RoyaalT
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I also pulled the trigger on the GT350 brake upgrade. I wanted to do this before I knew a kit existed. Surprisingly there was very little knowledge of how to do this. A big constraint for me was the price. It was not until I was able to score a deal on calipers that I pulled the trigger, but even then the cost savings were negligible. You simply cannot find better prices even just for replacement parts like rotors than you find at FTB. The only thing that cost more than the dealership was the pins and bracket for the caliper brake pads, and even then it was worth it to buy since FTB went through so much trouble to put together a custom package for me for the remaining kit pieces I needed.
As I stated before my motivation was for looks more than anything else. I did not believe the front calipers on the GT Brembo vs the GT350 were much different, and boy was I wrong. More to come later on this. This might have been the longest brake job ever I started on January 21st and the car was not braking again until February 9th. I'll go through my process with photos of course. I guess not tonight as iPhoto and my iPhone don't want to seem to work together. More to follow.
-- I finally figured out how to insert photos :clap2: --
I had initially tore the car down by removing calipers and rotors, disconnecting brake lines as well of course. Then I realized the rear needed to be broken down even more. This was the end result.
Most of my time was spent on the rear. This is where the most attention is needed. Unfortunately when my shipment arrived the directions did not accompany it and so I carried forward without it. This caused a painstaking setback that caused me to have to drop the exhaust three times.
What I did not realize was the emergency brake cable blocks access to the rear caliper bolts. So this should not be connected until the calipers and rotors are mounted up. As hard as I tried ultimately I would have to drop the exhaust again...in order to loosen the cable to take them back off.
I personally experienced a hard time bolting the rear calipers up, not only for jumping the gun but due to a really tight fit of the supplied bolts. Every turn was difficult. In the last picture, you can see the emergency cable line pinned off to the right. I did not upgrade my factory brake lines.
The front is really boring so I needed to spice it up some by going with a couple of ARP bolts from Caliperfexion.
The front is also the only area that required a custom bracket machined by FTB. Everything thing else in this conversion is factory, but again piecing it together yourself is going to be way more costly. You will also notice in the next two photos I did not remove the front ?dust cover?. I saw in the other coversion that was removed but I did not see any reason to remove it.
In the photo above you can see the FTB bracket mounted up using factory GT caliper hardware.
So why did I spring for the ARP bolts?
1. Just that little extra bit of exclusivity
2. Quality
3. The rear pads can be changed without removing the caliper (thank God!), but the front pads cannot be. These studs make it quicker if that matters to you
I received excellent support and care to install the ARP studs, but even still it did work out for me. I used the supplied blue Loctite that accompanied the studs. I thought I used way too much on the first one and had barely enough to finish the last one. A lot of time went by as I went back to troubleshooting the rears. Of course after two attempts the Loctite did not hold. (I'm sure it was user error.) I went back to the very first stud where I thought I had applied too much and that one broke free as well. Frustrated, I gave up and permanently married them up to the bracket with red Loctite. I couldn't come up with any reason why I would need to separate them.
I'm showing you from this angle as well so you can see the studs will bottom out (as seen in the previous photo) and will protrude from the opposite side as well. I know there was some concern about this because they were originally engineered for factor GT350 cars and not for the GT conversions. I'm like 1 of 2 I believe.
The concern was (I believe) would there still be enough thread to properly cap off the stud with the nut. The pic below shows (attempts to show) that nut will fit on the stud and go beyond flush once fully torqued down.
After everything, the setbacks and frustrations came a major problem - one I ignored from the very beginning that would also contribute to the lengthy conversion time. The wheels did not fit. I was in denial since the Roush wheels were a factory upgrade. This also brings me back to my earlier statement about the front calipers being so much more bigger than the GT Brembo's. Neither the front or rear would fit after upgrading. I had plenty of sidewall coverage. The problem was the spokes would not clear.
I was not going to buy new wheels, so I decided to solve the problem with spacers. I messed up here too because I got a set up 1/8in spacers and tested the rear, determined they would work and went to bed seeing how late it was. I would later find out the 1/8in spacer was far from enough for the front caliper. I would have to order another set in 1/4in to clear the fronts.
Two attempts later after trying to get a pedal back I gave up and had the brakes bled.
Since there is already a write up on how to do this by [MENTION=8761]Jmeo[/MENTION], I tried to focus mine on the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and subtle details that may help someone know they are either on the right track or the wrong one. As a side note, the directions do come with torque specifications. I had a torque wrench that would only go up to 150ft lbs. I interpreted everything on the sheet as ft lbs and several settings far exceeded 150lbs. Short story is I ended up snapping what I believe was the upper control arm bolt. You can't just go down to the local hardware store or parts store and pick up another one of these.
