1984 - 1993 Saleen Brake Guide
1984 - 1986
For 1984-1986 Mustangs, Saleen used the standard Ford brakes for
almost all production vehicles. At least a one owner DID request and
receive an upgraded braking system in 1986. In addition, there was some in-house R & D
that occurred with different systems and pads on "company cars". Other
than those few exceptions, 1984 - 1986 Saleen Mustangs used the barely-adequate
stock Ford 10" front disc and rear drum brakes.
1987 - 1993
In response to consumer and racetrack
demands, Saleen upgraded the braking system for all 1987-1993 Saleen Mustangs. The brake
upgrade used a combination of Ford-sourced parts and included an upgrade from a
4-lug to a 5-lug configuration. In addition, there was an upgraded Alcon-based
system offered on 1993 SC's and SA-10s, as well as a running change for 1992
& 1993 rear brakes.
Saleen also changed
the master cylinder due to the greater fluid volume requirements. Most sources
say the SVO Master cylinder with 1-1/8" bore was used, however some claim
that the Saleen master is a 1" bore size...
87-93 FRONT
On the front, Saleen used the 5-lug 11"
rotors and larger capacity 73mm calipers from the SVO / Lincoln Mark VII. The center hub & dust cap are
larger on these rotors, and will not clear most wheels that use a flat center
cap.
The Bendix
"rebuilder" part numbers for the front calipers are:
Left Caliper : R55247S
and Right Caliper: R55246S
(The S suffix denotes steel pistons -
may be tough to find, but perform better than plastic)
Rotors are widely available, just ask for
parts for an 84-86 SVO Mustang, or 84-92 Lincoln Mark VII. The 1989 SSC used
special grooved rotors (pictured below).
For front pads, the FMSI Interchange # is
7802B-D200, which corresponds to:
Hawk HB125.650
Porterfield AP-200
PFC #1994
87 - Early 92 REAR Brakes
The 87-92 rear conversion used 11.375"
vented 5-lug rotors from the SVO Mustang / Lincoln Mark VII. The rear is
1.25" wider per side (2.5" total) than stock, which can
cause issues with rubbing on the rear tires and requires you to
run special offset wheels. A popular upgrade is the SN95 (94-98) rear, which it is
1" narrower than the Saleen rear.
The Ford part #'s for the rear calipers are the following;
E4LY-2552-A Right Rear Caliper &
E4LY-2553-A Left Rear Caliper
The rear pads are more
readily available with
stock-type compounds. For performance use, there's only a couple choices
available :
Porterfield APD-204
EBC Greenstuff DP-21161
It's also worth noting that
the 1989 SSC used special grooved rotors (1st
picture below).
1989 SSC
rear 87-early 92 rear
Late
1992 - 1993 REAR Brakes
In 1991, the Mark 7
rear brake setup changed to a smaller rotor and different pad. The change was
phased in by Saleen for some 1992 and all 1993 Saleen Mustangs. For
instance, #92-18 uses the early, larger brakes, while #92-19 uses the later
small brake set. At a glance, it also appears that the later caliper mounts at a
"true horizontal" 9:00 or 3:00 position, while the earlier caliper
mounts slightly below horizontal (like 8:30 or 3:30).
The
adapter plate, rear brake hoses, lines, line bracket, caliper mounting plate,
caliper, and rotor were all from a 1992 Lincoln Mark 7. The brake setup appears
similar to a 1993 Cobra or 1994 GT, but is slightly different.
The late 92-93 rotor
measures 10.5 inches (as opposed to the earlier 11.375") and uses an FMSI
347 brake pad set.
1993
Alcon FRONT Brakes
In 1993, a 13" "big
brake" Alcon front system was available. It used Alcon Type B calipers that
were specific to this application, with a fabricated mounting bracket that
adapted the calipers to an 93 Cobra R / SN95 front spindle. Later Alcon and
Brembo calipers are different and require a different bracket to attach to the
spindles. The Alcon front setup does require 17" wheels.
The first 2 pictures show the Saleen
brackets specific to the Fox body caliper. The machined bracket in the other
photos was made to adapt the more readily available 94-02 Alcon caliper to a Fox
body. The 93 Saleen-specific Alcon Caliper has different mount spacing, which would explain the longer mounting bracket... For more on
Alcon brakes, see the 94-04 brake page.
Finally, there are NUMEROUS ways to
outfit aftermarket and later model brakes to the front of your 84-93 Saleen. One
of the more popular uses 94-95 Mustang spindles with 13" brakes - either
Cobra-based or aftermarket, like Brembo. The SN95 rearend is an easy swap into a
Fox body, and opens up a whole aftermarket of rear disc possibilities, not to
mention that fact that it's 1/2" narrower per side than the stock Saleen/SVO
rearend. I won't
even attempt to cover all of that here. Instead, here are a few links to begin
your quest:
http://www.sn95brakes.com/
http://mjbobbitt.home.comcast.net/~mjbobbitt/
http://discbrakesrus.com/make/ford/mustanggtff.htm
(Mustang)
http://discbrakesrus.com/make/ford/saleen.htm
(Saleen-specific)
SCOA
BRAKE GUIDE 1984-2005 and up
