Ok, I will spill my guts
, We did two fox body mustangs the first one was a 1987 GT 5 Speed Hatchback and the second was my 1988 LX Hatchback. We are by no means certified mechanics
but we managed. Ok so along with the Baer Kit (Baer Claw 13, 13 inch Rotors in the front, Dual Piston Calipers, 12 Inch Rotors to the Rear, Stainless Steel Brake Lines, Upgraded Master Cylinder, Duchman Rear Axles, Rear Proportioning Valve, etc.) we figured we might as well do the Springs (MRT-Street), Energy Suspension Spring Isolators, Shocks/Struts (Tokico 5 way illuminas), Energy Suspension Strut Bushings, Ball Joints (Moog), Energy Suspension Ball Joint Boots, Tie Rod Ends (Baer Tracker Bump Steer Kit), End Link Kit and Sway Bar Bushings (Energy Suspension), Trick Flow Differential Cover, 18x9 Saleen Polished Replicas. I probably missed something but the only things we didn't change was the front and rear lower control arm bushings but that is in the future plans. Probably just new lower and upper control arms.
Things useful and some needed.:
1. High performance brake fluid, preferred in a metal can. We used wildwood 570
2. Air Tools, Impact, Air Hammer, Cut off wheel, Air Ratchet, Ball joint remover, torches, torque wrench for ft. lbs.
3. Gear Lube
4. Wheel spacers if needed
5. Line Wrenches Metric and SAE
6. 4lb Hammer
7. Pry bars, the more tools the better or the easier.
Ok now on to the install, We started on Saturday about 9:00 a.m. after a few trips to the local stores (harbor freight, sears, autozone, murrays) seems that i cannot ever be prepared enough and always end up shopping
. So after the two hours of shopping we are ready. Make sure your rims will fit the kit, in the front we had to use 5/16 spacers to make the rim mount flush with the rotor and still be able to use our center caps. We started with the master cylinder; it has three lines and they mostly came off pretty good with a mixture of Metric and Standard Line Wrenches. But wear they go into the distribution block below it they came out a bit harder. Luckily Baer gives you new lines from the master cylinder to the block and from the block to the left front brake. You have to remove a nut on the back of the block and place a fitting into it that the left front brake line goes to. The old master had three lines and the new has two so you have to make a third on the block but that was pretty easy. You have to use a large wrench and pry bar to hold the block while wrenching because the bracket that is holding it on is weak. The first car required pounding in the shock tower a little bit to get the old master out and the new one in. (You should bench bleed the master cylinder before installing it into the car, Baer lacks to tell you that and we had to remove it and reinstall it.)After the new master is mounted you have to jack up the car and remove the driver’s side front tire and the brake line to route the new one. We then hooked up the proportioning valve.
Next we put the car on Jack stands supported by the sub frame just behind the control arms. After disassembling the front Caliper, Rotor, and Removing the brake lines (the passenger side line is not replaced at the hard line so be careful, we had to screw the new steel braded line into it.) Place a jack under the spring on either side that you want to start at and jack it up just a bit to compress the spring a bit to take pressure off the spindle and strut. Remove the cotter keys from the tie rod and ball joint. Remove the end links from both sides which may require placing jacks under both lower control arms, but we where replacing them so we cut them off with a high speed. Break out the impact or breaker bar and loosen the tie rod nut and ball joint nut but don’t remove them. Now remove the two bolts that attach the strut to the spindle. Everyone has different ways of doing things since we are replacing the spindles this is what we did. With a 4 lb. hammer strike the tie rod socket on the spindle until it drops out. Then strike the ball joint socket and have someone else pull up on the spindle while hammering, it will pop out eventually. If all else fails get a bigger hammer. So with the spindle off there is a risk for the spring to come out THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. So what we did is using a ratchet strap to go around the spring and around to the other side of the car, we strapped the spring in. Next we removed the strut, each car was different on the strut one had a slot in the top and the other was made for a wrench. The slot sucks!....We had to use a high speed with a cut off wheel and lopped the top off. With the strut out of the way all that is left is the spring and ball joint. SLOWLY lower the jack and if the car is up in the air far enough the spring will decompress it self. We then loosened up the strap and used a long pry bar to get the spring the rest of the way out. On both cars the springs were broke at the last loop. (Good thing we decided to put springs in!). With the spring out of the way we used a ball joint remover from Harbor Freight $30 ish and works great. So everything is off the drivers side or whatever one you choose. And you just reverse the process to get it back together. A couple things about the reinstall was with the ball joint press/remover make sure you use the correct adapter to press it back in because we ruined a new $65 moog ball joint by squishing the bottom in. Learn by mistake I guess. Ok for the spring two people are required in my opinion. Have one use a foot and push down on the control arm enough to get the spring in. With the pressure of the lower control arm it holds it long enough to get the strap around the spring and the jack under the control arm. We had the strap on for safety but also had a guy hold the spring in place while the other jacked it up. After the ball joint and spring is back in put the strut in and mount the new massive spindle from Baer. It comes with the hub, rotor, caliper already mounted and ready to go, this saved a lot of time. After the spindle is mounted, torque all the bolts down as Baer describes, I had no idea how much 160 ft. LBS was man thought I was going to break something. Next we removed the tie rod end and put on the Baer tracker kit. You will need a torch to heat these up to get them off. We then mounted the Rim and when we finished the other side we sat the front down to check for fitment. Then back up on the air, take the rims back off for later bleeding. We finished the front in about 7 hours with some practice we did the second front end car in about 5 hours. Now on to the back of the car. Each car would be different these cars are daily drivers and have Michigan rust so you could cut out time if the car is rust free. The back of the first car took us 4 extra hours because the previous owner had wheel locks installed and after trying everything the torches were broke out and mid cut we ran out of gas. It was Sunday and now where to refill. So high speed cut off wheel again. Thank God for the 80 gallon 175 psi air compressor my buddy has. Mid way through the cutting we realized that we could just remove the C clips and remove the axles since we where replacing them any how. Well that worked for the driver’s side but no such luck for the passenger side. So after 4 or so hours the passenger side is off. Now to get the axles out and remove all the old brake hardware. Once again the lines where rusted they broke free but were not spinning on the lines so we spun the whole backing plate and got them off that way. You then have to put a 90 degree bend in them and mount the supplied hardware to make the connection to the steel braded line. What Baer also lacks to tell you is that you have to clean up the area where the old backing plate was mounted in order to mound the new bracket. Again rust was between the axle housing and the plate. After this was done the plates mounted up great. Install the axles, rotors, calipers, diff cover, fill wit fluid, and then we changed the springs and shocks. These are by far way easier than the front ones. Use a 15 mm to get the sway bar off and then place jack stands under the sub frame and the axle. Jack up under the lower control arms to relieve the pressure and remove and change the shocks. 15 mm up top with an impact works great. Then lower down the spring and change them. Then it was on to bleeding the system. This takes some time but keep trying it will come. Start with the caliper furthest from the master and work your way towards it. After that we seasoned the rotors and that takes about an hour to do. We did both cars in three days. Please excuse any grammar or spelling mistakes this is all from my head. The directions for the most part from the kit where pretty straight forward. Except the few things I mentioned everything went well. I want to thank all who helped with info and the websites I searched to find out tips. Pictures to come soon.
www.fordmuscle.com for all the suspension info
www.stangnet.com for some Baer installs tips
www.baer.com for the Baer Kit
www.mrt-direct.com for the springs, shocks, Baer Kit, and Baer Tracker
www.summitracing.com for all the bushings and brake fluid
Baer Brake Installed
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