I am happy to answer any questions regarding this conversion.
As I stated before my motivation was for looks more than anything else. I did not believe the front calipers on the GT Brembo vs the GT350 were much different, and boy was I wrong. More to come later on this. This might have been the longest brake job ever I started on January 21st and the car was not braking again until February 9th. I'll go through my process with photos of course. I guess not tonight as iPhoto and my iPhone don't want to seem to work together. More to follow.
-- I finally figured out how to insert photos :clap2: --
I had initially tore the car down by removing calipers and rotors, disconnecting brake lines as well of course. Then I realized the rear needed to be broken down even more. This was the end result.
Most of my time was spent on the rear. This is where the most attention is needed. Unfortunately when my shipment arrived the directions did not accompany it and so I carried forward without it. This caused a painstaking setback that caused me to have to drop the exhaust three times.
What I did not realize was the emergency brake cable blocks access to the rear caliper bolts. So this should not be connected until the calipers and rotors are mounted up. As hard as I tried ultimately I would have to drop the exhaust again...in order to loosen the cable to take them back off.
I personally experienced a hard time bolting the rear calipers up, not only for jumping the gun but due to a really tight fit of the supplied bolts. Every turn was difficult. In the last picture, you can see the emergency cable line pinned off to the right. I did not upgrade my factory brake lines.
The front is really boring so I needed to spice it up some by going with a couple of ARP bolts from Caliperfexion.
The front is also the only area that required a custom bracket machined by FTB. Everything thing else in this conversion is factory, but again piecing it together yourself is going to be way more costly. You will also notice in the next two photos I did not remove the front ?dust cover?. I saw in the other coversion that was removed but I did not see any reason to remove it.
In the photo above you can see the FTB bracket mounted up using factory GT caliper hardware.
So why did I spring for the ARP bolts?
1. Just that little extra bit of exclusivity
2. Quality
3. The rear pads can be changed without removing the caliper (thank God!), but the front pads cannot be. These studs make it quicker if that matters to you
I received excellent support and care to install the ARP studs, but even still it did work out for me. I used the supplied blue Loctite that accompanied the studs. I thought I used way too much on the first one and had barely enough to finish the last one. A lot of time went by as I went back to troubleshooting the rears. Of course after two attempts the Loctite did not hold. (I'm sure it was user error.) I went back to the very first stud where I thought I had applied too much and that one broke free as well. Frustrated, I gave up and permanently married them up to the bracket with red Loctite. I couldn't come up with any reason why I would need to separate them.
I'm showing you from this angle as well so you can see the studs will bottom out (as seen in the previous photo) and will protrude from the opposite side as well. I know there was some concern about this because they were originally engineered for factor GT350 cars and not for the GT conversions. I'm like 1 of 2 I believe
. 
The concern was (I believe) would there still be enough thread to properly cap off the stud with the nut. The pic below shows (attempts to show) that nut will fit on the stud and go beyond flush once fully torqued down.
After everything, the setbacks and frustrations came a major problem - one I ignored from the very beginning that would also contribute to the lengthy conversion time. The wheels did not fit. I was in denial since the Roush wheels were a factory upgrade. This also brings me back to my earlier statement about the front calipers being so much more bigger than the GT Brembo's. Neither the front or rear would fit after upgrading. I had plenty of sidewall coverage. The problem was the spokes would not clear.
I was not going to buy new wheels, so I decided to solve the problem with spacers. I messed up here too because I got a set up 1/8in spacers and tested the rear, determined they would work and went to bed seeing how late it was. I would later find out the 1/8in spacer was far from enough for the front caliper. I would have to order another set in 1/4in to clear the fronts.
Two attempts later after trying to get a pedal back I gave up and had the brakes bled.
Since there is already a write up on how to do this by [MENTION=8761]Jmeo[/MENTION], I tried to focus mine on the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and subtle details that may help someone know they are either on the right track or the wrong one. As a side note, the directions do come with torque specifications. I had a torque wrench that would only go up to 150ft lbs. I interpreted everything on the sheet as ft lbs and several settings far exceeded 150lbs. Short story is I ended up snapping what I believe was the upper control arm bolt. You can't just go down to the local hardware store or parts store and pick up another one of these.
I am happy to answer any questions regarding this conversion.
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