About the Video
1999-2004 Mustang GT Project Green Bean (Stage 4)
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Published on 2016-05-09
Alright Guys we will be diving into Stage 4 of Project Green Bean! In this video we will be touching back on Stage 1 dealing with stock steering rack, and changing it to our Flaming River steering rack using Team Z's bump steer kit.
Afterwards we will hit up on the manual brake assembly from Maximum Motorsports, also while we were there, we installed 94-95 Cobra master cylinder. This is required to run the manual brake setup.
Moving to the rear of Project Green Bean we beefed it up by replacing the old axles, getting rid of the C-clips, and changing out the Spool with Strange Engineering Axle, Spool, and C-clip eliminators. Watch the video as we show you all the components involved in this build.
Mustang Fitment:1994 (94), 1995 (95), 1996 (96), 1997 (97), 1998 (98), 1999 (99), 2000 (00), 2001 (01), 2002 (02), 2003 (03), 2004 (04)
Transcript
How’s it going guys? Landan with LMR.com! Good old Project Green Bean has now reached stage 4 of the build. This covered our manual rack, manual brakes, and the spool in the rear end. There really wasn’t a lot of parts getting thrown around in the particular stage, but the components we did address took a while to get installed. However, like the majority of the parts we already put on, all of this went together just as easy. Alright, enough of me talking; let’s get to the good stuff.
First and foremost, if you guys somehow have missed the intro, stage 1, stage 2, or stage3, be sure to get those videos under your belt which can be viewed by clicking the links in the video description.
Oh boy! Stage 4! Not a lot happened, but a lot did happen if you know what I mean. Back tracking to stage 1 and the removal of the power steering pump and power rack. We opted to do all of that in stage 1 because of the removal of the k-member. Getting all of the power assist stuff out of the way is pretty easy to be honest. We removed it all together and dropped it out of the bottom of the car.
First the master cylinder and lines to the proportioning valve were removed followed by the power steering pump from the front of the engine. Next came the power steering cooler lines from the front of the radiator. These were simply cut and plugged to prevent any fluid from coming out and making a mess. We then took the reservoir loose and removed the brake booster from the firewall.
You will need to disconnect some of the electrical connections to pass the brake out the bottom of the car. Keep in mind, this can be messy so be expecting a little fluid to leak out. Just be mindful and wipe it up fairly quickly. On the way down, remove the power steering rack from the K-member. Since the power brakes utilize the same system as the power rack, BOTH must be converted to manual setups. The full power assist setup weighed in at roughly 50 pounds! Once we reach the end, I'll give you guys a better understanding of the weight savings.
Now you can set the Flaming River rack onto the Team Z K-member. We did source our own hardware to secure the rack to the K-member. When making this conversion, you will NEED a bump steer kit so we went with the Team Z offering which fit perfectly. Since this is a manual rack, you will have to have a manual rack specific bump steer kit. In order to get the bump steer kit to fit properly, we did have to trim the brake dust shield to clear the hiem joints or rod ends.
The flaming river steering shaft was then prepped for install. This hefty unit deletes the factory rag joint and helps achieve better steering response. This particular unit must be fitted to the car. Basically, make sure to dimple the shaft where all of the set screws will mesh. Apply some red Loctite to all set screws except for the bolt securing the steering shaft to the pinion shaft on the rack. You’ll want to use blue Loctite for that whenever you get to it. Of course, before working on the steering shaft make sure the bolt is accessible and you lock the clock spring by by turning the wheel with the key in the off position. If you don’t do this, you could potentially damage the clock spring.
Now it’s time to remove the brake pedal assembly. I would advise removing the driver side seat to make disassembly a tad easier. There is one bolt that is facing up that retains the pedal assembly. Once that is loose, disconnect the brake switch and clutch switch if equipped. With the pedal assembly on a work bench, carefully remove the cross bolt and return spring. We then utilized the template provided by Maximum Motorsports to drill a new hole for relocating the return spring. When reassembling the pedal assembly, we did have to use the provided brake switch from Maximum Motorsports. Going this route will call for custom fabrication if someone wants to retain cruise control. To us, it’s overrated so we got rid of it.
Now it was time to reinstall the pedal assembly back into the car. When doing this, we had to use the included hardware to secure it to the master cylinder adapter plate. This allowed us to use a 1994 to 1995 Cobra master cylinder. A 94, 95 Cobra master cylinder is required for all 1996 to 2004 Mustangs running this manual brake setup. To connect the master cylinder to the proportioning valve, we reached out to Maximum Motorsports again for the needed brake lines. The connection sizes are identical, just flip flopped for each line. One line will have a 10mm connection on the master cylinder to 12mm on the proportioning valve and vice versa. Both of these lines came straight so we did have to make gradual bends to get them connected.
We then installed the included master cylinder pushrod and adjusted the length to where it barely touched the piston in the master cylinder. That wasn’t the last of the adjustments; that was followed up with adjusting the pedal arm to barely depress the brake switch. Not doing this right will result in your brake lights not properly working. DOT3 fluid was used to bleed the entire system. One last fitment note for you guys, if you have a Romeo based engine, you will need a power steering pump delete bracket and pulley.
Next, we moved back to the rear end to install the Strange Engineering C-clip eliminators and spool. Like the manual setup, this does take above average mechanical ability to complete. We started this off by removing the brake hardware. We then opened the diff cover, drained the fluid, removed the clips, removed the axles, pulled the carrier and then cleaned the housing with brake clean.
The axle bearings and seals were drove out and then the biggest hair raising event of the whole ordeal happened. We cut the ends of the axle tubes off per the instructions provided by Strange. With the carrier on the table, we removed the ring gear and then pressed new bearings onto the spool. The ring gear was then installed onto the spool and the spool was installed into the axle housing. Back lash was then set. Removal of the anti-squeal braces was next, followed by the install of the included axles and C-clip eliminators. We then reinstalled the diff cover and filled her up with fluid.
Wow fellas! Hopefully I didn’t confuse or bore anyone to death with all of that. In a nutshell guys, this was the cliff notes of stage 4. I’m sure by now we have already ruffled some feathers by doing what we’ve done. But hey, we cater to the masses here at LMR.com!
To keep tabs on old Green Bean here guys, subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t already done so. And until next time, keep it right here with the real Mustang enthusiasts, LMR.com!
