This thread will show you what parts you need, and how to install, 94-04 Mustang Cobra front rotors (13") and calipers (2-piston PBR) onto a 1G. The process should be very similar to do this to a 2G. The exact car that this was performed on in the pictures is my 1991 Eagle Talon Tsi AWD. This article shows the exact parts I bought, and the exact parts that I know work as they were used on my car. But feel free to source your parts through whomever you want, I'm not affiliated with any of these companies.
Lets start out with a little background on the why I did this mod:
This upgrade came because I'm trapping over 135, and was still on the stock single piston caliper brake setup on my 1991 TSI Talon. The stock setup was not liking that, so my search began. I planned on going with the simple Baer 13" upgrade. After searching, I came to realize that the Baer 2-piston calipers are for the most part, the same PBR brand calipers that came on various cars from the factory. They apparently came on some Camaro's, some C4 Vette's, and some Mustang Cobra's. And the Baer rotors are the same diameter as the stock rotors on the Cobra's, but just have a slightly different offset. The Baer kit from the cheapest source I could find was $869 plus shipping and/or tax. That would be just over $900 in the end. Not bad really, but if you ever need to replace the rotors, they cost a pretty penny (I don't just look at initial expense, but also future expense with most of my mods).
So I decided to start researching into installing the Cobra rotors/calipers onto my vehicle as I could possibly save money initially on the kit, and save money in the future on replacement rotors as they are available all over, including your local parts store chains (Napa, Checker, etc). After all was said and done, my Cobra kit cost me exactly $563.18 AFTER all tax and shipping charges. So that is over $300 in savings over the Baer kit, plus replacement rotors would be cheaper than the Baer's. And since this kit uses the same diameter rotor, and the same PBR calipers as the Baer kit, I would predict that it should perform similarly to the Baer kit. Only big difference is that I opted for solid blank rotors, while the Baer kit would utilize drilled/slotted rotors.
Here are the exact parts I ordered, and where they were ordered from:
* Two Calipers w/ Pads (from 94-04 Cobra) = $247.80 shipped
Buy Ford Racing Parts!
That same site sells the Bullitt calipers for $30 less, and they are the exact same caliper, except instead of saying COBRA on them, it has a picture of a Pony. I spent the extra $30 for the Cobra's because I just don't want a picture of a pony on my car
They also sell kits that include Brembo Rotors.
SPECIAL M10 X 1.5 X ~24MM BANJO BOLTS REQUIRED FOR THESE CALIPERS.
DO NOT BUY THE BANJO BOLTS FROM THIS SHOP. THEIR THREAD DESIGN WON'T TIGHTEN DOWN FULLY ON THE BRAKE LINE BANJO FITTING. SEE PICTURES BELOW.
here you see how they grind down some of the threads, which is what creates the problem:
Buy Ford Racing Parts!
here is the bolt fully tightened down, and you see it doesn't come close to clamping down on the brake line fitting:
http://www.mitsustyle.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8876&d=1245194260
_____________________________________________________________
* Two M10 x 1.5 x ~24mm Banjo Bolts = $10.65 after tax
http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductD...rtNumber=13940
These are only 22.8mm long, but look to be just fine. Here you can see there are 5 bolt threads sticking through, which should be plenty.
http://www.mitsustyle.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8878&d=1245199229
_____________________________________________________________
* Two Rotors = $85.38 after tax
http://napaonline.com/MasterPages/NO...ront+-+Premium
_____________________________________________________________
* Mounting Bracket & Hub Centering Kit = $164.47 shipped
https://www.rtmracing.com/xcart/home.php?cat=421
The hub centering rings are required as the hole in the Cobra rotors is a hair larger then ours.
_____________________________________________________________
* Four M12x1.75x30 bolts, Four M12x1.75x40 bolts, & Eight M12 lockwashers = $14.93 after tax
Ace Hardware
I used some grade 8.8 bolts. Again I'm no mechanical engineer, but I figured they will be fine. If you're real concerned about 8.8, then consider using some grade 10.9's.
_____________________________________________________________
* Two Front Brake Lines = $39.95 Shipped
Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
They sell the kit for $85 shipped typically on ebay:
SS Brake Lines Mitsubishi Eclipse drm 94 95 96 97 98 99:eBay Motors (item 250427895648 end time Jun-18-09 11:56:21 PDT)
But they told me they'd do just the fronts for 39.95 shipped.
