Fitting Wilwoods and AP CP5200
Discussion
I'm in the middle of a front suspension refurb and always thought I'd like to change the front brakes for something bigger but didn't really fancy using the heavier cosworth calipers. So I've been having a play with some new brakes and thought I'd shared my findings.
A friend of mine recently won a Wilwood kit on ebay for his Fiesta and was kind enough to let me try them on my hubs before he fitted them to his. The brake kit is actually for a Fiesta XR2i or Escort MK5 (not cosworth) and the brackets are stamped BK12D which is also the code that Rally Design use to identify that kit.
The discs that came with the kit are 279mm dia, 24mm wide and 44mm high, after having a look around they seem to be off a Fiesta ST150. Which got me thinking how big are Focus ST170 discs? It turns out they're 300mm with the same height and still 4 bolt. So after a bit of measuring I spaced the caliper out and trial fitted them to my Imola's. The first wheel fitted, just! The other wheel has a slight flat spot and rubbed.
Not a problem I can get them turned down a few mm on a lathe and then they should be the biggest you can fit behind standard 15" wheels. So I bought a set of Focus discs, luckily my dad is very handy with his lathe so he turned the discs down to 294mm and made a couple of 26mm spacers from some 1" aluminium bar. Once I was happy I can source some discs I phoned Rally Design, quoted the code and they sent me out a set of brackets.
With the discs turned down they fit great and have a couple of mm clearence on both wheels. Next on my list to sort out was the brake lines as the Wilwood calipers use a 1/8 NPT thread. Compbrake do sell an adaptor from M10 x 1.0mm but after checking with Earls they said they can make some custom hoses for £18 + VAT.
It was my plan at this point to fit this but another willing friend currently has his Cerb in pieces and was nice enough to lend me a 6 bolt AP CP5200.
As the AP caliper has the same 152mm mounting dimesions as the Wilwood I did wonder if I might be able to use the BK12D bracket. When I first tried it looked a long way out but after fliping round the bracket and changing the disc it fits! With the bracket flipped round it needs a disc with a height of 56mm which so happens to be a Sierra Cosworth 2WD disc. I haven't got a Sierra disc handy but my orginal 260mm's are the same height so I used them to check. Next I roughly measured out where the caliper would need to be for a 283mm disc and test fitted it in my wheel.
Its quite tight but I'll have to wait until my Sierra 283mm discs arrive to see if there going to need turning down. I've just ordered a set of Tuscan calipers from Douglas valley so hopefully once they turned up with the Sierra discs I'll be able to confirm they fit. The Cerbera calipers normally use a banjo bolt so I'll either need to get my braided hose converted at Pirtek or get Earls to make some up. That should make removing the caliper easier if I need to in future.
Personally I prefer the AP calipers as I think it looks better, keeps it a bit more orginally and cheaper. But the smaller dimesions of the Wilwood caliper does allow for a bigger disc while keeping the weight about the same.
I also weighed it all out of curiosity
Rough Costs as well
A friend of mine recently won a Wilwood kit on ebay for his Fiesta and was kind enough to let me try them on my hubs before he fitted them to his. The brake kit is actually for a Fiesta XR2i or Escort MK5 (not cosworth) and the brackets are stamped BK12D which is also the code that Rally Design use to identify that kit.
The discs that came with the kit are 279mm dia, 24mm wide and 44mm high, after having a look around they seem to be off a Fiesta ST150. Which got me thinking how big are Focus ST170 discs? It turns out they're 300mm with the same height and still 4 bolt. So after a bit of measuring I spaced the caliper out and trial fitted them to my Imola's. The first wheel fitted, just! The other wheel has a slight flat spot and rubbed.
Not a problem I can get them turned down a few mm on a lathe and then they should be the biggest you can fit behind standard 15" wheels. So I bought a set of Focus discs, luckily my dad is very handy with his lathe so he turned the discs down to 294mm and made a couple of 26mm spacers from some 1" aluminium bar. Once I was happy I can source some discs I phoned Rally Design, quoted the code and they sent me out a set of brackets.
With the discs turned down they fit great and have a couple of mm clearence on both wheels. Next on my list to sort out was the brake lines as the Wilwood calipers use a 1/8 NPT thread. Compbrake do sell an adaptor from M10 x 1.0mm but after checking with Earls they said they can make some custom hoses for £18 + VAT.
It was my plan at this point to fit this but another willing friend currently has his Cerb in pieces and was nice enough to lend me a 6 bolt AP CP5200.
As the AP caliper has the same 152mm mounting dimesions as the Wilwood I did wonder if I might be able to use the BK12D bracket. When I first tried it looked a long way out but after fliping round the bracket and changing the disc it fits! With the bracket flipped round it needs a disc with a height of 56mm which so happens to be a Sierra Cosworth 2WD disc. I haven't got a Sierra disc handy but my orginal 260mm's are the same height so I used them to check. Next I roughly measured out where the caliper would need to be for a 283mm disc and test fitted it in my wheel.
Its quite tight but I'll have to wait until my Sierra 283mm discs arrive to see if there going to need turning down. I've just ordered a set of Tuscan calipers from Douglas valley so hopefully once they turned up with the Sierra discs I'll be able to confirm they fit. The Cerbera calipers normally use a banjo bolt so I'll either need to get my braided hose converted at Pirtek or get Earls to make some up. That should make removing the caliper easier if I need to in future.
Personally I prefer the AP calipers as I think it looks better, keeps it a bit more orginally and cheaper. But the smaller dimesions of the Wilwood caliper does allow for a bigger disc while keeping the weight about the same.
I also weighed it all out of curiosity
| Brake (inc pads + bolts) | Caliper | Disc | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra 260mm | 4.6KG | 5KG | 9.6KG |
| Wilwood Midilite | 2.7KG | 6.8KG | 9.5KG |
| AP CP5200 | 3.5KG | --KG | --KG |
Rough Costs as well
Wilwoods
| Part | Supplier | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Calipers | Burton Power | £330 |
| Brackets | Rally Design | £70 |
| Aluminium bar | Ebay | £12 |
| High Tensile bolts | Ebay | £8 |
| Discs | Ebay | £60 |
| Hoses | Earls | £45 |
| Pads | Rally Design | £50 |
| Total | ~£575 |
AP CP5200
| Part | Supplier | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Calipers | Douglas Valley | £220 |
| Brackets | Rally Design | £70 |
| High Tensile bolts | Ebay | £4 |
| Discs | Ebay | £82 |
| Hoses | Earls | £50 |
| Total | ~£426 |
Finally got round to taking some finished pictures. I was a bit worried about opening the bleed nipples after reading of a few shearing so I used some freezing spray and they came out no problem. I gave AP a ring to get some new bleed nipples and they very kindly sent out a set of 4 free of charge, great service! The new nipples have a different design of cover, presumably to protect them better and prevent shearing.
After bleeding the pedal feels fantastic, it’s reassuringly very solid. I’m really happy with how they turned out and look great behind the 15” Imola. Ideally it needs wider discs so I’ll have to keep an idea on the pads. For 2 x AP discs & 2 x custom bells I was quoted £600 + VAT so I’ll keep them as they are for now and may look at this option again if I decide to fit bigger wheels and go for bigger discs.
After bleeding the pedal feels fantastic, it’s reassuringly very solid. I’m really happy with how they turned out and look great behind the 15” Imola. Ideally it needs wider discs so I’ll have to keep an idea on the pads. For 2 x AP discs & 2 x custom bells I was quoted £600 + VAT so I’ll keep them as they are for now and may look at this option again if I decide to fit bigger wheels and go for bigger discs.
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