TR2/3/3A Toyota brakes on a TR3?

[tinman58]

I have heard that there is a way to install toyota brakes on the TR3. I have searched some but with no results. Does any body have any info on this and is it worth doing?

 

[tdskip]

TR3 is not a bolt on like TR4a or TR6, some frabrication is needed.

Pat wrote this up well if memory serves.

 

[martx-5]

I put them in my TR3. There are a couple of things necessary to do the job. The biggest problem is that you will need the caliper brackets from a TR6 to mount them. Also, you will need a hose adapter for the metric inlet, and there may be interference with the caliper if you have the larger 11" rotor. I also fabbed a bracket for the brake line. I'll dig out some pics later if you want.

Everything else should be the same as posted on the VTR site.

 

[TR3driver]

and is it worth doing?

IMO, depends on how sexy you think those 4 piston calipers are. The stock TR3 brakes work very well (assuming there isn't something wrong that should be corrected, like glazed or contaminated pads) and have slightly more swept area (an important measure of fade resistance).

If the Toy calipers provided more "stopping power", then they would upset the front/rear balance, which would actually result in less total stopping power (because the front wheels would lock up before the back wheels were doing all they could). Locked wheels actually lose some grip; optimum braking is when all 4 wheels are just short of locking up. So to get back to the stock performance, you would also have to change the rear slave cylinders (which is how the front/rear balance gets adjusted).

I actually get spoiled driving my TR3 every day; sudden stops on the freeway that would be just ordinary with the TR3 turn into tire-smoking panic stops with the wife's Toyota. But the shop claims there's nothing wrong with it ... except maybe that it has 50,000 mile Michelin tires on it while the TR3 has shorter-lived but higher performance tires.

IMO the best brake upgrade is stickier tires.

PS, if you cannot lock all four wheels when you want to, there is something wrong with the brakes. Something worth trying, IMO, when there aren't other cars around; rather than waiting until you really need them. It's also a Good Thing to learn how the car feels and acts when the brakes are nearly locked.

 

[DanB]

Does anybody have the link to the upgrade that uses the Cressida vented rotors?

Thanks,

Dan B

 

[cheseroo]

Here is one of the places that discusses the Cressida rotor swap. I'm not really sure it's worth it to go to either the solid or vented Toyota swap on a TR3 since you likely already have more brake than tire.

From personal experience, I've had stock rebuilt brakes on my TR6 and the Toyota calipers/Morgan wheel cylinders on the TR250. The "feel" on the TR250 is much better. The TR250 had long dead hydraulics so the choice was to replace/rebuild the stock system or go with the upgraded stuff. Cost is more or less a wash (cheaper if you don't have to buy replacement Triumph caliper pistons) and the conversion work isn't that difficult (I bought a short length of metric flare line, cut it, put the old triumph flare fitting on one end and re-flared the line). If I had a hydraulic system that was in good working order, I can't see making the swap unless I was exceptionally bored and had money burning a hole in my pockets.

 

[DanB]

Thanks for the link Rich. If you are driving in the mountains, the vented rotors would be a big help. You can heat up your brakes really fast coming downhill.

Dan B

 

[TR3driver]

You can heat up your brakes really fast coming downhill.

I do enjoy playing on mountain roads; but oddly enough I have never managed to overheat the TR3's brakes. I have deliberately gotten them hot enough to smoke (still without much fade) but not even that hot coming down a mountain.

Of course I've never been up much past 11,000 feet ...

 

[sp53]

Randall are you suggesting there is something sexier that a stock tr3 front brake caliper? Why that is pure communism.