Has anyone done this? What kind of pedal would I have?
I've kinda got myself in between a rock and a hard place. Promised to loan the car to a friend for a while and while getting it road ready I found out I've got a bad master cylinder. I don't have the time to do the 5 lug swap I'd been planning right now. I'm inclined to just install an Crown Vic master cylinder but I'm afraid the brakes will be a little too 'jumpy' with the stock setup. Am I just wasting time worrying or should I waste the $$$ on a stock master cylinder and wait till I do the swap to change to the bigger one?
Go stock and just wait a while. Its not that bad a decision.
A bigger master cylinder shouldn't make your brakes more jumpy, it should actually have the opposite effect and increase pedal effort. That's part of the research I did when I did the brake upgrade on my car - a bigger piston in the master cylinder will mean more pressure is needed on the pedal. It will move more fluid than a stock M/C, and it takes more effort to move that fluid. You're changing your power input to power output ratio. A smaller M/C would reduce effort but require a longer stroke. Larger shortens the stroke but requires more effort. You need larger when you go with bigger brakes because you run out of stroke with a smaller unit (meaning you just don't have enough volume). The key is finding the balance between having enough stroke and not needing excessive effort. A different booster can help offset the increased pedal effort, but then you might end up with the grabby brakes you fear.
Well, the 86 Crown Vic one is in stock at my local O'Reillys and the T'Bird one can't be found in town. I'll let you guys know what the pedal feels like Wednesday if all goes well...
Have to concentrate on taxes tonight...
get one for a 4 cylinder mustang. I'm fairly sure there all the same being as the use the same brake system.
I ended up using a reman stocker for the 86 CV from O'reilly's. Brake feel is fine with no 'grabbyness' or any other problem that I've found after a couple hundred miles of driving it. The only problem I have is somewhere I read it was supposed to have a 1.125" bore and this one is advertised 1" which isn't that much larger than stock. It's also steel and not aluminum, couldn't seem to find one of those remanned.
I guess I'll find out if I need to buy another MC when I do the 5 lug swap/brake upgrade.....