1985 Ford Ranger 302, 5.0 Brake Upgrades for racing

[TwistedEvo8]

Hey guys! Me and a good friend are building a 1985 Ford Ranger with 302 swap and mustang rear end. RWD and it will be raced in a Open RWD rally class. I would like to see if anyone has done any tracking with there rangers and what brake setups you used. I cant run the stockers they will melt right off ahah but I see they have a wilwood kits for the rangers but at over a grand just for 4 piston fronts is a lot!

Lets see what you got

Thanks
Tim

 

[Ozwynn]

do a search for cobra brakes. it has been done for a reasonable price IIRC

 

[rat_ranger]

check out my car domain for a couple pics of the cobra set up. if you want to do the cobras on the front you have to get gen2 i beams and 95+ spindles because the calipers bolt on to them. they are setting up a group buy on RPS for the front kit, its a little over 300 for the adapter parts. what all is included is caliper spacers for the front and new hubs. you install the hubs like you normally do and then the rotors are just slip on from there. for the rear you can go to northracecars.com and they have a bracket for the rear that just bolts the 12in cobras in the rear. total I spent getting the expensive new 10th ann calipers with al the brackets and rotors was about $1100, that was for all 4 corners.

 

[TwistedEvo8]

Will do! The wilwood and Brembo and other big brake kits are a hard hit so we may upgrade to the cobra kit. Are there any other factory upgrade style options better then cobra?

 

[rat_ranger]

well once you have the hubs and caliper spacers for the cobra brakes you can get the gt500 brake kit which is the brembo calipers with the 14in rotors, but you have to have 18in wheels to clear them. thats a fairly pricey jump to the 14in rotors though. but honestly the only reason to go to them is if you cant lock the wheels with the cobra brakes or you overheat the rotors. as long as the brakes can lock up then the only reason to go bigger is for the ability to take the heat.


*edit* forgot to mention, once you use the kit from tee rev on RPS it is simpler to service the front brakes as the rotors just slip on and off and you dont have to mess with the bearings and with it all parts are available at any local parts store.

 

[TwistedEvo8]

Yea well the brakes are going to be taking a beating like no other. Getting hated to glowing temps cooling and heating close to 50 or more time a day then again the next so. Rally is going to put a beating on the brake system. We dont have powder brakes in the truck as of now but we are going to research the best upgrade for us an see what we can come up with.

 

[rat_ranger]

Yea, well once you use the kit from tee rev then pretty much any 03+ cobra brake upgrade will fit on the front. and if you shop around you can get a bracket that lets you use 13in rotors in the back with the mustang calipers.

 

[TwistedEvo8]

well the guy im on the team with is a 30 year ford mechanic and also a pack rat. So we have so much ford parts at his house he thinks he has what he needs to convert the rear to caliper from drum. Drums just wont work lol

But the front is what is going to be doing the most heat and I'm just worried about it and he thinks heat treated stock stype rotors will last and im thinking no... So im researching all options

 

[rat_ranger]

well for the rear if you look around there are a couple write ups on using facorty mustang rear brackets to mount disks in the back. its pretty simple and if you have a set of the brackets then its pretty cheap. for the front tee rev has the only kit that uses factory brake parts for a big brake upgrade. the kit has a set of hubs and a set of caliper spacers, dead easy to install and makes the brakes simpler to service.

 

[TwistedEvo8]

well we have a 86 mustang rear in the truck

 

[TwistedEvo8]

Do you guys know if the cobra brakes will fit with a 15" rim?

 

[TwistedEvo8]

Also if I do the Gen 2 conversion will we have to change the steering rack or anything else?