Big Brake Kits for Big Boys.

[Tabcon]

"Yes, I'll have the biggie brakes and the biggie fries." "Would you like to add a biggie wheel to that order?"

Oh boy, it seems as if everything is available in a larger size now. Nothing is ever big enough for us glutenous Americans with an appetite for everything huge. Speaking of which, I would like to add a set of new 4 pot calipers and larger rotors to the front end of my car. I've checked out several outfits offering "big brake" kits, but they are either too expensive or not really what I want. I've narrowed down the parts I need at Wilwood to do the job, that is all except the proper sized caliper mounts. I want to go with a either an 11.75" or 12" drilled and slotted rotor but I cannot locate any after market caliper adapters to mount the calipers on. Some of the kits I have looked at seem to come with what appears to be aluminum brackets that I assume attach to your stock caliper mounts that must push the calipers further away from the hub.

Has anyone here ever installed a big brake kit or fabricated one on their own? Are the adapters something I could have easily fabricated or are they available anywhere?

I really don't want to use any guesswork when it comes to the brakes so any help would be appreciated, not to mention better for my health.

 

[tr8todd]

It all comes down to the brackets. They must mount to the stock caliper mounts and also locate the new calipers. You have to deal with the spacing depth to get the new caliper centered over the rotor. You also need to account for the increased circumference and thickness of the larger rotor. The best way to go about this is to mock up everything and then try to measure what you need the bracket to be. I made a mock up bracket out of steel plate and washers to get the initial measurements for machined aluminum bracket. Set up for the machining on the nice aluminum pieces is what gets expensive. If you have to do that a couple of times to get it right, you would have been better off buying a kit. Calipers will generally come in two mounting spacings. 5.25" for Chevy and 3.5" for Ford. On both of the kits I made up, the stock mounts were 3.25". If I had gone with the 3.5" calipers, the old mounting holes and the new mounting holes would have been too close together. I went with the 5.25" Chevy calipers. You also have to make sure that once installed, the calipers won't foul the wheels and the rotors won't hit a tie rod end. The last set I made up for my TR8 uses Rover SD1 struts and hubs, Jeep Cherokee Rotors, custom aluminum brackets, and Wilwood Dynalite calipers. With machining costs and parts, it was around $600 to build. I also had to spend more money on a larger master cylinder and an adjustable proportioning valve to compensate for the bigger brakes.

 

[Tabcon]

And the thlot gets plicker!

I pretty much figured having to fabricate the mount adapters, that is unless I can convince Darryl @ Racetorations to sell me just the mounts instead of the entire kit. Probably not a great chance of that though. I had considered using aluminum, but since the parts will be small and weight is not a great concern, I will most likely just use steel instead. Making a mock up out of wood or steel is a great idea.

I'm not planning on changing anything suspension-wise since I've already built out everything, and the calipers I'm considering by are no larger than the stock ones, so I should be alright. I'm upgrading the entire braking system to a dual master cylinder set up with a proportioning valve that will be in the cockpit. I've also decided to copy what Triumph did with their works cars by routing all the brake and fuel lines through the body instead of attaching them to the chassis. I think it's a great idea and it limits the possibility of tearing them off on a rock or something. Not that I plan on 4 wheeling in the car, but I am attempting sort of a rally type resto-mod.

Did you use the type rotor that bolts to the hub or to a rotor hat? I was going to go with the rotor hat as it gives me a few more choices of rotor size and thickness. Also, what brand of brakes did you choose?
I don't know much about Wilwood. I'm more familiar with Brembo, but navigating their site and trying to pick out parts is a major PITA. I think going with a US based company is probably a good idea as well.

Thanks!

 

[Leebo]

Richard Good has a Wilwood kit now, front and rear. https://www.goodparts.com/shop/index.php?categoryID=29

It's on my Christmas List...

 

[Tabcon]

Only for TR6...right?

Richard has great stuff. I bought his aluminum steering rack mounts.

I went to the Wilwood site today and put together a do-it-yourself type kit consisting of 2 aluminum hats, 2 11.75" drilled and slotted rotors and 2 four pot forged Dynalight (red) calipers. The black calipers are about 50 bucks less. Expensive paint. I will still need to fabricate some caliper mount adapters though. The whole kit as purchased from Jegs or Summit runs a little over $900, which isn't bad considering a similar kit from PRI runs about 2k.

 

[tr8todd]

The TR8 uses a hub that has rotors mounted on the back side of it. I just reused that design, just with different pieces from other applications. The big reason for going thru all of this on my car was to get a hub that was five lug and used larger wheel bearings. If I was content to stay with what was there, I would have just bought a kit. Most of the kits out there use the Willwood Dynalite calipers or one of the slide mount calipers and a custom aluminum bracket. The Dynalites can be ordered to fit several rotor thicknesses and at least a couple of different mounting spacings. The size of them and their light weight makes them ideal for small cars under 3K pounds or so. If I ever make another kit, I will use the Willwood hats and rotors instead of the bolt on stock based rotors. It would end up being less work that I have to take to the machinist, and would also end up being even lighter in weight. Once completed, spare parts would just be a phone call to a Willwood distributor away. The only downside would be that the wheel mounting surface would be stepped out farther by the thickness of the rotor hats. Willwoods web site is easy to navigate and there are great measured drawings of every piece they sell.

 

[trfourtune]

Tab,
have you seen this site:
https://www.tr6car11.bravehost.com/BRAKES.html
might be what your looking for. My only comment is that willwood superlite calipers do not have dust seals, so for a street car, the calipers will wear out much faster than calipers with dust seals, especially if the calipers are aluminum instead of steel (which these are). Some dynapro calipers come with dust seals but mounts will be required. This is the route i plan to go.
Rob

 

[Tabcon]

I have seen some of this guys stuff for sale on ebay before, but I've never been to his site.
He says on his site that the kit is only for TR4A IRS and TR6, but I don't think there is much if any difference between a late TR4 front braking parts and the 6. The hubs and caliper mounts are exactly the same.

I did find this site also:

https://www.hispecbrake.co.uk/Conversions/Triumph/TR5%20285%20B4.htm

I did a little research on the HiSpec stuff and I can't say I'm too impressed, but they do seem to sell aluminum caliper hanger adapters. If they are a standard size, they should work with the Wilwood stuff, which would save me the time and expense of fabricating them.