Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

OK, so the TC rear is in, and I've ordered the '93 Cobra M/C and 3-to-2 line conversion. The hydraulic part is taken care of, parts wise.

Now I've got to move on to the park brakes, which are required by local MVI laws (and would be nice to have, to boot). I know the rear cables are different, and I think the intermediate cable might be, but what about the front cable? In other words, which cables on the car must be replaced? This might be already addressed somewhere, but forum searching sucks bad enough. Forum searching on dialup REALLY sucks.

Anybody? Surely with the popularity of this swap, somebody knows...

its on cool cats.  just the rear cables.

ALL the cables must be replaced.

hey Carm, I used my origional ebrake setup and than used two mark vii rear sections. Let me look for the posts so I don't have to type it all again.

Heres a link, I'll look for the pic

http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=158

So you used all your original front and intermediate cables and the stock (non TC) hardware? Sounds good to me! Let's see those pics :pics-stfu: :D

Interesting. The TC uses completely different cables, this is a nice work-through though.

Ok, a bit of an update: I installed a pair of cables ordered for a '91 Lincoln Mark VII. The sheaths are the PERFECT length (between the caliper and the bracket on the floor of the car), but the actual cables themselves are each about 1/2" too short (I'm guessing this because I was about an inch away from being able to get the nut back on the adjuster.

This was a very easy problem to fix - I simply cut the adjuster and added about an inch to its length by welding some 1X1/8" flat bar:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/adjuster.jpg)

I actually could have saved myself from having to do this. I had to make a new coupler because I lost the original one from the car (this coupler connects the rear cables to the intermediate one - there is one on each side, but I only lost one):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/brakecablecoupler.jpg)

Now, if I'd have been smart I'd have measured everything up and just added the extra length to this coupler instead of having to cut up and weld the adjuster too. But I wasn't :hick:

So there you have it - if you're swapping a TC rear into your 87-88 Bird or Cat you only need to replace the rearmost cables with '91 Lincoln Mark VII cables (they cost me $15 apiece new) and do some minor mods to either the adjuster or the coupler. There is no need to use the TC cable setup (which is completely different than non-TC cables)!

Thats just like what I did. Sorry I nver got back to you with a picture. Things been busy around here with the baby, work , and keeping the wife happy.

On my car the stock coupler was not reaching the cable (only on the passenger side) so I added another coupler and joined two of them with a grinded down allen wrench ( the big one in the set, and grinding to make a "ball" on each end to hold the stock coupler ) and than adjusted everything.

Again sorry I never got around to posting the pic, glad you got e-brakes now ;)

Don't apologize - if it hadn't been for you suggesting those Mark VII cables in the first place I'd likely still be under there trying to get that TC setup working - when I junked the car I kept all the brackets and cables, but the cables were all seized and I'd have no idea where the brackets went :hick:

I went for 4-5 years without ebrakes. So you could imagine my excitment when I got it working lol

Same set up I used, I was able to get them all together just moving the adjusating nut all the way out (I used cables from the 84 Mark VII) diden't have to cut or weld anything.
 
HOWEVER I havent got the brakes all together yet to know for sure if it's going to work or if I'm missing something.
Cobra master has showed up so hope to get it together this weekend.

I nominate this thread for the "Greatest Hits" forum. 

It makes getting emergency brakes for non-TC cars so much easier.

Can we get this stickied or something. So people don't have to keep asking about the TC parts.

There, I made it sticky. Real sticky...

I wanted to add this for any current or future car guy adding bigger rear disks to their car. I've been running around for awhile with no park brake cables since I changed over to the 8.8 disk setup. Well, as luck would have it, I got nailed this time around on my state inspection as they found it wasn't functional. Ok, no big problem I say. I remembered this post and the 90 lincoln mark cables I needed. So I purchase the cables and everything installs without a hitch. No lenghtening of any brackets or adjusters needed. Of course when any project goes that easy something bites you in the end. In my case the cables are tight against the tire. So I'm reciting every cuss word known to man for about an hour when the light bulb in my head comes on. I installed the Baer 13.25" rear disk upgrade awhile back and because the bracket in the kit pushes the caliper further out, it does not allow enough slack in the cable to clamp it to the control arm. So to help alleviate any headaches for anyone else who might consider an upgrade, I posted what I'm going to do to help fix the problem.

