One of the weakest links in our SHOs are the front brakes for the first and second generation SHOs.  The first generation SHOs had 10” front and 10” rear rotors, the second generation SHOs had 11” front and 10” rear rotors, and the third generation SHOs had 12” front rotor.  Hence the ’96 brake conversion.  I have a ’95 SHO so all I needed were the brackets, rotors and new brake pads for the conversion.  I got all of these products from FPS Automotive (vendor info available at www.shotimes.com) for $339.  Doug machines heat grooves for the rotors for free if you have a ’94 or greater.  The heat grooves allow the gasses from the brake pads to escape as well as keeping the rotors cooler thus preventing rotor warping (my stock rotors were warped.)  They also look cool.  I would not recommend cross-drilling the rotors.  They might look cool but they will only last you for maybe a year.  Check out this page in the SHOtimes FAQ if you still want to cross-drill your rotors: http://www.shotimes.com/brakes/part2.html 
 
I installed these brakes with my dad and it was fairly simple.  If you have changed your brake pads before, it’ll be a breeze for you.  If you have never taken off your wheels before, you should take your time and use all safety precautions.  Even you can do it!  Now if you have a ‘89-93 SHO, you will have to do a little more work.  It’ll cost you more money also because you will be needing more parts. There is a nice page on SHOtimes that’ll help you out: http://www.shotimes.com/SHO4_96brakeprocedure.html
 

**WARNING!**
If you are not comfortable doing this upgrade, do not attempt it!  You may get seriously injured if you don’t know what you’re doing.  Take every safety precaution that I mention.  It may be a lot but my dad is a safety-oriented guy.  I am not responsible for any injuries that you may come across following this procedure.  I’m not trying to scare you but please be careful.

• Can of WD40  (to get those stubborn bolts off)
• Ratchet and a wrench set (if you don’t have one, you will need 15mm, 12mm, 11mm sockets and wrenches.
• Big hammer
• Pretty big C-clamp to push the pistons in (cheaper than buying a tool to do this and it works very effectively!)
• 2”x2” fairly thin piece of wood
• One foot long clear fishtank tube  (it’s ok if you don’t have one…brake fluid will get all over your caliper)
• A clean bottle to collect the brake fluid
• DOT 3 brake fluid
• Wood blocks to chock the rear tires
• A jack
• Jackstands or wood blocks
• Brake cleaner to clean your dirty brake parts (I used Gumout.  Be careful not to overspray the rubber parts)

What to do:

This is a procedure for a 70mm or a 73mm MAF.  I never installed anything bigger.  It may be similar though.

    1.) Set the parking brake and chock the rear tires on both sides (front and rear of the tire).  Jack up the car and remove the wheel.  Place a jack stand underneath your car or stack some wood blocks up underneath the car under the frame so that if your jack decides to give up, this will prevent your SHO from damage.  Not to mention any injuries.  If you cannot get this far, I would recommend going to a mechanic to get your brake upgrade installed.  Just thinking of your safety.
    2.) Disconnect the negative battery cable.  I read somewhere that you should do this because our SHOs are equipped with ABS.
    3.) Spray the two 15mm bolts holding the caliper with WD40 and spray the two 12mm bolts holding the bracket to the caliper with WD40.  Spray it good and let in sit for a few minutes.  Try to avoid spraying the rubber parts.
    4.) Now get a 12mm wrench and loosen the two bolts holding the bracket to the caliper.  If you’re having trouble loosening the bolts, use the hammer at this time and hit the wrench to give it a little more torque. Just loosen the bolts for now.
    5.) Now loosen the 15mm bolts with a 15mm wrench.  Use a 15mm socket and ratchet to take off the bolts.
    6.) You should be able to slide off the caliper from the rotor now.  Don’t drop the caliper.  You don’t want to break the brake lines.  Set it on a block of wood or get someone to hold it for you.  You don’t want to let it hang.
    7.) Now take a good look at your old rotor and curse Ford for sticking in such a wimpy rotor for our SHOs.  Ok…remove the old rotor.  If it won’t budge, use the hammer and hit it from behind.  It should come right off.
    8.) Take out the old brake pads.
    9.) Now remove the two 12mm bolts holding the bracket to the caliper.  Take off the old bracket.  If you look at the old bracket and the new one, you can see that the new bracket is taller than the old one.  This is so that the caliper can be used on the larger rotor and the larger brake pads.
    10.) Open the cap for the master cylinder.  See if there is enough brake fluid.  If you are low, top it off with Dot 3.  Now take off the little rubber cap on the bleeder where the brake fluid comes out.  Grab the C-clamp and the piece of wood and position it so that you can push the piston in by tightening the C-clamp.  Place the fishtank hose on the bleeder and  stick it in a bottle with just enough brake fluid to cover the end of the hose.  Open up the bleeder ½ turn using an 11mm wrench and tighten the C-clamp so that the piston is in all the way.  Close the bleeder after you are done.
    11.) Spray the caliper and any other dirty brake parts with the brake cleaner.  Gumout should dry pretty fast.
    12.) Grab the new bracket and bolt it in to the caliper.
    13.) Put in the new brake pads.
    14.) Put on the new rotor.  Be sure you put the right one on.  It should be marked “left” or “right” on the rotor.
    15.) Slide the caliper on the rotor and bolt the caliper back on.
    16.) Now you will have to bleed the brakes to make sure there are no air bubbles in the brake lines.  There is a good page on SHOtimes for a one-man method and a two-man method.  I recommend the two-man method (http://www.shotimes.com/SHO3bleedingbrakes.html) Be sure your master cylinder always has brake fluid in it.  You DON’T want air to get in your brake lines.
    17.) Put the rubber cap back on the bleeder.
    18.) Make sure all of the bolts are on tight.  You don’t want your brakes to come apart when you’re driving.
    19.) Put the wheel back on.
    20.) Take out the jack stand or all of the wood blocks under your SHO and lower your car.
    21.) Do the same procedure on the other side.
    22.) Reconnect the negative battery cable after you are done both sides.

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It took me longer to write this than it is to actually do one side of the car.  Take your time doing this upgrade.  Once you get familiar with what you have to do, it’ll be a breeze to do the other side.  Total time was about 1 ½ hour for both sides.

Now that your ’96 brakes are installed, you will have to bed your brakes in.  There is a good page in SHOtimes to do this. http://www.shotimes.com/brakes/part1.html

Good luck and enjoy your new brakes!

Email me if you have any questions.