Sal bends the stock brake line downward about 4 inches. It sits behind the new backing plate per Baer's instructions and is connected to the provided braided lines that are secured to the calipers.
With our take-off axles, take-off Bullitt wheels, and Baer 12-inch rear brakes installed, here's how the five-lug upgrade looks on Jose Ybarra's coupe. Once the diff cover has been reinstalled, it's important to fill the rear with a good, synthetic gear oil and one bottle of FRPP friction modifier additive. With this leg of the conversion completed, Sal moves on to the front of the car.
In the front, Sal disassembles the stock front brakes on both sides. The calipers, rotors, struts, tie-rod ends, and ball joints must be disconnected from the spindles.
One interesting difference between the SN-95 (left) and Fox (right) spindles is that the ball-joint stud on a Fox Mustang's spindle is slightly longer than the stud on the SN-95 spindle (see arrows). As Sal tightens down on the spindle's crown nut for the ball-joint stud, the nut seats well below the hole for the cotter pin, which causes an alignment issue for the pin.
We came up with a simple spacer solution for this. We used a couple of 51/48 hardened washers to achieve the necessary height so the ball-joint stud sits perfectly in the SN-95 spindle and the cotter pin is positioned properly. Note that the dust shields from the new spindles are gone. They were hammered, so we took them off by drilling through the rivets that secure the covers to each spindle.
Front spindle and hub assemblies from V-6 or GT model '94-'95 Mustangs can be used for this type of conversion. Ours are from a '94.
Installing a proportioning valve is always recommended when this type of conversion is done.
With the brake system completely installed (the stock master cylinder is also replaced with the unit that's included with the Sport system), Sal adds two pints of Ford Motorcraft DOT 3 brake fluid, then bleeds the brake lines to clear out any air that might have become trapped during the swap.