I ordered them for a 2G because they have the banjo end on them that you need for these calipers. They are 23.75" in length measured from tip to tip. I am only going to do the fronts for now, as it'll keep a better price comparison for the Baer kit which also only comes with front lines I believe. I'll get the rear lines too, sometime in the future.
Also, I haven't tried this, but what I've "heard", is stock 1G lines can work if you can get the banjo fitting off the rear calipers of a 1G FWD (mitsu p/n MB004539). Using this fitting will allow you to just keep your stock 1G lines, or upgrade to 1G SS braided lines. They're $25/ea at the dealer, so probably be better if you can find some at a junk yard or parts car. Again I haven't tried this, this is simply hear-say, so give it a shot if you want...
=
$563.18 Total cost AFTER shipping and/or tax.
(compare this to the Baer kit which costs 859.99+shipping/tax)
Here is some other misc good info:
Calipers:
Front calipers from 94-04 Cobra/Bullit/Mach1 will work as they are all dimensionally the same. The only difference is the 94-98 calipers use 40mm pistons, and the 99-04 use 38mm pistons. There's some aesthetic differences also. Cobra's say Cobra, Bullitt have a picture of a Pony, and Mach1 are just black I believe. But functionally, they are the same, so all of them will work, you can pick whichever ones you prefer. Just depends on whether or not your the kinda man who wants a picture of a pony on your brakes or not.
Reference with more caliper info:
Which caliper seals for Cobra PBR's? - Corral Forums
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK so that is the parts that are required. Now on to the install. I tried taking pics of just about everything I did, but I didn't break this down Barney style completely. This article requires that you at least understand little things like how to take off your calipers, rotors, etc. OK here we go with the install:
1) Remove the wheel and remove your stock caliper. It should look something like this now (you can see my rotor was in rough shape after a couple trips to the track trying to stop from 135+):
2) Remove the stock rotor. Mock up the Cobra rotor and mounting bracket and you will see that you will need to trim your dust shield to allow the new rotor and bracket to fit. Here is my initial trimming:
3) Install the mounting bracket using two of the M12 x 1.75 x 30mm bolts and lock washers. You'll see I trimmed slightly more off to ensure I have plenty of access to the holes on the bracket. (I'm not a mech engineer, but I felt 30mm was a good length when using a lockwasher, as it barely protrudes out the back of the bracket, feel free to use whatever length you want).
4) Install the hub centering ring. I used a wire brush to get a lot of the build up and rusty crap off to help make installing the ring a little easier.
5) Put the rotor on to make sure it fits nicely over the ring, and that it clears your dust shield that you've trimmed:
6) Install the Cobra caliper using the two M12 x 1.75 x 40mm bolts, lockwashers, and spacers included in the hub centering kit. Ensure you use the correct caliper for the side your installing. Easy way to tell is to ensure that the bleeder is on the top of the caliper. If it is on the bottom of the caliper, you won't be able to bleed the system of air.
7) The spacers I got worked pretty well. The bottoms were perfect, but I wanted to ensure the caliper was perfectly centered on the rotor. I ended up sanding off 1/32 off the top spacers to get them centered perfectly. I would recommend you check the centering of the calipers because each car may be a hair different, so shimming should be expected to make it a perfect fit on your specific car.
FYI, this pic shows a 40mm bolt with a lockwasher installed. If you feel you need more threads to feel safe, then by all means use whatever length you want.
gap on the inside part of the caliper
gap on the outside part of the caliper
You can see how tight of a fit it is, hence the reason I recommend spending extra time on this to make sure it fits as perfect as possible as the spacers may not be perfect.
8) Remove the stock brake lines. I left the stock bracket there so that I could clamp (aka ziptie
) the new line to it.
9) Install the new lines. Again, I ordered SS Braided front lines for a 2G (they came with a black protective coating on them). Here are the 2G lines installed. Sorry I didn't get a picture but I also ziptied the line to the stock bracket as the little clamp they have in the middle of the line doesn't really work.
10) Put your wheel back on and admire the pure awesomeness of Ford junk on your beloved domestic DSM.
11) Repeat the same on the other side.
12) Bleed the brakes. Then bed them in using whatever method you want.
That's it. 563.18 is the exact amount I paid for all my parts after tax.shipping. Compared to over 900 for a new Baer kit after tax and shipping. I haven't gotten to really use the brakes yet, but will report back with how I feel they are performing once I'm able to use them on the street and at the track.
