front end swap. I may be wrong on this so, if I am, feel free to correct me. The swap is kind of similar to the Mustang caliper swap, with one an additional step of replacing the hubs (just the hubs as the spindles are different between Fox Mustang and MN12 Tbird / MkVIII). Am I correct in thinking that the hub swap is a direct swap from 99-04 Mustang spindle to the 93-97 Tbird spindle? If so, I would also purchase the 13" Cobra PBR rotors and matching caliper / caliper brackets for the PBR calipers.

For the rear, I have found less info, but from what I have read, it involves using the rear hubs from an IRS Mustang Cobra, like an 03-04ish. Past that, I do not know what else is needed, such as what else I will need from the Cobra setup (i.e. calipers, brackets, etc.).

If anyone has successfully done a complete swap, can you advise me on this swap?

Thanks,

Phil
 
I will also be following this as I have been out of the SC arena for about 10 years now and this is on my to do list with both cars.
 
Has any one here tried this? I have a set of bullitt wheels i want to install but the rear cobra hubs seem pricey. http://www.rottenleonard.com/Menu.html
Edit. I've not done the complete cobra swap but xr7dave sells brackets that make the rear cobra calipers and rotors work.
 
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The fronts are easy. With 93+ spindles, 94-04 Mustang hubs literally bolt on, and so do any Mustang brakes. If all you are after is the bolt pattern, you can even use stock 99-04 Mustang front hubs and front rotors and keep your stock tbird caliper.

The rear is a little more tricky. You can either re-drill your current hubs and rotors, or re-drill your hubs and get 99-04 Cobra rear rotors, along with the relocation bracket and rotor hub centric ring from XR7Dave, or you can buy 99-04 Cobra hubs (if you can find them for a reasonable price) and install them into your spindles along with new bearings and then use 99-04 Cobra rear rotors, and the relocation brackets from XR7Dave. All of these options keep your stock 93+ MN12 rear calipers, but for the cobra rear brake rotors, you will have to file away a little bit on the outer edges to give the larger rotor clearance.

As for the redrill kit, I have that kit, but haven't used it yet. Someone on TCCoA used it and posted his results, and since he had no more use for it, I bought the kit from him.
 
Or install 99-04 Mustang Cobra rear hubs and have your stock t-bird rotors re-drilled to the 4.5" bolt pattern, that's what I did.
 
wheel offset requirements

Once the Mustang hub swap is complete, what kind of offsets for 17" and 18" wheels are advisable? (For stock hubs, 24mm and 36mm, respectively, are typical)
 
Hub swap doesn't change the offset requirement. On an 8.5" to 9" wide wheel, you still want to get something around +30 to +35 offset.


cheers
Ed
 
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