Rear brake question for George D. or DLF

Nettlesd

Registered User
I've found several companies that offer caliper brackets that mount Cobra rear brake calipers to the rear IRS spindle. Do you think that this bracket would properly space a normal Thunderbird rear caliper to fit a 11.65 cobra rotor. What I'm trying to say is, could I use my existing rear caliper and redrilled 11.65 cobra rotor with their bracket. Or would that put the Thunderbird caliper in the wrong spot, say, to far forward, not high enough, in too close, out to far...etc.

Something else I found:

Just an FYI, John is correct in the statement that all calipers for 94 up mustangs are the same. The LOADED ones are different. The difference is the intermediate bracket, the one the caliper slides in is wider to accept the wider vented rotor. The groove is cut wider so the rotor does not hit the caliper bracket. In review there are 3 parts to the caliper assembly for the rear. From the Axle/knuckle in order:

1,Caliper mounting bracket: part of the knuckle or bolted the rear housing on a live axle

2, Intermediate bracket: This part is what holds the pads in place forward and back. It is also what the caliper mounts slides onto.

3, Caliper itself only function to squeeze pads.

Direct bolt on but a little high on the price:
http://breezeautomotive.com/catalog/index.htm
 
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Hello

Hello,
I don't have an answer for you in regard to your question about the bracket.
You can buy 12" rear one-piece KVR cadmium plated, cross drilled or slotted rotors that come in the TBird bolt pattern. If you are going to go larger might as well go with the 12" in the rear.
I am sure you have seen this package before.

Big Brakes Package #6 - Rear Brakes
12" rear one-piece KVR cadmium plated, cross drilled or slotted rotors, KVR Carbon Metallic brake pads, and a relocating bracket to move your existing rear caliper outwards so it will allow use of the larger rotor. Your existing brakes lines can be reused.
Experience dramatically shorter stopping distances and be assured of consistent, fade-free braking under severe duty conditions. This package is an excellent increase in braking capacity compared to the small diameter stock rotors!
This package is designed all '89 to '97 Thunderbirds or Cougars with factory rear disc brakes and it will fit within a 16" wheel. $495

It would be nice if this package was a little less expensive :)

Laterz,
D Rainer
 
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Which companies? I remember the one guy from a kit car site that was talking about making the brackets. I'd like to see those brackets.

I don't know if the SC caliper would fit in the Cobra bracket. Strangely enough the SC caliper has larger pads. I also tried to mount the Cobra caliper on the SC knuckle, but the e-brake cable exit was bad for my wider rims. Also, the holes only lined up halfway with the existing mounting ears on the knuckle.
 
Only problem with the 12" rear rotors is that there is no adapter to fit the calipers to the rotor. (Of course, a custom one could be made, we did it for the 11.65" rotors.) The e-brake cable is very close to the rim on the 11.65" rotor, it would probably hit on the 12" rotor as the caliper would be further out.
 
KVR

KVR makes a rear kit for our cars for the low price of $495. It comes with the brackets, pads, and 12" redrilled discs.

Rich of MN12 Performance is also coming out with a similar kit that should beat KVR's price.

Bill E. also sells a kit.

I was only seeing if I could purchase the brackets cheaper and then get my own rotors.
 
Duane, they sure like to throw around the bracket word! LOL

The rear calipers on a stock SC or Cobra only consist of the caliper itself and a mounting bracket. The caliper slides on pins in the bracket.

A pic from Richard's site show this:

IRS7.jpg


The caliper mounted to the bracket is on the left and the caliper alone is on the right. The caliper has the piston and holds the pads.

What is needed to mount the caliper and bracket onto the SC knuckle is an adapter plate that moves the assembly out further to clear a large rotor.

Richard's adapter mounted to the bracket is shown here:

IRS1.jpg


Since the holes actually overlap from the Cobra bracket to the SC knuckle he moved the whole caliper assembly up and rotated it so the holes would be offset.

The bracket for mounting the SC caliper/bracket assembly just moves the calliper assembly up.

Here's a pic of my adapter:

scrcmt.jpg


And this is Richard's installed adapter (sans caliper):

IRS4.jpg
 
Well...

Ok, give it to me in layman's terms. Will Richard's bracket work for us or not. From what I gather, Richard is doing the same thing you did.

Do both T-Bird/Cobra calipers/brackets have the same mounting locations? If so, then I would think that we could use Richard's bracket with our T-Bird caliper.
 
Duane, here is the pic of the Lisman brackets mentioned on the link you provided:

knucklesbig.jpg


They are different in that they mount the caliper nearly 180 degrees opposite of the stock position. Calipers must be swapped from side to side to get the bleeder valve on top.

I'd still say from all that I have seen and actually done, I would prefer the SC calipers over the Cobra (Mustang) ones. Now I just hope the kit car guys don't figure that out! It's hard enough getting SC parts as it is!!!!
 
Layman's terms:

Richard's Cobra adapter brackets will *not* work with stock SC caliper/mounting brackets, due to the differences in bracket height. The SC bracket is shorter than the Cobra bracket since it goes over a smaller rotor. Richard would have to make a taller adapter bracket for the SC caliper/rotor.
 
Are those adapters being made out of aluminum or steel? It looks like aluminum in some shots. How beefy does it need to be?

(I'm still wanting 12" front brakes with my PBR calipers)
 
All of the adapters mentioned in this thread are steel. I like them stronger than they need to be. After all, it is brakes we are talking about!
 
re: Bigger Brakes

I'm running 200 Mustang PBR calipers on the front of my 92 SC with Mk8 spindles and stock rotors. I would like to go to 12" rotors with these PBRs but would need either adapters or new caliper mounting brackets.
I then would like to go larger rotors in the rear but would like to keep my stock T bird calipers as I have enough trouble keeping up with interchange part's lists.
Also I have noticed a harder pedal with the PBRs and I feel that maybe I'm near the max volume for the Teeves Mk2 ABS unit. I don't want to stray too far from stock and definately don't want to have to change out my ABS system. What do you recommend?
George Clarke the SonySC@hotmail.com
 
There are currently no mods for those PBR callipers to allow stock wheels to fit with larger than stock rotors.

I want to build something to allow the 12" rotor with PBR and stock wheels, but it takes time, of which I have very little. So it may need to wait until fall.

So unless you have a local machine shop that can work with you to fab something up, you're stuck.

I'm not sure what you mean by max volume. Just fill it up until it's full. If it takes an extra bit of fluid to make it full, it shouldn't impact the ABS. Only if the travel of the piston in the caliper is greater would there be any concern about the ABS system.
 
George, either get or make an adapter for the SC rear caliper and put on the Cobra rear rotors re-drilled for the 4.25" SC bolt pattern. I would also recommend an doughnut ring for the center of the SC rear hub to keep the rotor centered.

The link to DLF's site above gives all the info needed to make an adapter.
 
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