Remaining pics.

So you mean to tell me that i just can't take every bolt on bracket and all the cables from an 87 t.c. and transfer all to an 84 t-bird ????? i have transfered it all but have not hooked it up under the driver's seat area yet???? on the t.c. the passenger cables goes across this flat peice of steel back toward the rear end. where did you run yours without being in the way of the exhuast ?????

I did mine today,I didn't have to cut anything either,just backed off the ajuster.But I did run into the problem with the cable rubbing the tire.I removed the mount where the cable hooked into and rewelded it so it fit better.
(http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13531&stc=1&d=1192324705)

There must be some differences, either in the aftermarket cables or the mounting brackets on these cars, because I did have to add some length as outlined above, but I had absolutely no issues with the cables being near the tires. In fact I had to zip-tie 'em to the lower control arms because they were almost too long in that respect. My cable ends were different than the ball end that Slicksport shows, too - mine were simple lugs on the cables. I'll have to get some pics...

I remember grabbing a spring with a hook from a car that keep the cable off the tire. I have to look for that I think I know where it is

The '91'-92 parking cables are .75" longer, with a 3" longer sheath. My crude measurements shows the sheath length is as the ragged edge of working, however the extra total length should eliminate linkage modifications.

Will the 3" extra inches of sheath restrict the cable from retracting properly at the caliper?

Early Cable
(http://info.rockauto.com/Raybestos/BC93348-8.jpg)(http://www.dormanproducts.com/images/items/hwrap1/U93348.jpg)


Late Cable
(http://info.rockauto.com/Raybestos/BC94587-2.jpg)

Nope. The sheath is longer, but when installed the distance between the sheath holder thingy on the caliper and the point where the end of the cable attaches on the lever will be the same. The sheath length will be taken up at the other (forward) end, which is likely why I didn't have to relocate the cable mounting lugs on my car and why the tire did not touch the cable. It might also be why I had to add some length...

*Edit* I just noticed I had said '90 Mark VII cables in my earlier post. Must've been '91 cables, because they were the same as the "late" cable Jeremy shows

I used the 90 mark cable,but did make them work.I made new holders for the rear mount to change the angle.

I wonder what I did? I think I just rerouted the cable sheath, then I may have fed through a different cable - not sure - which I cut to length and terminated using cable stops to get the length correct. I may also have used a different sheath - man, I can't remember it's been so long.

Just got my e-brakes installed after 6 months, for some reason I ordered the '90 cables, but I made them work. On the '00 Mustang rear axle/brakes I have, the tines on the caliper end don't go all the way through the bracket, but is so far holding nicely. I Did have to hog out the hole in the bracket about .025" .Ended up cutting the U-Bracket off(Early cable, pic above), and making new couplers out of 5/8" Pipe. Apparently I forgot that there is an adjuster to play with  :D 

I also relocated the mounts for the chassis back about 4" to get the housing to curve correctly so as to clear the tire. Pics later!

I guess I just took the easy way out.... I used the full set of cables from a 87/88 TC

Nothing wrong with that, and I snagged the cables when I got my rear.

But...ya can't get 'em new anymore...so when they seize up... :hick:

I looked for TC cables for several years in the yards and every single one I went to grab were either rusted or torched from some dingbat that cut the rear out of the car when it was in the JY

I just put these on our cougar. I want to say thanks for researching this. I used Brakeware #C10132 purchased from Autozone for a 91 Lincoln Mark 7. I did not have to do any cutting or spicing to anything. Cable adjustment nut is on by 1 nut width (no extra thread sticking out to loosen).