Ford Aspire Brake Swap Questions

[fudge]

Hey guys so I'm going to buy a 93 protege tomorrow to do a BP swap on my 92 festiva soon! I have wanted to get the aspire brake swap out of the way for a while now and upon looking at the swap guide: http://www.clubprotege.com/wil/howto/aspirebrakes.htm I noticed you could buy most of the parts that you take off the aspire. I was wondering what are the only parts I cant buy from a shop or online and have to get off of an aspire?

Thanks in advance and sorry if a question like this has already been asked and answered but I didn't see it. I'm thinking that even if I can buy all of the parts necessary I'm probably better off getting some parts off an old aspire, right?

[F3BZ]

that article is probably a decade old. about the only major parts you'd still be able to find new or rebuilt are calipers, rotors, RR wheel cyl, pads, shoes, tie rod ends and bearings. if you got the bucks, FourGreen in korea supposedly maybe still has the RR beam, knuckles, hubs, maybe backing plate, dust shield. spindles no longer available from them though. otherwise you might be able to accumulate the parts here or on ebay. but probably the best scenario would be finding a donor aspire.

[firebush357]

Like F3BZ said, It would be better to find a whole Aspire as a donor because If you try to pull those parts off of a Junk Yard Car it can get quite pricey. I added up how much it would cost me and it was somewhere close to $400 on a regular price day.

[TominMO]

What about just using the front brakes off the Protege? The wheel bolt pattern is 4x100 too. Then you just need to do the rear beam. Or have aftermarket wheels with both bolt patterns.

[bhazard]

Brand new Rio front hubs are like $14 on RockAuto. Not sure if they are the same as Aspire.

[fudge]

What about just using the front brakes off the Protege? The wheel bolt pattern is 4x100 too. Then you just need to do the rear beam. Or have aftermarket wheels with both bolt patterns.

I thought about that but I wasn't sure if I could do that. If that is possible then I will do that for sure. Can I use the protege rear beam or get that off of an aspire or something?

Thanks for all the responses, if the protege doesn't do the trick then I will look back into a aspire/rio swap.

[TominMO]

I thought about that but I wasn't sure if I could do that. If that is possible then I will do that for sure. Can I use the protege rear beam or get that off of an aspire or something?

Thanks for all the responses, if the protege doesn't do the trick then I will look back into a aspire/rio swap.

I looked into the Protege rear too, and was convinced by Advancedynamics to just stick with Festiva/Aspire for the rear.

Get some advice from here on using the Protege front; maybe you would need the Aspire LCAs for example, as you would with Capri knuckles. And which halfshafts and tie rod ends too.

[fudge]

I looked into the Protege rear too, and was convinced by Advancedynamics to just stick with Festiva/Aspire for the rear.

Get some advice from here on using the Protege front; maybe you would need the Aspire LCAs for example, as you would with Capri knuckles. And which halfshafts and tie rod ends too.

So if I stick with the festiva rear beam could I get adapters for the front wheels so I could keep the same ones? Is it better to switch to an Aspire rear beam or maybe they are the same thing lol

All those parts that I would need for the front brakes sound like parts I can buy new for not too much $$

[TominMO]

So if I stick with the festiva rear beam could I get adapters for the front wheels so I could keep the same ones? Is it better to switch to an Aspire rear beam or maybe they are the same thing lol

All those parts that I would need for the front brakes sound like parts I can buy new for not too much $$

Don't screw around with adaptors, just get the Aspire rear beam. Until you do, you can carry a spare for both bolt patterns; or one aftermarket wheel with both patterns and a tire small enough to fit in the stock spare tire wheel well, say a 165/50X14, like this one. One 14" wheel that has both patterns is the American Racing Estrella.

BTW get wheel studs and toss the lug bolts. Really helpful.

[blake4591]

Brand new Rio front hubs are like $14 on RockAuto. Not sure if they are the same as Aspire.

I'm pretty sure that they are.


I would honestly just go with the Rio fronts and leave the rear the Festiva beam and brakes. Putting more brakes on the rear can cause problems due to how little weight is on the rear axle under braking. You do not want the rear locking up before the front does unless you like doing 360s. This route requires either dual pattern wheels (the easier option) or re-drilling the rear festiva drums to 4x100.

[bhazard]

Or use a prop valve

[fudge]

Ok I'm not exactly sure what I'll do but my brakes are really bad because all my bleeder screws are rusted and the heads broke off. I've been avoiding doing anything about it because I was just planning on swapping all of the brakes...lol

[blake4591]

Or use a prop valve

2 prop valves because of the crossed brake circuits.

[bhazard]

Uncross em for unsafety ^_^

[fudge]

I'm pretty sure that they are.


I would honestly just go with the Rio fronts and leave the rear the Festiva beam and brakes. Putting more brakes on the rear can cause problems due to how little weight is on the rear axle under braking. You do not want the rear locking up before the front does unless you like doing 360s. This route requires either dual pattern wheels (the easier option) or re-drilling the rear festiva drums to 4x100.

So with the rio front hubs can I just order that part and put it on my car or is there more to it than that?