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Here is the final assembly. Notice the snazzy paint job!(Hey, atleast it's not ricer yellow!..LOL). The e-brake cables should hook up with a little tweaking and I need to get a second left-side SHO brake hose as the right-side SHO hose has a larger fitting and wont fit the Topaz brake line. |
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Here' s the modified e-brake cable. The original "ball" on the end was cut off and the spring around the cable was removed(the SHO caliper has it's own return spring). I then gas-welded a new ball onto the cable in the appropriate position. The cables have to make a sharp 180 degree turn into the caliper but they appear to work fine. |
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Here's a pic of what it looks like with the wheel bolted on. SWEET!! |
| Here's the necessary parts needed to install 1996 SHO 11.6" front rotors on my Topaz. Included are: modified Topaz knuckles, 96 SHO rotors, 95 Taurus calipers, 96 SHO caliper Brackets, 95 Taurus HD police brake pads. The flywheel and clutch snuck in there for some reason :-) |
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I originally tried to adapt the Taurus knuckle to the Topaz suspension which would have simplified the front brake upgrade significantly. Unfortunately, the suspension geometry was just too different, so I had to modify the stock Topaz knuckle. The horizontal sliders that the caliper and pads sit on were chopped off, 1/8" was shaved off the upper arm for proper caliper bracket alignment with the rotor and the tabs where the Topaz caliper bolted on were also removed for clearance for the Taurus caliper. The arms on the knuckle were too far apart for the 96 SHO caliper bracket to attach directly to both arms so I had to add an adapter bracket to the lower arm. It consists of a 2.5x3" plate of 3/8" thick steel with a 7/8" thick spacer welded to it. It's attached to the arm with 2 bolts and I drilled a hole through the adapter for the second caliper bracket bolt. The 7/8" spacer rests against the lower arm so the force of braking will be transfered from the caliper bracket to the 7/8" spacer to the arm. The 3/8" plate is just there to hold things together. |
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This is the rear of the modified knuckle. |
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Here's the 96 SHO caliper bracket attached to the knuckle. Here you can see the spacer on the hub I had made by a local machinist. The centre bore on the 96 SHO rotor is 1/4" larger than the one on the Topaz rotor so I needed a spacer to fill the gap. The machinist started with a piece of pipe and then machined it down to the right outer diameter and then bored it to the proper inner diameter. Then he cut off two 1/4" thick sections and press fitted them onto the hub. |
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Another rear shot. |