B-b-ber BREMBOS!

[ChimpOnGas]

My original from callipers were partially seized so imagine the difference for me when I upgraded 'Ol Gasbag' to Brembos. I'd stripped one calliper about three years ago which helped for a while but even then the original brakes never really inspired total confidence.

Recently I searched through the new DVLA online MoT history system which showed two different testers on two separate years had picked up on front brake imbalance on my car, all this some 10 years ago and before my ownership. So the problem goes way back, clearly a new set of callipers were needed so it made sense for me to take the opportunity to upgrade to Brembos, in the end it wasn't a huge amount more than replacing or refurbishing the originals.

When you consider the whole thing only cost me £600 the Brembo conversion is easily the best value for money modification I've done my the car in the seven or so years I've owned it, the confidence these brakes give changes the way I drive because they've completely removed what I now see was my subconscious mistrust of the original setup.

I'm now running the following setup:

• Front Brembo upgrade with 324mm plain vented Brembo discs & Brembo pads

• Standard rear brakes & Pagid pads

• Rebuilt rear Gaz Gold Pros set at 12 clicks from zero with uprated 400lbs springs fitted

• Double jointed Mondeo rear drop links with (no ARB bending to fit)

• My ancient old Bilstein front coil overs which amazed me by delivering a very compliant ride, excellent control under hard braking and very predictable front end behaviour

• Honda Accord front drop links (front ARB centred as I found it was sitting 10-15mm to the N/S)

To this I've just added a new set of bottom ball joints, all the above cost me £850 including the Brembo upgrade and having my rear GGPs rebuilt...... the car has been totally transformed.

It's the best £850 I've spent of the car ever, period!

[Matthew Poxon]

Surely not better value than the LPG conversion....

[QBee]

Matthew Poxon said:

Surely not better value than the LPG conversion....

He's right - you've had far more column inches out of the LPG conversion....
Did I mention I am presently running this on LPG?
2.9 straight six, about 22mpg before gas.....36-40 equivalent mpg on gas.

[ClassiChimi]

Matthew Poxon said:

Surely not better value than the LPG conversion....

That's pushing it a bit

I've been reading and I'm not the only one who feels the rears can come on a bit to harsh when being first applied.

I'd replaced all the brake pads and discs on the old set up front to rear via Powers and it was exactly the same.

Having re kindled my love for motorbikes last year and then riding deep concentrated runs up and down mountains and big wide smooth roads to explore the bike with, my biggest memory now is the thrill of getting confidence in the brakes, more and more I felt this massive buzz and confidence when I had the rear wheel hovering above the ground and how little rear brake I would be using, that feeling of the engine locking and the chain chatter just momentarily and my use of the rear brake or lack of it to compensate, driving cars all these years you forget that part of it, how your brain is acting on both brakes at the same time.

It honed the skill and I fell in love with my riding again.
Six months later putting the Brembo set up on that Dave kindly detailed for us was instantly like getting on the bike,
Jeez these cars are almost as light on the rear wheels under braking as a bike,
So my point is I recognised that trait and now I'm using slightly more front brake focus the brake bias valve appears to be far better in control of the rear brakes, just enough to add some squat but not enough to chuck you sideways and I was so impressed how I could still brake heavily on the front when the cars slightly sideways and the rear outside wheel stay stuck, my instinct is that at that brake pressure I'd have locked the rear wheels on the old set up.

For not much more than the price of a full service at a Tvr specialist you can transform how the car fundamentally acts in the most challenging of situations.

My cars been on the road with these brakes including the same standard BMW road pads as detailed by Chimpongas above, in every scenario that 7,000 miles of driving can go through and other than really aggressive track applications they are faultless and massively capable, they do produce more dust than the old ones which just shows how good they are working, at first I had problems bedding the lefts in but once the disc had worn (800 miles ) and the outside edge starting working they are balanced to a very close degree from left to right.
Fanbloody tastic

As Alex once said, it's only four bolts ffs
Easy mod to do if you own a small drill

[QBee]

I agree with you Alun - I have noticed that I don't spin on track days now I have bigger front brakes.
It must have been the rears grabbing before I upgraded them.

What do you mean, incompetent driver?

[ClassiChimi]

QBee said:

He's right - you've had far more column inches out of the LPG conversion....
Did I mention I am presently running this on LPG?
2.9 straight six, about 22mpg before gas.....36-40 equivalent mpg on gas.

You sure do like your old bangers Anthony
I like it a lot

[QBee]

ClassiChimi said:

QBee said:

He's right - you've had far more column inches out of the LPG conversion....
Did I mention I am presently running this on LPG?
2.9 straight six, about 22mpg before gas.....36-40 equivalent mpg on gas.

You sure do like your old bangers Anthony
I like it a lot

That's no way to refer to she to whom I am related by marriage.
But I will let you off this time.
I seem to remember you are a bit partial to a straight 6 or V8 product of Brown's Lane yourself.....

Tell you what, the Volvo is comfortable, all mod cons, quiet, tows well, loads of space, tight turning circle, seven seats if you need them.
One of my better old bangers, I think

[ClassiChimi]

Volvo's brilliant cars great choice indeed.

