BUILDING THE BEAST, Part 5 -By Bill Moore Now that the brake and fuel lines have been run, it's now time to refurbish the all-important brakes. While we aren't going to give you the complete Mechanics 101 course right here, (buy a Chilton's, Haynes' or MOTORS guide for that) we are going to give you a rough outline of the various things required to get a brake job done. It's up to you to gather the skills or the expertise to do the job properly. Obviously you want your Street Beast to go &endash; but you also want it to stop! Naturally, you should be checking all the various brake components at this point. If you're using components from a donor call, all brake pads and brake shoes should be replaced. All rotor and drum braking surfaces should be checked for wear, grooves and warping of the rotor. Replacement should follow if needed to bring these important areas up to par. This is also a good time to repaint any of the non-braking surfaces. The full Street Beasts Assembly Manual has a component checklist itemizing the parts you'll need, and lists the source for those parts. While we're concentrating on the brakes, we should also deal with the wheel bearings at this point. Inspect and grease the inner and outer wheel bearings on the rotor disc, and install new grease seals. That's exactly what we did! We also installed the inner dust seals, and the brake shields on the spindles. The rotor was installed on the spindle and we tightened the rotor hub nut to the required specifications before installing the cotter pin and the dust cap. Look over the enclosed photos and read the related captions for a general understanding of how they apply to your Street Beast. Remember, the front brakes come from a 1974-'78 Mustang II, and this was such a popular independent front suspension that it has been used throughout the street rod community &endash; so you'll also find many aftermarket companies offering upgraded units. If you decide to take that route, follow their specific instructions. Remember, though, if a unit will fit on a Mustang, it will fit onto our 2x4-inch steel frame. While the captions to the various photos will lead you through the basics of working on the Mustang II front disc brakes, plan on working on one brake at a time so you've always got the other unit to use as a reference. Once the calipers have been installed, attach the brake hoses to them. Attach the tie rod ends to the spindles and position the brake hose mount so that the lines are free from being strained when the wheels are turned lock to lock. Mark the positions for the mounting holes, drill 7/32-inch holes and attach mounts to the frame using quarter-inch self-tapping hex washer head screws and then clip the brake hose to the mounts. The flexible rear axle brake hose, you'll remember, was installed in a somewhat similar way. The rear brakes are drum units, but disc brakes at the back, though, are available from SVO and Cobra model Mustangs. Check with your Ford dealer for specifics. As we did for the front brakes, we're going to give you a quick primer on how to install the rear drum brakes, and then let you follow the captions on individual photos so you can actually see the progression. Again, check with a Chilton's or Haynes' guide for all the details. A quick glance over the Haynes Repair Manual for the Ford Mustang, years 1979-'93, gives you a wide range of information, including torque specifications. However, the manual does make one important suggestion for the rear disc brakes: "Due to the relatively complex design of the rear brake caliper/parking brake actuator assembly, all service procedures requiring disassembly and assembly should be left to the professional mechanic. The home mechanic can, however, remove the caliper and take it to a repair shop or dealer service department or other qualified shop for repair, thereby saving the cost of removal and installation." Hey, it's a viable option! Here, though, we're going to concentrate on the drum brakes that are normally at the back of a Mustang. Once you've removed the drum, you'll see the inner workings of the brakes. A glance at the Haynes Manual, and a bit of tugging here and there will give you all the basics you'll need to work on the brake shoes. One important thing to remember, though, is that there may be asbestos dust in the unit, so don't dust them off with compressed air. Really, you don't want to breathe this stuff! Instead, use a brake cleaner on the drums, and then evaluate the components. We'd recommend that you replace the whole lot, because there's a lot riding on those brakes! Oh, one final thing here: While the emergency brake is part of the braking system, it will be dealt with later when we deal with the floor pan installation. Now, you're about to take a major step in the process of completing your Street Beast &endash; putting the wheels and tires on the chassis. We recommend 14x7-inch wheels on the front, and 15x7-inch units on the back. While the rough guide for offset is 3 inches in the front and 5 in the back, you should consult your local wheel supplier. When it comes time for tire sizes, that would be P205/60HR-14s for the front, and P255/60HR-15s on the back. But, if you're looking for a totally radical look, try using P185/60NR-14s at the front. Go ahead and slap yourself on the back! You've just taken a giant leap forward in completing your dream car!       tips to installing the front disc brakes is to take a moment to apply Disc Brake Quiet to the mounting surface of the outer and inner pads &endash; not the friction surface, mind you & endash.         It is also applied to the inner pad as well.         Here, the brake pad is positioned against the rotor.         Properly positioned, it will eventually be locked in place by the caliper.         Here's a more detailed shot of the pad in place.         Here, Cameron holds the caliper assembly and positioned the inner brake pad.         This shows it in its proper position.         Now, the caliper assembly is mounted to the caliper bracket.         To lock that assembly in place, Cameron first lubricates the slide block.         Both inside and out.         And then combines the two elements, the block and the slide spring. The spring is sitting atop the block.         Which will mate with the caliper bracket.         The block and slide spring now fit on the caliper bracket.         And are tapped into place to lock the caliper assembly.         Here, everything is in place on the spindle.         And the whole thing is locked down. Basically, the front disc brakes are done.         It's at this point that we go back to running brake lines for a second. Here are two brackets, the one on the bottom is a standard Ford unit, and above, how it has been modified.         This bracket must be installed on the frame to prevent the flexible brake hose from binding when the wheels are turned lock to lock. Here, a hole is drilled to mount the bracket.         And a tap is used to thread the hole.         In order to make the bracket sit flush against the frame, Cameron ground out a notch for the bracket.         This is what the notch looks like.         And here, this is how the modified bracket sits.         And, finally, this view shows you the way the brake lines have been run across the front crossmember to the brakes.         The benefit of working at the back of the car is that you can use the test-fitted fuel tank as a tabletop for all your NAPA rear brake parts.         In this photo, the parts are spread out below the axle         This is the primary brake shoe . . . with Cameron pointing out where the emergency brake lever will hook in.         And here are a few of the specialized tools that will be used.         Here are the two pieces, the primary shoe and the emergency brake lever, shown together.         This is the rear axle and backing plate. The emergency brake cable can be seen at the bottom right.         Now, the ernergency brake lever is attached to the parking brake cable.         And gradually maneuvered into place.         Here...         And here.         In this view, unobstructed by the axle, Cameron places the secondary shoe.         This is the shoe hold-down assembly. This can be either a one-piece, or a two-piece unit.         Here, the shoe hold-down assembly is placed inside the curvature of the secondary brake shoe.         Now, the secondary shoe return spring is attached, leaving the rear drum brakes basically complete.         Once everything is together, you should test the unit to be sure everything is firmly connected - and that the brake pads operate when the brake cable is pulled.         One thing that Cameron did as a final move, before installing the rear brake rotor, was to run sandpaper over the shoe to be sure there was no grease on its surface.         Here, the rotor is in place, and the brakes are ready to operate at the rear.