Installing Heidt's Four-Link Rear Suspension - Four-Link Finesse

The chassis stiffener kit is a nice bolt-in option if you have the Heidt's subframe connectors. The front attaching point is a through bolt and the rear attaching point is a threaded insert in the subframe connector, allowing quick removal of the stiffener for any driveline work. A driveshaft safety loop mount and loop is provided as well.

Our Strange 9-inch, built in our Jan. '10 issue, has been patiently waiting in the corner of our shop for its Stainless Steel Brakes disc kit and to be fit up into our '68 Mustang project. We practically had to chain it to the lift since several of our sister magazines kept eyeing it for one of their projects!

For rear brakes we opted for SSBC's A110-11 9-inch big-bearing kit, which we've used on several other project cars with great success. The kit features SSBC's impressive Force 10 Sport R1 billet aluminum caliper with a single 54mm stainless steel piston and built-in parking brake mated to its 11.25-inch vented, slotted, and drilled rotor with zinc coating. We opted for its blackpowder coating as well on our calipers. The A110-11 kit starts at $1,137.95, including all hardware, braided lines, and more. The main axle adapter bracket is attached here, between the axle flange end and the axle retainer bracket, using new hardware from the brake kit.

Once the two-piece axle adapter bracket is secured, the main caliper bracket can be installed with the included fasteners and spacers. The adapter bracket is designed to allow the caliper bracket to mount facing forward or rearward, which is a good thing we'll soon realize.

The zinc-washed 11.25-inch rotor from SSBC slips right over the Strange S/S Street axle flange with the addition of the provided SSBC axle centering ring. Some axles will not need this centering ring, but the Strange axles did in this case. We secured the rotor with a single lug nut for now.

The caliper itself is mounted with the included slide pin attaching fasteners. Apply some hi-temp caliper grease to the pins to allow the caliper to properly float and slide as the pads wear.

The brake kit includes braided brake hoses for both calipers. These will require new hard lines to be made for your axle housing, or at the least your original hard lines cut and reflared. In a pinch you can carefully bend the original lines to route to the braided lines for a no cut/no flare solution. Be sure to use a copper sealing washer on each side of the banjo bolt to prevent leaks.

Because the R1 caliper is not machined as a side-specific unit, it has dual bleeder screws and dual brake line fittings. For the unused brake line port SSBC supplies a button-head plug and sealing washer for this location.

Another great feature of the R1 caliper is the built-in parking brake configuration, just like OE late-model Ford calipers, only better. Better because the parking brake linkage on the R1 is "clockable," allowing you to reposition the brake lever where it works best with the routing of the parking brake cables and cable attaching bracket.