Porsche Brembo caliper upgrade. Has anyone done this?
Porsche Brembo caliper upgrade. Has anyone done this?
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Discussion

Darranu

Original Poster:

347 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
Hi,
It's brakes next for my E36 328 track car. Whilst I'd love to go down the AP route there's simply no way I could justify the cost.

After a bit of digging I've come across the Porsche caliper upgrade coupled with the 325mm rotor from a 330Ci. Has anyone carried out this upgrade? My main question is regarding pedal travel and feel. Was the standard master cylinder ok or was a replacement required?
How was the upgrade, was it worth the hassle or in hindsight did you wish you'd just bit the bullet and gone for a complete kit.
Is there any other options I've overlooked?
In a couple of months the car will be going in for a full weld in cage to be fitted and at that point it’s my intention to run it on slicks, would this upgrade be up to it or is it just time to spend some ££’s and do it right first time.
Any advice from people who've already been down this road would be gratefully received.

Many thanks,
Darran

Frances The Mute

1,816 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
I did a similar mod on my old 328.

I used some brand new Brembo 4 pots from a 911 (997) with floating discs from the E46 M3. I had to get adaptors machined up to mate with the carrier and caliper as well as machining the caliper mounts down for clearance.
In addition, I had to use spacers although thwe size will obviously be dependent on the offset of your wheels.

The standard master cylinder will be no good. I used the MC from an E36 M3 evo. I also upgraded to braided hoses and the ubiquitous 5.1 fluid.

The result? Incredible braking force. The amount of input required was vastly decreased with no travel of sponginess apparent.
When used on track, light modulations were all that was required to scrub huge speed off as any heavy inputs were enough to cause the tyres some serious grief. They were definitely the weak point in the chain after carrying out this mod.

It was a hugely worthwhile modification so definitely worth the effort; regardless of it being a track car or fast road car.







Edited by Frances The Mute on Wednesday 29th February 12:54

Darranu

Original Poster:

347 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
Thanks for taking the time to reply, thats just the sort of response I was loking for.
Looks like its time to start looking for a good pair of calipers then.

Regards,
Darran

Darranu

Original Poster:

347 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
P.s forgot to ask, do the E46 floating disks fit the E36 hubs ok or did you need to fit M3 hubs?
Thanks in advance,
darran

Frances The Mute

1,816 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
E46 discs fit perfectly on the hub so there's no worries there.

Darranu

Original Poster:

347 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
Happy days, Cheers

bulldog5046

1,495 posts

209 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
Just another angle on this one as i also have this upgrade.

I'm running standard master cylinder and the pedal travel did not change. i'm also still on original hoses until i get a chance to replace with braided.

Its a straight forward upgrade if you know a good machine shop to mill the caliper faces and you order the bracket from rallyroad.net

Can have a look at my track car build if you want to see pictures:

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

Cheers,
Ry

Darranu

Original Poster:

347 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th February 2012
quotequote all
Thanks Ry,

I've already done the hose's so thats one thing less to do, must admit though I didn't realise how many different 4 pot Porsche calipers there is. At least I know that this looks to be the best value brake upgrade so I'm going in the right direction.

Cheers for the reply,
Darran