Rear brake orientation

[Airspeed1]

I was surprised to see in the manual that the brake calipers for the coupe are oriented to the front of the car. I am using the exact same brake setup I used on my cobra build and the brake calipers on the Cobra are oriented to the back of the axle. Does anyone know why?

Jerry

[frankeeski]

Jerry, there were some clearance issues after Factory Five went to the Koni coil-overs. Some builders simply flipped the coil-overs end for end (top to bottom) with good result. Later FFR decided to instruct builders to move the brakes to the front of the axle to alleviate the issue. Keep in mind this only applies to solid axle cars.

[rj35pj]

Jerry,

I wondered the same thing. I bought the Wilwood calipers with my kit and on the rear they mount at about the 7 o'clock position. I even double checked the instructions and pictures... They do work just fine.

[JohnPR]

I wasn't sure either when I did mine, but I ended up mounting mine on the front side since it made the arc of the handbrake cables much rounder (and therefore reduce the chance of binding).

[John Dol]

Anyone know what the binding/interference issues where?

Thanks,

John

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by John Dol

Anyone know what the binding/interference issues where?

Thanks,

John

There wasn't enough space between the caliper and the coilover (Koni).
Once the brake pads started to wear the caliper would hit the coilover.
I fixed that on my FF and the caliper is mounted to the rear.
Also if you use a large rear rotor it might move the caliper more rearward to give you the clearance that is needed.

[AC Bill]

Originally Posted by frankeeski

Jerry, there were some clearance issues after Factory Five went to the Koni coil-overs. Some builders simply flipped the coil-overs end for end (top to bottom) with good result.

Another advantage of the Koni's over the Bilstien's, they still function fine mounted either way.
I mounted my calipers on the back, and can't envision any way, that the calipers will hit the shock, even with the pads completely worn down.

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by AC Bill

Another advantage of the Koni's over the Bilstien's, they still function fine mounted either way.
I mounted my calipers on the back, and can't envision any way, that the calipers will hit the shock, even with the pads completely worn down.

AC Bill,
Where is your parking brake cable and parking brake caliper spring?

[AC Bill]

The spring is on the underside of the caliper. These are the T-Bird turbo coupe calipers, so may be set up different than what you have. You can see some of the e-brake cable routing in these pic's.

Although the brake hose looks to be close to the shock in this picture, it is actually an optical illusion. There is plenty of clearance.



I used the shorter e brake cables (post 94 Mustangs) and ran them over top the 4" frame cross tube, rather than under it, as some do using the pre 94 cables.

[Rich A]

AC Bill,
Mine looked more like the picture below.
Is your suspension loaded and pinion angle set?
What year is your rearend?

[AC Bill]

In those pic's the rear is hanging, but I checked the clearance after it was loaded, and pinion angle set, and it's fine.
Rear is from a 88 T-Bird turbo coupe, which has slightly longer axles, similar to the 94 up Mustangs.

[jwall4367]

Don't want to hijack the thread but what or where did you get the axel limit cables?
J

[Rich A]

jwall4367
Any auto parts store carries them. They are basically tailgate straps. They are in the Help area.

[jwall4367]

Thanks, will make a trip to the parts store soon.
J

[JohnPR]

As mentioned, I mounted my calipers on the front side. One thing I forgot to mention before is the anti-moan brackets. With the calipers on the front, I can't seem to fit the anti-moan brackets onto the axle due to the welded suspension mounts. My brakes do moan a bit at low speed, but it's not too bad. Is the brake moan any different if the calipers are mounted on the back?