MK2 questions.

[wallace18]

While I recently retired from building FFR kits, I may get sucked into fixing a couple issues with a MK2 that a 78 year old guy has been working on for over 10 years. He currently has manual brakes and steering. He can't stop or turn the car due to his age. How much trouble would it be to convert to power brakes and power steering with a nearly completed car? I am weighing if I want to get involved or not. He is a friend of mines buddy and I would like to help, but only if it can be done with body on. It has a mustang pedal box. Any help would be appreciated.

[michael everson]

Power brakes can be done with the body on. Takes me pretty much all day to do it start to finish.
Mike

[wallace18]

Power brakes can be done with the body on. Takes me pretty much all day to do it start to finish.
Mike

Thanks Mike. I had a feeling you would know, LOL.

[CraigS]

Look at the front of the engine to determine the belt setup. Hopefully it has a serp belt since the most common PS pumps have that pulley. A standard Fox Mustang pump will probably be fine for a 78yr old driving style. And then you need a 3 turns lock to lock rack. Another option would be one of the electric PS systems where a motor gets installed in the steering column. I think it almost depends on whether you would rather work w/ pumps, hoses, and a rack or w/ custom bracketry to mount a motor and a heavy wire to a power source.

[DW66]

Mike sells a spacer that goes behind the brake booster that works well.

Dave.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'm not sure that the e-power steering is compatible with the Mk2 pillow block and two piece steering shaft arrangement. If you go to a power rack the joint at the rack end of the steering shaft will have to be changed. If the brake pedal mod was done for manual brakes (since he's having trouble with getting it stopped I'd bet that it wasn't) you'll have to swap it for an unmodified power brake pedal.

Jeff

[wallace18]

Thanks for all the info. Looks like it can be done with a little patience.

[Dave M]

I would say changing the pedal if need be would be the worst part of the brake up grade.

[CraigS]

Another thought. Check the pedal to see if it has been modded. If it has been, or if you feel like doing it, a modded pedal and Hawk HP+ pads all around would give a pretty easy pedal. They dust a lot but this helps.
https://www.armorall.com/product/out...ust-repellent/
There is another thread from maybe the last 3 weeks that describes doing the pedal mod.

[ptstew]

I am 80 years old and have a Mk 1.5 car that I built in 2001 in California. I used a 1991 Mustang donor. I did the brake pedal modification before installing the Mustang pedal box so that was easy. The brakes are manual stock from the donor. I tried several different front pads before settling on Hawk HPS ceramic pads. I have no problem stopping the car with those pads and stock rear shoes.
I built the car with a manual FFR rack. Manual steering was fine in CA with the wide roads but when I moved to urban Houston steering became a problem for me. I installed power steering 4 years ago. I used a 3 turn rack from Rock Auto, a stock pump from Amazon, hoses from Breeze and a pump mounting rack from CFR. I did it in my garage with the car on jack stands and had no major issues with the install.
Power steering is the best modification I ever did on the car. I went from 3 to 8° castor and drivability of the car is much improved.