This is topic TurboCoupe rear into 89 LX hatch in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by zpyro35 (Member # 3745) on :
 
I have this rear end I pulled that was going to go into my Tbird, but now that I think about it (and the fact that I found the lx has 2.73 gears) I want to put it in the stang. I know that it's 3/4" wider on both sides, but I've been told that people have put them in with no ill side effects other than a little tire rubbing. is there anything else to worry about, like brake lines or something like that? I know on the Tbird you have to use the e-brake cables, do you have to do the same with putting it in a mustang? thanks in advance
 

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Posted by SilverLX351 (Member # 3207) on :
 
I never had an e brake with mine, but if you put it in your car, the tires will stick out and rub a little, an look funky because they are so far out...they did on my car at least. The other thing you will need is a proportioning valve, or it will stop like shit. I also think you might have to change a fitting where the brake line bolts to the body.
 

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Posted by 89lx (Member # 1703) on :
 
You're right about the width. I adapted the tbird disks to my lx axel about 5 yrs ago. Worked fine. I relocated the axel bracket to the back side of the flange and made a 3/8" (might have been 1/4") spacer to get the spacing right. To move the bracket, I cut it in half and welded it on the other side. After doing that, I realized I could have just between the 2 lower holes and slid it over. No welding required that way. You'd need to either rework or make the hard lines. If you use the tbird lines, you do need to adapt them. All depends on if you care about the width or not.
 

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Posted by hidnn.o.s. (Member # 1219) on :
 
I have gone to pick n pull and directly taken out many T-bird rear ends WITH the E-brake cables and gone straight home and installed them into Fox Bodies. Depending on the wheels/offset and lowering of your car you may experience some rubbing sometimes.

It's pretty much a direct swap. You do not need new brake hydraulics etc.
 

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Posted by 66 AC COBRA (Member # 904) on :
 
are the turbo coupe rears 5 lug

if dont want to worry about new wheels, different lug pattern maybe, wrong offset, but still want the gears, why not just use the house and the gears fron the tc, but re-install the axles and brakes from the mustang, so you will still have 4 lug and drums but you get the gears

then down the road if u want/need disc in the back, keep all the tc stuff you didnt use and just put it in

I am assuming the housings are the same width, not sure though, maybe someone can answer that
 

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Posted by hidnn.o.s. (Member # 1219) on :
 
All of the years I have ever used are 4 lug
 

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Posted by Blowfish (Member # 4043) on :
 
I have heard that the 88 turbo coupe axle comes stock with 3.73 gears. Its like the icing on the cake. I bought an 88 turbo coupe axle kit and mine only rubs if I have someone in the back. Id like to roll my fenders but I scared to death Id f*#k them up. My shit is nice n straight now.
 

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Posted by 66 AC COBRA (Member # 904) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by hidnn.o.s.:
All of the years I have ever used are 4 lug

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well was wrong about that

and to the above post, IIRC the stick tc's had 3.55's and the auto eqquiped cars have 3.73's, again don should be able to correct anything I said wrong
 

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Posted by JohnB (Member # 969) on :
 
Stick cars were 3.55's....autos, 3.73's.

You will need a brake fitting to adapt the rear hose to the hardline, the proper E brake cables, a SVO/Mark 7 Master Cylinder and an Adj proportioning valve. Mount it in-line where the union fitting is on the passenger side (engine compartment). Don't forget to gut the lower portion of your stock metering valve and plug the hole with the 93 Cobra R fitting. FYI, the quad shock mounting brackets are *slightly* off, so if you torque the quad's down tight, it will cause the rear end to hang up. Put the car on the ground, then *snug* them up.

Think maybe I've done this before?
 

