4.0ltr to 5.0ltr Rear Brake Upgrade

[Earl Grey]

Hi All

I have upgraded my front Breaks to the Willwood 4pots and the 280 ish discs. however they work so well the nose dives and easy to lock up.

I need now to sort the rear to gain a better brake balance so was going to swap out my rear solid discs on my 94 Chim and upgrade to the larger 273mm vented Disc.

has anyone done this before?

I have bought a set of calipers and carriers from a TVR that had vented disc.
Do i need anything else before i start taking bits off the car ?

Ive searched for the answer but not found the answers i need. so if anyone can help would be great.

Regards earl grey

[Earl Grey]

QBee said:

Let's just clarify what you (say you) are trying to do.

1. Bigger front brakes mean you can now lock up the front tyres.
2. Bigger front brakes mean the nose of the car now dives under braking.

To cure this you feel you should beef up the rear brakes.

Other possible approaches:

1. To stop locking up the tyres:

a) teach yourself to brake better, not slamming them on but cadence braking and being in army with your car. You have got used to the standard set up and need to adapt to your new set up.
b) get grippier tyres (something like Federal 595 RSR road legal track tyres)

2. To stop the front diving under braking

a) change your springs to stiffer springs (cheap). The standard springs are a lot softer than you would run on a track day
b) change your dampers to adjustables (not cheap) and run the car with the front dampers set stiffer.

I have found that my car is comfortable on the road with 425lb springs on the front and stiffer dampers, and 400lb springs on the rear and the dampers set to soft.. It's the rear setting that defines what you feel through your backside, the front setting that defines what the nose of the car does.

My front brakes are 324mm vented grooved Black Diamond disks, 4 pot calipers and Hawk racing pads. My rears are 273mm (ie standard sized) vented grooved Black Diamond disks, standard 2 pot calipers and Ferodo DS 2500 pads. I find the brakes to be really well balanced. I have Racing Red adjustable dampers, but the car felt good on my previous Gaz Gold Pro dampers. Set stiff at the front to counteract dive and give steering feel, soft at the rear to give a comfy ride.

Just to clarify and not to Assume
The suspension has been changed and front springs are stiffer than standard 425 from memory.
Shocks are also Adjustable.
Tyres are Yoko Prada.
Mainly happens when turning and braking from speed on track. but has made it generally easier to lock the front and from a safety aspect on the road, where its a natural reaction is to stab the breaks in an emergency, it would lock up in this situation! On Track obviously i manage them, however i would like a better all around balance, as my standard is the Smaller solid rear disc.

Maybe i will stiffen the front shocks but not sure this will help, but may give it ago and let you know how it goes.

[Earl Grey]

Alexdaredevils said:

Recently did this conversion

Great thanks for the PIC's i guess they are stripped out Ford sierra 4x4 2.9 or something like that "hubs"
im tempted to get them but sometimes feel that some of the current TVR part suppliers company take the P**s with the pricing!! for what is essentially and old ford part! else i will have a scout about for them else where...

Thanks for the Help so far tho guys.

[Earl Grey]

Alexdaredevils said:

Bingo

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sierra-Cosworth-escort-c...

A bit of electrolysis and they will come up like new

Good Find

[Earl Grey]

QBee said:

Hope i hadn't offended by assuming too much. Apologies if I had. I just wanted to get you looking at your suspension as well as your rear brakes. As an alternative to upgrading the size and hence the callipers, you could improve the stopping power by changing just the disks for grooved ventilated, and the pads for better ones.

I had Yokohama Parada Spec 2s a couple of years ago. Not a bad tyre, but you will have far more fun on track and road with a tyre like the Federal. I mentioned them because most road legal track tyres are around £600 a set, but the Fedeals are half that.

It took me a while to get used to being able to lock the fronts up easily - the standard brake set up almost avoids that, so we get used to not needing ABS. Now I am used to the bigger brakes I use them to my advantage on track, braking later and harder. But I am still prone to nasty lock ups on the road if I panic brake.

Not at all made me chuckle as you explained everything i had tried... all the bits have arrived just have to paint it all up before i fit it all on the car.
I did see the Billet ones but not sure on the durability of them under load.

Once done i will update you all on the results.

Thanks for the help.