More brake for less, Volvo brake swap

[TacomaBoy]

Worst case, I put the turbo on hold for a year so I can throw a G at front brakes. Not exactly the direction I was thinking.

[spl310]

Building a safe car (sound suspension, sound brakes, not about to break in half from tinworm infestations, etc.) trumps building a rocket every time...

[TacomaBoy]

Believe me, I'm all about safety and quality. I take no short cuts,I will build the rocket,and it will fly,and stop quick enough to purge your eyeballs. with exception of stock rear springs and a-arms,all is new and up-graded. Including the 500.00 dollar stock calipers which I replaced for the sake of saftey. My ride is no tin roof Sunday driver,only if weather permits glitz machine. Believe me it see's action.

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[TacomaBoy]

Just wondering Will? How much un-sprung weight do you feel one would save by going Willwood or Spriso, I mean much larger Allum. calipers,probably heaver mount bracket mount,adapter plate and finally bf rotor. Lest we forget about the 15'' wheel requirement.Lets talk reality. Were not approaching stop lights at 80 mph. We like to bang gears through town from time to time right. The in-promt too ; blow'em off at the stop light. I have no real plans for SCCA,just like to drive the panties of her from time to time.

[SLOroadster]

The stock calipers are heavy. The Wilwood stuff is much lighter because its made of Aluminum rather than cast steel. There is less material as well. I'm not sure what the Wilwoods weigh in at, but I know they are a fair amount lighter. As for the 300Z setup, its also lighter than stock but I'd guess not as light as the Wilwoods. They might work better however since there is more material there and could possibly be more rigid putting more pressure on the rotor rather than flexing the caliper (pure speculation however.)

As for the 15 inch wheels, you might as well go that route since there is only one performance 14 inch tire on the market now. (Trust me, I looked in August) There aren't even any DOT R compounds in a 14 in the country right now, and when they will be back in stock is anyones guess. Hoosier doesn't have any R6s, A6s, Street TDs or Speeders, Tire Rack lists all the 14s as either out of stock or less than 2. This is bad news for those of us who race on 14 inch wheels.

For street use, the KFP blue compound on stock brakes will work very well and last a long time. I got 20k+ miles out of the set on the Alfa and could have gone longer on the fronts had I not had a piston get stuck and drag hard for 30 miles (couldn't do anything on the side of the road in the dark) That just killed the pads on that wheel. The other side had about 1/2 life left on it. It takes a lot of effort to cook the pads so they don't stop. (I tried, just to see how hard it was. 3 miles of power braking down a steep hill, thats left foot braking while on the power to keep the car from stopping for 3 miles. The rotors turned blue, and it took a long while to come to a full stop from 45 mph. The brakes were smoking, and the wheel was hot to the touch. By the time I got to the next stop light a block down, the brakes were back to full stopping power.)

Will

[TacomaBoy]

Mr. Cole: Is it possible that you may have the thread or link as to the cross-drill procedure on the Volvo calipers? I searched a bit at lunch and have'nt found the thread yet. With the cross porting there would no need to clearence any manifold bolts. Or knuckle for that matter, I'm sure I can live with that.

[Datrock]

http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/tech0031b.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TacomaBoy]

It's obvious that would work just fine. It's always the path of least resistance.

[23yrRebuild]

http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/tech0031b.pdf

Yup, I thought that link provided some interesting info, too. It generated more discussion about brake line material than the caliper conversion. So here are the comments about the brake line material used with the Jag's Volvo brakes:
http://www.311s.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12226" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TacomaBoy]

Am still in the air on the fronts but have at least commited to the 200SX rear swap. This is what 165$ brought to my door step today. Loaded ,zinked 200SX rears with matching rotors. Really not a bad price. Rock Auto that is. Has anyone tried a 4 piston wilwood for the fronts. Miss Foxy turned me on to the idea a while back. They have an application that fits our rotor ,4 piston design with 1.62 pucks. I would think if front and rears were backed by a 7/8 master I would be in fair shape. The calipers only sell for about 130 ea. weigh in under 3 lbs.

[311 Portugal]

Good afternoon all,
I am in Europe, does anyone have a name or link for the supplier of the Volvo kit please?

[Gregs672000]

I would have to go to the various vendors websites to see, but the whole conversion is probably laid out in the tech wiki. There is a tremendous amount of information in the tech wiki that will help you understand what mods are available, swap parts, and how to do certain procedures. I'd start there unless someone posts more info...

[fj20spl311]

mklotz70 USED TO MAKE THE SPACER FOR VENTED ROTORS
LOTS OF INFO ON VOLVO BRAKES

[spyder]

https://ratsun.net/topic/75485-bluehand ... ting-down/

[baxtersit]

I did the Volvo swap about five years ago and if it made a difference it was negligible at best. My roadster is a street stroker and I wish it had a bit better braking setup.