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Wilwood - Big Brake Kit

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Branson

Branson

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stumbled across this today on EvilBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AUSTIN-HEA...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

I like the fact that it uses the wilwood calipers and is a "bolt on kit" but Im curious...do you suppose its similar to the other big brake kits in that it uses and adapter/spacer to mount a spitfire rotor? This wilwood kit is much more expensive than the huffaker styled kit. If I remember correctly, Hap was indicating that the huffaker kit wasn't exactly a "bolt on kit".
 
This kit includes a custom hub. There is a similar kit sold by JLH Morris from the UK for about the same money. My only question for Steve is about the rotor. Is it an off the shelf item, custom, or semi-custom.
 
Actually, the JLH unit uses a vented disc.
 
The alternative to this is to use Spitfire rotors and MGB calipers.

You need to make a special spacer for the rotor but that's it.

Personally, I don't find the standard front disk brakes a problem; I'm even using just street, semi-metallic pads in my vintage race car with good results.
The main thing is to keep oil off the rears linings.....that's a challenge!
 
I've only overheated my brakes a couple of times, and it is a little nerve racking. If I had the cash I'd look at one of the setups closely.
 
[.
The main thing is to keep oil off the rears linings.....that's a challenge![/QUOTE]


Nice to know I'm not the only one with rear seal leak's!!


Kurt.
 
Steve engineered these from scratch. I don't know a lot of details, but he was telling me about working up details for these up last summer when I was looking for a new machinist. I suspect these are a little different than what's available elsewhere. Peter Mays makes something similar using Wilwood calipers.

Be careful about jumping on the JLH Morris stuff. I know the Ford and Marina kits for the Morris will not fit under 13" wheels. They are a very close fit for 14" too. Also, the caliper mounting is different for a Morris. I have installed both the Marina and Ford kits on the Morris Minor. The Ford kit is a huge improvement over the Spridget conversion.

And finally, The MGB caliper/Spitfire rotor conversion is definitely not what I would call "bolt-on". The kit is not complete and requires a lot of grinding/fitting to make work. It's not for the faint hearted and I would never install one again.
 
The JLH Morris stuff is supposed to be engineered for a midget, but he certainly makes no claim about what type/size wheels will work with the setup. I would certainly require dimensions and guarantees and possibly a third party reference before shelling out that amount of coin.

Steve's kit seems to have been test fitted with wheel variations and hem makes it clear up front about the rims it will work with. If I could just stumble into a bit of money I'd consider that kit for my Bugeye (It has big grippy tires and could use a bit more brake at the front).
 
Ive got my eyes on a set of 15x6 Rota minilight look alikes....that should give me plenty of clearance for the calipers...just need to make sure they will fit inside of the square wheel arches. I ground the inner lips of the rear wheel arches down when we were doing the body work just don't if that will be enough.
 
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