limp brakes?!

[mustang_tbird]

I have had my '83 Tbird for seven years, and I'm the second owner. Ever since I got the car the brakes have been very limp. They stop the car, but the pedal goes all the way to the floor and then some. The front pads always seem to need replacing. There is no hissing noise or anything like that when I hit the pedal, and I have replaced the brake booster and the master cylinder a couple of years ago. I'm tired of all this foolishness, so I am going to throw away the old brakes and jack the spindles and calipers off an 87 GT Mustang. Now I get to the hard part.. should I take the brake booster off that car too and put it on the bird? I have an '88 GT Mustang and I've always been pleased with the stopping power of the car and want my Tbird to brake as well as it does. Fundamentally, I'll be changing the Thunderbird brakes to Mustang brakes, minus an 8.8 rear end. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[karnage]

Originally posted by mustang_tbird:
<STRONG>I have had my '83 Tbird for seven years, and I'm the second owner. Ever since I got the car the brakes have been very limp. They stop the car, but the pedal goes all the way to the floor and then some. The front pads always seem to need replacing. There is no hissing noise or anything like that when I hit the pedal, and I have replaced the brake booster and the master cylinder a couple of years ago. I'm tired of all this foolishness, so I am going to throw away the old brakes and jack the spindles and calipers off an 87 GT Mustang. Now I get to the hard part.. should I take the brake booster off that car too and put it on the bird? I have an '88 GT Mustang and I've always been pleased with the stopping power of the car and want my Tbird to brake as well as it does. Fundamentally, I'll be changing the Thunderbird brakes to Mustang brakes, minus an 8.8 rear end. Anyone have any thoughts on this?</STRONG>

I would check for leaks in the rear wheel cylinders.My bird did the same thing and I had a blown wheel cylinder.The brakes on a mustang and t-bird are the same.Depending on year and size brakes ordered.The master cylinder from your mustang is different I believe that it has a plastic resevoir on top instead of the cast one on the bird.Other than that I believe the brakes are all the same.Hope this helps.Instead of going thru all that trouble of swapping brakes from the mustang, I would just rebuild the birds brakes.

 

[mustang_tbird]

yeah, I was thinking that maybe I should stay with the 10in. Tbird brakes, but there is something to be said for 11in rotors. Since I posted on here I learned that the Mustang spindles and rotors with Lincoln Mark VII calipers deliver outstanding performance versus the stock set-up. I still haven't bought any parts yet or committed one way or the other. Cool to see someone else posting about brakes, though!

 

[TBird232ci]

check your rubber brake lines, they could be expanding under pressure

the mustang brakes are a worthwile improvement, you got i think 30% more braking area under the pads or soemthing like that, you dont need to change the booster

 

[mustang_tbird]

Originally posted by TBird232ci:
<STRONG>check your rubber brake lines, they could be expanding under pressure</STRONG>

Are you talking about the front rubber lines or the ones toward the rear? I haven't heard of this before..

 

[TBird232ci]

the ones for your front brakes and the one that goes to your rear

after years theyll dry rot and get softer, and when you press the brakes, instead of pushing the calipers/wheel sylinders, they lines will baloon