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Posted by zpyro35 (Member # 3745) on :
 
I've read that you drill new quad shock mounting holes 2" lower so they bolt up right
 

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Posted by hidnn.o.s. (Member # 1219) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by zpyro35:
I've read that you drill new quad shock mounting holes 2" lower so they bolt up right

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quote:

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Originally posted by JoeT:
when I did it I didn't attach the quad shocks because the mounting point on the rear was definitely off horizontally... at least an inch and a half or so. I guess as mentioned you might be able to get away with the shock bushing taking up the skewed angle. I found that with decent LCA's I never missed the quadshocks, supposedly they're only there to restrict axle windup/hop which sources from spaghetti factory LCA's flexing on you.

anyways it worked ok in my car, needed a unique brake adapter for the rear, and my car (a '93) needed unique parking brake cables... from a '93 cobra incidentally...

I didn't use a prop valve or modify my brakes in any way and the rears did lock up a little before the fronts (which is the way I like it anyways), but for best performance by all means get the prop valve and a '93 cobra MC or similar 3-port setup.

The brakes are pretty miniscule (10.65"?) and upgrades are virtually non-existent in 4-lug TC style rear end land.

as a bolt-in 3.73 gear+ disc brake upgrade it's tough to beat for $$ though, the whole shebang will probably cost you less than getting someone to install gears in your current rear. Although your current rear will easily adapt to the 11.65" cobra/bullit style rear discs and all the quad shock locations are in the right place and you don't have to worry about the 3/8" different offset on each side for tire clearance.

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I think the reason the quad shocks were off was because the Tbird mounts are on the outside of the frame rail and the mustang ones are below it? I've heard mention of that I think

and the fact that all the parts are cheaper than getting a gear swap is exactly why I'm doing it

one thing i don't understand about brakes is...if the stock brakes can lock the wheels up so you go into a skid, how would bigger-stronger ones help? obviously there's a reason but I never understood why/how. anyways, I'm not really worried about brakes right now, that's farther down the line.

and I do have nice control arms, but they were made for the Tbird I have to send them back for Mustang ones, even tho they're a custom powdercoated candy blue. I got them from cheperformance.com, the owner Chuck is an awesome guy and they're all about customer satisfaction
 

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Posted by JoeT (Member # 298) on :
 
well, below 50 mph even stock fox brakes are adequate except that they will fade for awhile. I don't recommend you try it but your stock brakes are not going to be able to do much from 60, 70, or 80 mph panic-stop situations, whereas upgraded brakes will. I doubt you can lock or threshold-brake stock fox brakes anything north of 50 mph.

there isn't much beyond upgraded pads that you'll want to do for an autox situation, for instance, so the little turbocoupe discs won't fade like a stock drum, and can offer adequate performance for autox so there's nothing wrong with that.

Unfortunately, stock fox brakes are pretty much getting marginal north of 50 mph.
 

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Posted by zpyro35 (Member # 3745) on :
 
I doubt I'll autox it anytime soon, I just want something faster than my tbird
 

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Posted by John Olds (Member # 5536) on :
 
Zpyro, I just finished swapping an '87 Turbocoupe rear into my '89 Mustang ragtop. It's an easy swap! True the TC axles are 3/4" longer, but the good news is that's easily remedied by pulling out the TC axles and replacing them with your stock Mustang axles! They slip right in! The bad news is, you'll need offset caliper brackets and they cost $150.

I used TC rotors and 73mm calipers up front, brake booster and MC from a '95 Mustang GT, capped off the prop valve and ran a Wildwood adjustable. The most awesome brake site on the internet is www.svo73mm.cjb.net. It'll tell you how to do it, step by step! When your done reading that, check out my site
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/530871/4
 

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Posted by zpyro35 (Member # 3745) on :
 
holy crap man, if only I had the time and money to make my car look like yours I'm just going to put the TC rear in as-is, and get the brake parts taken care of
 

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Posted by wilit (Member # 3367) on :
 
Aren't TC rears 7.5" and not 8.8" rears? I know SVO's used the 7.5" rears.
 

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Posted by zpyro35 (Member # 3745) on :
 
nope tc rears are 8.8" w/ trac lok, the V8 and V6 tbirds got the 7.5"
 

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