Mustang II spindle and brakes: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

Subscribe get a full year for only $23.95 Sample Free Test Drive—no strings attached

Jan. 15, 2012 1:09 p.m. tuna55 SuperDork

So we are prepping a new (to me, not the team) Lemons car - a 75 LTD. I was looking for good calipers, and that's another story. This story is about brackets. The bolt pattern is super weird. There is one bolt parallel to the spindle and one parallel to the direction of travel. Brackets will be tough. Then, through my google searching, I found this by accident:

http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS-Performance-Products/JEGS-Mustang-II-Front-Caliper-Brac...

and this:

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mustang-II-Steel-Spindles,2099.html

And boy, does that look the same. Can anyone confirm or deny that the same spacing toi mount the caliper was used on the Mustang II? Does the rotor end up in the same place? Off-the-shelf brackets for ten bucks apiece that Ic an modify for the caliper I want is waaaaay easier than starting from scratch.

Anyone?
Jan. 15, 2012 1:39 p.m. Duke SuperDork

I don't specifically know your answer, but I have always wondered about the Mustang II front suspension - if it is so ROUNDLY criticized for sucking so badly, why is it used on about half the cars and hotrod projects built in the last 35 years?
Jan. 15, 2012 2:01 p.m. dean1484 SuperDork

Duke wrote:

I don't specifically know your answer, but I have always wondered about the Mustang II front suspension - if it is so ROUNDLY criticized for sucking so badly, why is it used on about half the cars and hotrod projects built in the last 35 years?

Two words. Its cheep!!!!
Jan. 15, 2012 4:40 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

And in many cases they use different mounting points to make for a better geometry.
Jan. 15, 2012 4:43 p.m. iadr New Reader

and it doesn't matter much if it's any good or not, when you are cruising a fairground. It's brutal from the factory, and it's only saving grace is the small size and the fact that some aftermarket vendors have modified it enough it's not all that bad. Still a real litmus test for being a car guy, is if someone understands cars enough to hate on most front clip swaps, the MII, especially...
Jan. 15, 2012 5:52 p.m. tuna55 SuperDork

OK, everyone, stop discussing the potential relative merits of the Mustang II suspension. What I am asking is, well

tuna55 wrote:

So we are prepping a new (to me, not the team) Lemons car - a 75 LTD. I was looking for good calipers, and that's another story. This story is about brackets. The bolt pattern is super weird. There is one bolt parallel to the spindle and one parallel to the direction of travel. Brackets will be tough. Then, through my google searching, I found this by accident:

http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS-Performance-Products/JEGS-Mustang-II-Front-Caliper-Brac...

and this:

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mustang-II-Steel-Spindles,2099.html

And boy, does that look the same. Can anyone confirm or deny that the same spacing toi mount the caliper was used on the Mustang II? Does the rotor end up in the same place? Off-the-shelf brackets for ten bucks apiece that Ic an modify for the caliper I want is waaaaay easier than starting from scratch.

Anyone?
Jan. 15, 2012 8:32 p.m. patgizz SuperDork

are you looking for bolt spacing for the bolt on caliper bracket or bolt spacing for the caliper itself?

lots of the aftermarket kits use more readily available gm metric(3rd gen f body, g body, s10) calipers.
Jan. 15, 2012 8:33 p.m. Thinkkker SuperDork

The mustang II does have the one in Parallel and one in Perpindicular as per those.

As far as working with the LTD and such, I do not know sir.
Jan. 15, 2012 10:16 p.m. tuna55 SuperDork

patgizz wrote:

are you looking for bolt spacing for the bolt on caliper bracket or bolt spacing for the caliper itself?

lots of the aftermarket kits use more readily available gm metric(3rd gen f body, g body, s10) calipers.

The bracket.
Jan. 15, 2012 10:17 p.m. tuna55 SuperDork

Thinkkker wrote:

The mustang II does have the one in Parallel and one in Perpindicular as per those.

As far as working with the LTD and such, I do not know sir.

I am hoping someone has a bracket that can measure, has a spindle they can measure, or just knows if the two bolt patterns are the same.
Jan. 16, 2012 7:38 a.m. RossD SuperDork

What about looking into the MII / Granada swap and seeing how the LTD falls into the equation? Something like this: http://www.welderseries.com/blog/online-store/mustang-ii-brake-kit-for-granada-rot...

Look at the second picture.
Jan. 16, 2012 9:17 a.m. erohslc HalfDork

Just buy one of the Jegs parts for $18.99, and see if it fits. No? Send it back for credit.
Jan. 16, 2012 6:05 p.m. AngryCorvair SuperDork

erohslc wrote:

Just buy one of the Jegs parts for $18.99, and see if it fits. No? Send it back for credit.

winnah!
Jan. 16, 2012 7:12 p.m. tuna55 SuperDork

AngryCorvair wrote:

erohslc wrote:

Just buy one of the Jegs parts for $18.99, and see if it fits. No? Send it back for credit.

winnah!

They already said it wouldn't fit - no need - it's for a way smaller version. The current plan is to draw up something and get quotes for laser cutting - if that doesn't work, I know a few guys with bridgeports.
Jan. 16, 2012 7:54 p.m. AngryCorvair SuperDork

In reply to tuna55:

or go to the junkyard and get a later-model crown vic knuckle and see if it'll retrofit to your suspension?