[ukkid35]

If you ever find you need a seal kit for your Brembos, I can recommend the Budweg kits sold by http://brakeparts.co.uk/

They are also on eBay as http://stores.ebay.co.uk/brakesinternational

I just fitted a set of these to the rear of my 928, excellent value at just £14 in p&p per caliper

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331470776532

[Sardonicus]

ukkid35 said:

If you ever find you need a seal kit for your Brembos, I can recommend the Budweg kits sold by http://brakeparts.co.uk/

They are also on eBay as http://stores.ebay.co.uk/brakesinternational

I just fitted a set of these to the rear of my 928, excellent value at just £14 in p&p per caliper

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331470776532

Agree with above, many of these kits the dust seals dont fit correctly, but these are pukka quality

[ChimpOnGas]

Get ready girls & boys all fuel is going up again... LPG will go up too but at a slower rate, when fuel prices increase the price gap between LPG and the other two fuels always gets bigger so LPG users win every time.

Last week I filled up with LPG at £0.50p a litre where the 95 Ron was £1.15, that's £1.15 / £0.50p = 2.3 X my 22mpg average economy on LPG meaning 'Ol Gasbag' is happily delivering an average petrol cost equivalent of 50.6 mpg wherever she goes, this comfortably exceeds the 47mpg average I was seeing from my outgoing Toyota Prius hybrid.

Diesel at the same station was £1.16 which gives 'Ol Gasbag' the diesel cost equivalent economy of 51.04 mpg, my factory fresh Audi A3 turbo diesel 1.6 with its DSG automated twin clutch manual gearbox left to do its thing gets bang on 51 mpg average, so while my brand new German super high pressure rail diesel betters the 1.8 petrol Prius Hybrid from Toyota it still actually only just manages to match my V8 TVR on the pence per mile stakes.

I know which of the three I'd rather be driving, and because it costs the same or less to fuel than my two high tech four cylinder examples I get to have my V8 pleasure without any cost penalty whatsoever.

What's not to like

[QBee]

I'm with you there Dave. Just filled up the tank with LPG at 51.9 p per litre.....

[ChimpOnGas]

QBee said:

He's right - you've had far more column inches out of the LPG conversion....
Did I mention I am presently running this on LPG?
2.9 straight six, about 22mpg before gas.....36-40 equivalent mpg on gas.

I'm liking this vehicle, must be a very spacious and refined luxury car and seems to be delivering small petrol hatchback fuel economy.

Just needs some Brembos

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Tuesday 18th October 20:58

[QBee]

I do understand humour, even irony, but psychic too?
The brakes are alarmingly mediocre. It's on my hit list for the next service.
Also the accelerator is too close to the brake. Hit both at once this afternoon at a junction off the A14. Slightly alarming!!
Car will be going to Mat Smith for its service.....

[ClassiChimi]

QBee said:

I agree with you Alun - I have noticed that I don't spin on track days now I have bigger front brakes.
It must have been the rears grabbing before I upgraded them.

What do you mean, incompetent driver?

Steady on mate

It doesn't matter how sensitive a driver you are if the brakes lock it's often just to late and the cars way off balance by then!

As much as I like the extra braking it's more the balance that has made the brakes so much better.

I've done a lot of brake tests over the last months but always in a straight line so this episode confirms what my brain has been trying to tell me.

I took a chance on these Brembo's having the right balance because that always held me back as I couldn't believe it would be so made to measure but you'd seriously think they were designed for the car.

[AdriaanB]

Hi guys, maybe a stupid question, but would the Brembo callipers also work with smaller (283mm) discs? My Chimaera's front wheels are 15" estorils hence it limits dics size a bit, however would like to have a Brembo upgrade as well.

[QBee]

Those ones wouldn't - but there may be suitable sized ones out there

ETA try this thread - Trev4 is well pleased with his, I hear from our mutual friend

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by QBee on Wednesday 19th October 13:17

[ukkid35]

Sardonicus said:

ukkid35 said:

If you ever find you need a seal kit for your Brembos, I can recommend the Budweg kits sold by http://brakeparts.co.uk/

They are also on eBay as http://stores.ebay.co.uk/brakesinternational

I just fitted a set of these to the rear of my 928, excellent value at just £14 in p&p per caliper

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331470776532

Agree with above, many of these kits the dust seals don't fit correctly, but these are pukka quality

Here's few pics in case that inspires anyone to refurb their calipers.

You could argue that this is only half a job, because the other thing you need to do is remove the stainless plates, clean any corrosion underneath, and refit the plates. However I sorted that a couple of years ago. If you don't do that then the pads eventually become clamped in place by the stainless plates.

First remove pads and pump out the pistons, they won't fall out



Next use opposing screwdrivers to extract them the last couple of millimetres





Clean up any corrosion



Fit the new seals and boots, use plenty of grease around the seal and piston, avoid using any around the boot

[portzi]

Fantastic job you have done there Paul. I do feel your pain getting the stainless pad cages out, as you can see on the picture mine too have severe corrosion behind them. I ended up welding a nut onto the retaining screw head what a PITA just to get them off, before changing my piston seals

[ukkid35]

portzi said:

Fantastic job you have done there Paul. I do feel your pain getting the stainless pad cages out,

In all fairness I outsourced that task to Chris at Loe Bank - 928 specialist in Lancs. I found out from bitter experience when doing the fronts that I needed expert help!