Questions about front brake upgrade.

[NotSoSlowSHO]

A buddy of mine had a mishap last night. He is fine, but his '96 GL spent a few exciting moments on it's topside, needless to say, the thing is totalled. Pretty amaizing how the Gen 3 taurus holds up

About the brakes. 1996 GL Taurus.

Would these be an upgrade for my '89?
Would it be enough of an upgrade for the amount of effort it would take to swap?
And what all would be involved?

Thanks guys and gals.
I did do a search... and have read various material for more than an hour now... but am unclear as to what is swappable, and what SPECIFICALLY is needed to do the upgrade on my '89

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Because the Gen III ball joint is part of the knuckle and not the control arm (or A-arm in the case of the Gen III), the spindle wouldn't be usable without fabricating a custom solution. It has been done, but honestly it would be easier to find a set of 94/95 knuckles. You could use the brackets and calipers from the Gen III -- if the brackets are stamped DN5 then you'd have the same setup as a 94/95, and if they are stamped FN74 you'd have the '96 brakes.

 

[K-Dawg]

IIRC, the brakes on the Gen III SLOs are the same as the 94-95 Tauruses/Sables/SHOs. So it would be the same as upgrading to the 94-95 brakes. However, I believe the Gen III knuckles are different, and would not really be beneficial to you. If you had the 94-95 knuckles sitting around, you could upgrade to the Gen III SLO brakes (aka 94-95 brakes) and still keep the 'weaves.

 

[SHO92]

Kenny, if you did just swap the calipers, rotors and brackets, they would fit on the stock 89 knuckles. You'd also still be able to run your basketweaves, since the 94-95 SHO brakes fit under them.

 

[K-Dawg]

I don't think that's correct. The 94+ calipers/brackets won't bolt to the <93 knuckles. They are very different.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Kenny, if you did just swap the calipers, rotors and brackets, they would fit on the stock 89 knuckles. You'd also still be able to run your basketweaves, since the 94-95 SHO brakes fit under them.

That would be absolutely awesome! And the way to go, if they would fit! Cause I like my 'weaves

Can anyone confirm that they WOULD fit?
kelvin, can you confirm that they would NOT?

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

okay more searching here...

Found this:

If you want to keep the 15" wheels, you want to upgrade to the 94/95 brakes. To do this, you get the knuckles from a 94+ ABS Taurus/Sable, and you get the loaded caliper set from autozone (made by morse, it should come with the brackets) and a set of rotors.

and

it's actually 10.2 > 10.9 It does make a difference. I swap to 95 brakes when I'm going to the track so I can slap some basketweaves on. For the simple reason of just needed to get new rotors/pads and the brackets whenever you get new wheels makes it worth it, instead of having to do the knuckles and everything down the line.

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=378&highlight=knuckles+basketweaves


Is this stating what I think?

if I snag the knuckles and everything attached, am I good to go?

 

[Shoaz]

No, the previous info is correct. The knuckles in the GenIIIs have some critical differences that make them very difficult to use in a GenI/II. If you have access to the parts it doesn't hurt to just pull the knuckles with the brake assembly and see what everybody means. It'll be pretty obvious with your tire and wheel off what the differences are.

If you still have the stock 89 knuckles on your car you'll only really be short a set of 94/95 knuckles, which aren't tough to find in a junk yard. The brackets/calipers/rotors from the 96 should bolt right up to a 94/95 knuckle. If the rotor is 10.5" diameter then you basketweaves may still fit, but if the rotor is 11.6" diameter (unlikely, I think, but possible), then the good news is you have the parts for a 96 SHO upgrade, but the bad news is that they may not fit under your 15" rims.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Sweet

Thanks for the info! Ill be hitting the junk yard this weekend for knuckles.

Looks like Im getting better brakes

 

[K-Dawg]

As I already said, the <93 knuckles are very different than the 94-95 knuckles. The <93 setup does not use a separate caliper bracket; it is integrated into the knuckle. I may take a picture later this afternoon.

Later on, if you'd like to upgrade a little more (and still keep the weaves), you could get a set of the Mustang PBR two piston calipers. They are the ones on the 99+ Mustangs and bolt up to the 94-95 knuckles.

 

[Frankiek3]

Find non-abs knuckles since you have an 89

 

[91taurisho]

Keep in mind, any 94-95 Taurus or sable WITH ABS OR WITHOUT can be used on your car! If you get the knuckles with ABS sensors(some have a slot for the sensor but don't have it) you can just remove the sensors and sell them on here or Ebay... Take off everything that is on the knuckle. The only thing you want out of the yard is the knuckle itself. You already have the rotors, pads(you probably should replace these though), calipers and caliper brackets. Just make sure that DN5 is stamped on the brackets you already have so you can still run the weaves. Good luck!

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Yeah, I was aware of the abs/non-abs deal. This car has abs, no biggy.
The car also JUST had a brake job done. So fresh rotors + pads arnt needed yet Ill see how the pads work (unaware of type), and go from there.

Now, I havnt had a chance to measure the rotors yet, however, th car is already running 15' wheels. (BASE model '96 GL) This SHOULD mean that the 'weaves will fit, no?

 

[K-Dawg]

91taurisho was talking about the knuckles.

Yeah, the weaves will fit no problemo.

Don't forget, you'll also have to get all new hardware for the knuckles (pinch bolts, nuts and castle nuts). Most likely you'll want to put new bearings in the "new" knuckles. This would also be a good time to get SS brake lines. So if you're planning to do this on the cheap, it might end up being a little bit more than just buying the knuckles.

 

[91taurisho]

Yeah, I was aware of the abs/non-abs deal. This car has abs, no biggy.
The car also JUST had a brake job done. So fresh rotors + pads arnt needed yet Ill see how the pads work (unaware of type), and go from there.

Now, I havnt had a chance to measure the rotors yet, however, th car is already running 15' wheels. (BASE model '96 GL) This SHOULD mean that the 'weaves will fit, no?

Correct. if the 96 already has 15 inch rims the Weaves should fit.