Hopefully this is helpful to anyone else out there looking to do the same upgrade.
Enjoy!!
Lets start out with a little background on the why I did this mod:
This upgrade came because I'm trapping over 135, and was still on the stock single piston caliper brake setup on my 1991 TSI Talon. The stock setup was not liking that, so my search began. I planned on going with the simple Baer 13" upgrade. After searching, I came to realize that the Baer 2-piston calipers are for the most part, the same PBR brand calipers that came on various cars from the factory. They apparently came on some Camaro's, some C4 Vette's, and some Mustang Cobra's. And the Baer rotors are the same diameter as the stock rotors on the Cobra's, but just have a slightly different offset. The Baer kit from the cheapest source I could find was $869 plus shipping and/or tax. That would be just over $900 in the end. Not bad really, but if you ever need to replace the rotors, they cost a pretty penny (I don't just look at initial expense, but also future expense with most of my mods).
So I decided to start researching into installing the Cobra rotors/calipers onto my vehicle as I could possibly save money initially on the kit, and save money in the future on replacement rotors as they are available all over, including your local parts store chains (Napa, Checker, etc). After all was said and done, my Cobra kit cost me exactly $563.18 AFTER all tax and shipping charges. So that is over $300 in savings over the Baer kit, plus replacement rotors would be cheaper than the Baer's. And since this kit uses the same diameter rotor, and the same PBR calipers as the Baer kit, I would predict that it should perform similarly to the Baer kit. Only big difference is that I opted for solid blank rotors, while the Baer kit would utilize drilled/slotted rotors.
Here are the exact parts I ordered, and where they were ordered from:
* Two Calipers w/ Pads (from 94-04 Cobra) = $247.80 shipped
Buy Ford Racing Parts!
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
That same site sells the Bullitt calipers for $30 less, and they are the exact same caliper, except instead of saying COBRA on them, it has a picture of a Pony. I spent the extra $30 for the Cobra's because I just don't want a picture of a pony on my car
They also sell kits that include Brembo Rotors. SPECIAL M10 X 1.5 X ~24MM BANJO BOLTS REQUIRED FOR THESE CALIPERS.
DO NOT BUY THE BANJO BOLTS FROM THIS SHOP. THEIR THREAD DESIGN WON'T TIGHTEN DOWN FULLY ON THE BRAKE LINE BANJO FITTING. SEE PICTURES BELOW.
here you see how they grind down some of the threads, which is what creates the problem:
Buy Ford Racing Parts!
here is the bolt fully tightened down, and you see it doesn't come close to clamping down on the brake line fitting:
http://www.mitsustyle.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8876&d=1245194260
_____________________________________________________________
* Two M10 x 1.5 x ~24mm Banjo Bolts = $10.65 after tax
http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductD...rtNumber=13940
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
These are only 22.8mm long, but look to be just fine. Here you can see there are 5 bolt threads sticking through, which should be plenty.
http://www.mitsustyle.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8878&d=1245199229
_____________________________________________________________
* Two Rotors = $85.38 after tax
http://napaonline.com/MasterPages/NO...ront+-+Premium
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
_____________________________________________________________
* Mounting Bracket & Hub Centering Kit = $164.47 shipped
https://www.rtmracing.com/xcart/home.php?cat=421
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
The hub centering rings are required as the hole in the Cobra rotors is a hair larger then ours.
_____________________________________________________________
* Four M12x1.75x30 bolts, Four M12x1.75x40 bolts, & Eight M12 lockwashers = $14.93 after tax
Ace Hardware
I used some grade 8.8 bolts. Again I'm no mechanical engineer, but I figured they will be fine. If you're real concerned about 8.8, then consider using some grade 10.9's.
_____________________________________________________________
* Two Front Brake Lines = $39.95 Shipped
Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
They sell the kit for $85 shipped typically on ebay:
SS Brake Lines Mitsubishi Eclipse drm 94 95 96 97 98 99:eBay Motors (item 250427895648 end time Jun-18-09 11:56:21 PDT)
But they told me they'd do just the fronts for 39.95 shipped.
I ordered them for a 2G because they have the banjo end on them that you need for these calipers. They are 23.75" in length measured from tip to tip. I am only going to do the fronts for now, as it'll keep a better price comparison for the Baer kit which also only comes with front lines I believe. I'll get the rear lines too, sometime in the future.
