HELP!! I'm a Newbie!!

[catskills]

Just picked up an '93 LX 5.0 convertible , I want to put at least 17", if not 18" wheels. But, the car will be riding on 1.5" lowering springs. Please help me avoid any high $ mistakes. What fits, what doesnt?

[SpectorV]

the main issue is who much rim you can fit under the fender. You CAN run 9 inch wide rims front and back but they WILL rubb a bit and if you run the right size tires they will rub quite a good bit. I would stick with 8 inches wide for rims in the front and 9 inches wide for rims in the back (this will eliminate your rotating ability so you will need to keep alignments good etc etc (aka use GREAT cc plates not POS ones and NO you cant align the car with out them on a 1.5 inch drop wtih out getting getto or something))

The other issue you will face is the tire hitting the top of the fender (on fox bodies) this is a problem~ stiff springs will eliminate this usually if the tire sticks out enough to potentially hit. Backspacing determins how far the rim sits out from under the fender well so I would try to stick with 5.95 or less backspacing (03 cobra rims are 6.11 and 95 cobra r's are 5.95 (oem at least)

even 5.95 might stick out a tad to far~ if you look at OEM 17x8 mustang GT rims from 94-04 those would probably work really good in the front.

[catskills]

Great info, the springs I was looking at was an Eibach kit that said 1.5" to 2".
Would it be better to go with a Ford Racing kit that says 1" to 1.2"?

[bbunt302]

Are you planning on doing a five lug conversion? Whether or not you are, along with what parts you are going to use if you are, will play a big part in what wheels you can use.

For the springs, I'd recommend H&R springs. Either Sport or Super Sport depending on whether you'd prefer better handling or a more comfortable ride.

[catskills]

bbunt302, that stance in perfect! I didnt really want to do a five lug conversion. I'm new to this, and dont want to get to complicated.

[meteorachick]

Quote: Originally Posted by catskills bbunt302, that stance in perfect! I didnt really want to do a five lug conversion. I'm new to this, and dont want to get to complicated.

if u do a five lug converstion though, you are going to find a lot more in choices of wheels that u can get---so many people that i know that have a foxbody always convert just so they can get the wheels that they want

[SpectorV]

5 lug conversion is actually very easy, and it looks 10000000x better on a fox body than the fugly 4 lug.. plus you have MUCH more options for wheels. You just have to make SURE you do the lug conversion with the right parts.

[catskills]

Are there alot of options of how to do a 5 lug converson? Expensive or cheap? Right or wrong? Definate no-no's?

[bbunt302]

Yes, there are a lot of different ways you can go with the five lug swap. There are also "right" and "wrong" ways of doing it depending on what wheels you want to run.

Here's the way I did it. I can run any 5 lug wheel a 94-04 can run (unless they are running a riduculously big wheel).

- 94-95 Spindles
- 94-95 Front Brake Rotors and Calipers (I actually upgraded to 99-04 PBRs, but these will do)
- Have balljoints from a 94-95 pressed into your A-arms. You'll probably want to do this at the same time you change the springs. Reason being that the easiest way to change the front springs on a fox is to unbolt the a-arms and drop them down, place the springs in, and jack them back up. This way you only have to drop the A-arms once, which, I assure you, is not the most fun thing to do in the world, ever. Ever.
- Swap to 94-04 front brake lines. I recommend the Stainless Steel brake lines from Maximum Motorsports. Call them and they will get you the right part.
- Ford Racing Rear 5-lug swap. This kit has new 5-lug rear axles and brake drums. It is all you need for the rear. However, you may want to rebuild your rear brakes and also replace your axle seals and bearings while you are at it, especially if the car is high mileage.

This method is a little expensive. I paid $150 for 94-95 spindles and front brakes from a junkyard, but I ended up not using the brakes. They were pretty rusty and may not have been any good. The balljoints were cheap. I forgot how much. I had a friend at the Ford dealership press them in for free. The brake lines are about $70-80 from MM. The Ford Racing Rear 5-lug kit was $200 at the time, but I've heard it's gone up. So total... I probably paid $500 with all the miscellaneous parts (axle bearings, seals, brake fluid, rear-end grease), not counting what I gave for the PBRs.

If I had to do it all again, the only thing I would have done differently is the brakes. I probably would have went ahead with the 13" 94-04 Cobra brakes up front, along with a special bracket and the 94-04 Cobra rear disc brakes as well. If you do this, you will also need to upgrade your master cylinder, possibly your brake booster, and will have to do something about the emergency brake.

Now... the "wrong" way to do it. Rear is the same. Either get the Ford Racing kit or get the axles used in the kit from a junkyard (I really wouldn't recommend this and don't even remember what vehicles they come on... Aerostars and Rangers or something). Then get the Lincoln Mark VII front rotors/hub assembly.

This will give you 5-lug. However, the dust caps on most Ford and aftermarket wheels will not clear the hub. I believe this includes all 99+ Ford wheels (2000 Cobra R's, 2003 Cobras, Bullits, etc etc etc). This probably also includes a lot of the aftermarket wheels. I would not go this route unless you are 100% sure that the wheels you want to use will not have clearance issues. Even then, the 94-04 set-up gives you so many more options as far as later brake upgrades are concerned.

Then there is one last alternative which works great, but is expensive. That is the Ford Racing M2300-K kit (i.e. this...). This has everything you need for 5 lug and the upgrade to late-model Cobra brakes front and rear. As you can see, it's pretty damn expensive though. Baer also has a similar kit (and slightly nicer kit), but it's around 2500 bucks.

Damn... I really shoulda just made this an article.

[catskills]

I did some calling, I found both front spindles, hubs, rotors, calipers, off a 95 GT for $150. Or with the complete rear axle, and rear brakes off that 95GT for $400. Is that a good deal?

[rocknbronco]

depends on what kinda shape its all in

[catskills]

Every thing appears to be in good condition, the donor car had 57K. Is that rear axle a swap, or am I getting complicated?

[bbunt302]

Quote: Originally Posted by catskills Every thing appears to be in good condition, the donor car had 57K. Is that rear axle a swap, or am I getting complicated?

The rear axle shafts from the 94-98 Mustangs are .75" longer than the axle shafts for the Fox-body Stangs. So, if you are going to only run a 8" wide wheel in the rear, you can use that rear axle.

However, if you use a 9" wheel, the wheel will be pushed out of the fender well some. The only way to fix this will be to run a wheel in the rear with more offset than a standard 79-04 Mustang wheel.

So, you'll be better off not buying the entire rear end. Just get the correct length rear axles instead.

BTW, here's a link to a site that has all this information and more: 87-93 Mustang 5.0 Brake upgrade pages. Improve your 60-0 times!