85 GT w/8.8 - Brake Line Question

[bgettel]

Hello All,

I'm in the middle of swapping an 8.8 into my 85. It has drum brakes (rebuild kit in hand) and they'll stay for the time being.

I think I should replace the brake lines since I'm this far in (engine and trans are pulled).

Is this what I need to accomplish the goal?

https://tinyurl.com/3y7nea3w

Any other suggestions, parts, etc. are welcome as well.

BG

[TxMike64]

I'm about to do the same 8.8 swap with drums into my '85 and am trying to figure out the same thing. From what I can tell there is a lot of ambiguity with the '85's about the intermediate hard line, the location of the connection for the rear hose, different brackets, and the hose itself. Everything I see is split between '81-'84 and '86-'93 which leaves us '85 GT owners scratching our heads. The one clue I read was related to dual exhaust.... Well my '85 has dual exhaust... albeit with a y-pipe, single cat, single hump crossmember.

[bgettel]

I did some digging after I posted and I think I've figured at least a few things out:

Since the 8.8 is an '86 and up item, this appears to be a must-have since the one that's on our cars now will not fit the 8.8 as the fittings are different:

https://lmr.com/item/LRS-2282B/86-95...ear-Brake-Hose

And for me, I'm converting to true dual exhaust, so I have to move that upper rear brake hose away from the exhaust pipes:

https://lmr.com/item/LRS-2073BRKT/mu...-bracket-86-93

[wraithracing]

The 1985 Mustang GT is a one year anomoly in regards to the rear brake line setup. The upper brake line connection is in the correct location for dual exhaust, but it is different than the 86-93 fitting. The rear brake hose is unique also due to the 7.5" rear axle and the different on body hard line connection. I went through all of this with Erratic50's 85 Saleen Clone. I ended up having to do some custom brake line work to make it connect and work together.

IMHO, the best long term solution is to use the two items linked to in the post above and alter the hardline on the body to match up with the 86-93 hardline connection and brake hose. That will prevent further issues and make replacements later on down the road much easier. The hardline on the body has to be rebent and a new compression fitting installed as well as flaring the hardline to work properly. Not a fun job under the car, but it can be done. Good Luck!

[85WhiteGT]

I went thru this same thing a couple of winters ago, actually putting in the new hardline with the 8.8 will make it easier, but like's been said, you will need the 8.8 brake hose fitting on the body, and the 8.8 rubber line with bracket on the axle.

[wdanison43103]

Just did this over the weekend. Couple words of advice:

1. Just go ahead and order the 86+ bracket and hose. Get a 3/16” flare coupling, and 7-8 3/16” flare fittings.

2. Just go to Autozone and order three 5’ sticks of the NiCop brake lines (if you get the correct fittings on them you will only need 1 extra brass flare). (The NiCop lines are a little expensive but can be bent by hand)

3. Mount the hose and run your lines for your rear axle first, then mount the axle to see where you need to put the bracket. I mounted mine with two 1/4” self tapping screws.

4. You should be able to drill out the rivets holding the brake line for the car in order to trim it back and reflare it for the coupling.

5. Loosely thread the fitting for the car into the bracket before you mount it, makes it much easier to make the turn off the car.

Then just route the brake line back to your coupling, mount it to the body with some rubber P-clamps and presto, dual exhaust brake lines are done. (Don’t forget to bleed the brakes afterwards)


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[bgettel]

Just did this over the weekend. Couple words of advice:

1. Just go ahead and order the 86+ bracket and hose. Get a 3/16” flare coupling, and 7-8 3/16” flare fittings.

2. Just go to Autozone and order three 5’ sticks of the NiCop brake lines (if you get the correct fittings on them you will only need 1 extra brass flare). (The NiCop lines are a little expensive but can be bent by hand)

3. Mount the hose and run your lines for your rear axle first, then mount the axle to see where you need to put the bracket. I mounted mine with two 1/4” self tapping screws.

4. You should be able to drill out the rivets holding the brake line for the car in order to trim it back and reflare it for the coupling.

5. Loosely thread the fitting for the car into the bracket before you mount it, makes it much easier to make the turn off the car.

Then just route the brake line back to your coupling, mount it to the body with some rubber P-clamps and presto, dual exhaust brake lines are done. (Don’t forget to bleed the brakes afterwards)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's extremely helpful - thanks much!

[Doug]

I am Glad you posted this up. Very Helpful, doing this swap in a couple of weeks. Anyone have pics they would be willing to post?

[ZephyrEFI]

You whipper snappers are lucky! In my day no one reproduced that stupid fitting and i had to source a used one!