Also, I haven't tried this, but what I've "heard", is stock 1G lines can work if you can get the banjo fitting off the rear calipers of a 1G FWD (mitsu p/n MB004539). Using this fitting will allow you to just keep your stock 1G lines, or upgrade to 1G SS braided lines. They're $25/ea at the dealer, so probably be better if you can find some at a junk yard or parts car. Again I haven't tried this, this is simply hear-say, so give it a shot if you want...
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
=
$563.18 Total cost AFTER shipping and/or tax.
(compare this to the Baer kit which costs 859.99+shipping/tax)
Here is some other misc good info:
Calipers:
Front calipers from 94-04 Cobra/Bullit/Mach1 will work as they are all dimensionally the same. The only difference is the 94-98 calipers use 40mm pistons, and the 99-04 use 38mm pistons. There's some aesthetic differences also. Cobra's say Cobra, Bullitt have a picture of a Pony, and Mach1 are just black I believe. But functionally, they are the same, so all of them will work, you can pick whichever ones you prefer. Just depends on whether or not your the kinda man who wants a picture of a pony on your brakes or not.
Reference with more caliper info:
Which caliper seals for Cobra PBR's? - Corral Forums
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK so that is the parts that are required. Now on to the install. I tried taking pics of just about everything I did, but I didn't break this down Barney style completely. This article requires that you at least understand little things like how to take off your calipers, rotors, etc. OK here we go with the install:
1) Remove the wheel and remove your stock caliper. It should look something like this now (you can see my rotor was in rough shape after a couple trips to the track trying to stop from 135+):
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
2) Remove the stock rotor. Mock up the Cobra rotor and mounting bracket and you will see that you will need to trim your dust shield to allow the new rotor and bracket to fit. Here is my initial trimming:
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
3) Install the mounting bracket using two of the M12 x 1.75 x 30mm bolts and lock washers. You'll see I trimmed slightly more off to ensure I have plenty of access to the holes on the bracket. (I'm not a mech engineer, but I felt 30mm was a good length when using a lockwasher, as it barely protrudes out the back of the bracket, feel free to use whatever length you want).
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
4) Install the hub centering ring. I used a wire brush to get a lot of the build up and rusty crap off to help make installing the ring a little easier.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
5) Put the rotor on to make sure it fits nicely over the ring, and that it clears your dust shield that you've trimmed:
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
6) Install the Cobra caliper using the two M12 x 1.75 x 40mm bolts, lockwashers, and spacers included in the hub centering kit. Ensure you use the correct caliper for the side your installing. Easy way to tell is to ensure that the bleeder is on the top of the caliper. If it is on the bottom of the caliper, you won't be able to bleed the system of air.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
7) The spacers I got worked pretty well. The bottoms were perfect, but I wanted to ensure the caliper was perfectly centered on the rotor. I ended up sanding off 1/32 off the top spacers to get them centered perfectly. I would recommend you check the centering of the calipers because each car may be a hair different, so shimming should be expected to make it a perfect fit on your specific car.
FYI, this pic shows a 40mm bolt with a lockwasher installed. If you feel you need more threads to feel safe, then by all means use whatever length you want.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
gap on the inside part of the caliper
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
gap on the outside part of the caliper
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You can see how tight of a fit it is, hence the reason I recommend spending extra time on this to make sure it fits as perfect as possible as the spacers may not be perfect.
8) Remove the stock brake lines. I left the stock bracket there so that I could clamp (aka ziptie
) the new line to it.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
9) Install the new lines. Again, I ordered SS Braided front lines for a 2G (they came with a black protective coating on them). Here are the 2G lines installed. Sorry I didn't get a picture but I also ziptied the line to the stock bracket as the little clamp they have in the middle of the line doesn't really work.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
10) Put your wheel back on and admire the pure awesomeness of Ford junk on your beloved domestic DSM.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
11) Repeat the same on the other side.
12) Bleed the brakes. Then bed them in using whatever method you want.
That's it. 563.18 is the exact amount I paid for all my parts after tax.shipping. Compared to over 900 for a new Baer kit after tax and shipping. I haven't gotten to really use the brakes yet, but will report back with how I feel they are performing once I'm able to use them on the street and at the track.
Hopefully this is helpful to anyone else out there looking to do the same upgrade.
Enjoy!!
Last edited by a moderator:
