Vented Disc , 4 piston caliper front brake kit

[Tycorcr1]

I talked to Peter at http://www.precisionbrakes.com about putting together a kit for 65-70 roadster front brakes. It would consist of 11" (14/15" wheels) or 12" (16 or larger wheels) vented rotors (sloted/crossdrilled and option) with wilwood dynalite 4 piston calipers and stainless steel braided brake lines. A larger master cylinder maybe required for 65-67 1/2. This would be a complete bolt on kit, no cutting, no rotor machining, just remove and replace. Benefits would be,
a: easy to find parts (pads of many different fiction types)
b: quick pad changes for track days with the fixed caliper
c: New Larger vented rotors
d: More possitive brake feel with the braided lines

Now the bottom line, price would be around $1200, but could be less if demand is good and once all the engineering is completed ( I just spoke to them today, so the quote was off the top of thier heads)
Which ever way this leads, i'm going to get this brake system, i think a 300+hp sr20det in 1900lbs requires it . i plan on running 215/35zr16's with small fairs in the wheel wells.

If you want to read up on the calipers,
http://www.wilwood.com , it's their dynalite line that is suggested.

What do you all think?

Keith St. George
spl311-08001 rising from the dead sometime next year, Living the dream, Baby.

[Guest]

Have you considered the Volvo caliper conversion?
Have you considered the 300zx (Z32) caliper conversion?
Can't beat oem Nissan parts on the latter, plus they've been proven to work!

For $1200 they should supply you with their top of the line caliper. I've heard that the dynalites, although improving braking, can wear out rotors quickly.

If money isn't an object go with Brakeman calipers.

16" wheels?.....showoff

[S Allen]

It all sounds good except for the price. I think you will find there will not be many people willing to shell out $1200.00 for front brakes. I applaud your ingenuity and desire to go with better brakes especially for your ride but there aren't that many 300+HP Datsun roadsters running around. Let us know how it goes though.

Steve

[Tycorcr1]

I have looked into z32 (91-92 1/2 300zxtt) brakes for the front end. They are an 11" vented disc with aluminum 30mm 4 piston calipers. It sounds good til you figure what you need to make it work.
1: rebuilt calipers from parts store, $50 + 60 for the core charge if you don't have bone yard scrappers to turn back in.
2: Rotors with the correct offset. Stock roadster rotors have a 44mm offset, z32 is about 55mm. This doesn't sound like much, but it would move the rotor back towards the balljoint boots and steering arm.
3: once you find a correct rotor with the right offset(which i haven't found yet) you need to have the bolt pattern machined in 4 on 4 1/2 just like the wheels and have the center machined out to 76.5 mm
4: custom make a caliper mounting flange, you would not want to just make an adaptor which bolts to the stock mounting plate. You will need to make a new plate with the correct offset to match the calipers exactly.
5: when you increase the number of pistons and the size if the pistons in the calipers, now you need to worry about if the master cylinder has the capacity to move the volume of brake fluid needed to properly actuate the brakes. Even with the volvo brakes, i would look into atleast a 1" master cylinder.

that's just 5 quick points to think about,, there are many more , but you get the point, i've been doing my homework on this.

This Kit , when you think about all that is needed to make a complete bolt on and go kit, with NEW parts, not rebuilt, is not that bad of a price. I figured it was going to cost me around $900 to convert z32 brakes to work, and that's using used parts.

Keep in mind also that $1200 was just an estimate and not the final price, it could be much less once the engineering is worked out.

As far as increased wear using wilwood calipers, it's not the caliper that increases wear, it's the brake pad compound choice and style of driving. Point being, there are many factors to brake wear, and any style of brake will wear fast or slow depending on how you use them.

hope this helps.

Keith St. George

[SLOroadster]

That is a great way to go for the SR20 rockets. Yes the initial quote is steep, I think I your point about having everything new and correct is huge. Conversions that are "close" tend to scare me, especially when it comes to being able to stop. If I could race with the "big brake kit" I'd seriously look into it, but I can't. Good luck with it.

Will

[Ldino21]

I like the Setup you are talking about!! The price really isnt that bad if they are talking about the pair!! Even though I have read estimates of $6000 dollars by them for putting 4 wheel disks on a 280Z.

Keep me informed!! I liked the Volvo upgrade I did, But I didn't like a) the extra lines. b) the extra weight, those are some heavy calipers!!

Also I am leaning more and more to that Turbo KA24DE at 400+ hp I am gonna need some braking power.

Lou

[70MTroadster]

Hey TR,

Have any comments on all this? inasmuch as you are "the man" right now as far as SR20DET Roadsters go and how they stop?

Scott

[Ed Johnson]

I have a completed conversion using 300ZX twin turbo, 4 piston
alum. caliphers. conversion requires minimal modifications with a
much more reasonable cost figure. if there is any interest, I will
post pictures.

Ed J

[Guest]

I knew it was out there! Please post some pictures!!

[spl310]

Ed,

Please post it!!

Sid

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[Guest]

Sorry I have been out of touch for sometime, this is the first time I have checked the board since moving...

There was a time when I would build the snot out of a motor and just make sure the stock brakes were in working order...Maybe I've finally wised up...

I looked into Wilwoods for all four wheels when I was building up the car. I was going to make my own hats to adapt their rotors, brackets for the calipers, etc. I figured I would be into the project for $800 in materials and a lot of hours...The desire to get the car on the road and save a few dollars led to the simpler Volvo conversion in the front with stock in the rear and a 280z master. I did get some Nissan calipers and rotors for the rears, but they are waiting for machined brackets.

They do a great job of hauling the car to a stop in street use. I recently had someone (who didn't see the little orange projectile piloted by the grinning ape) turn in front of me as I was testing the 25 to 60 acceleration and the brakes did as good as the tires could.

As for 300HP in a 1900 pound package, I'm guessing my motor does 200 to 220 (it is basically stock) and with the super tall 2L rear end, my car will turn the tires in 2nd. 1st might as well be compound low on a catepillar. It is still a tall gear, but the engine has so much...

See you all on the first ride in the SR area when the sun shows! TR

[Mike Abssy]

Alvin,

Those 300ZX calipers are exactly what I'm looking to install on our customer's turbo KA24DE powered SPL311. Do they hang from the stock spindle? Is there any way to translate the text portion of that link?

Thanks!

-Mike

[S Allen]

Mike,

Try http://babelfish.altavista.com/. You have to cut and paste but it works fairly well all things considered.

Steve

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