Braking Upgrades

Here you'll find pics and information on how I upgraded the stock Topaz brakes.  I adapted 1996 SHO 11.6" rotors to the front and 1989 SHO 10.2" rotors to the rear.
I traced the outline of the SHO calpier bracket onto some 1/4" sheet metal and then cut it out with an acetylene torch.

 
This is the finished custom caliper bracket. It's just a copy of the SHO unit with the Tempo bolt pattern drilled into it. The extra piece of metal at the top is 3/16" sheet metal. It was welded on so the caliper would align correctly with the rotor.

 
Here is the knuckle with the custom bracket bolted on. I had to shave down the bolt heads to clear the hub.

 
Here is the rotor/hub/knuckle assembly. You can see the lug holes in the rotor left over from the Taurus bolt pattern.

 
Here's a good shot of all the components and how they bolt together.

 
This is just the Topaz spindle on the car before the rotor assembly is bolted on.
Here I bolted the caliper bracket onto the spindle. On the Taurus, the bracket is turned 45 degrees to the rear so the caliper sits behind the strut. The caliper would interfere with the addco swaybar if I mounted it that way on the Topaz. So I drilled the bolt pattern so the caliper will now be in front of the strut.
 

 
This is the rotor and upper caliper bracket bolted to the custom plate.

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