brake upgrades
Discussion
quote:
looking for advice to upgrade the brakes on a grif 4.3.
It currently has vented front discs (escort ish) and soild rears. Was thinking of changing the fronts to escort rs turbo and the rears to 4x4 cossie, as this might not brake the bank. Any suggestions???
No need to upgrade the back as this is more than adequate. Beefing up the front is a bit more complex. This needs the hub uprights to be changed and is not a straightforward upgrade. The disks will basically not fit because the dimensions are all wrong.
Tower View should have a kit that will allow the fronts to be upgraded to a 283 mm disk available in 3-4 weeks that use the existing callipers. Basically a variation of the Wilwood setup I have been evaluating on my Griff but without the expence of Wilwoods etc so the cost will be a lot lot lower. Vastly improved braking but at a very reasonable cost.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
I looked into upgrades on my 4.3 last year - talked to Peninsula and their suggestions were: 1: direct replacement fast road pads and d&g disk 2: upgrade to Griff 500 spec with FR pads and D&G or 3: Wilwood 4-pots and bigger disks.
I initially went for the 4-pots, (i think it was about £500 supplied) but needed them in a hurry and they couldn't supply everything in time, so ended up with just replacement original size disks and green stuff pads.
Cost about £120 all in IIRC
To be honest I've found them perfectly adequate so far
I initially went for the 4-pots, (i think it was about £500 supplied) but needed them in a hurry and they couldn't supply everything in time, so ended up with just replacement original size disks and green stuff pads.
Cost about £120 all in IIRC
To be honest I've found them perfectly adequate so far
It takes the 240 (early cars) and 260 (500s) to a 283 disc and reuses the original callipers to save cost although a future development will be with replacement callipers but it all adds to the costs which many people don't want to pay. The idea is to pay a bit more than straight replacements and then get a greatly improved braking.
I've been testing the discs and so on on my Griff 500. At Silverstone last night did a 30 minute session followed by 3 x 20 minutes with no brake fade at all and no overheating. So pretty pleased. Hanger straight at 120-130 and hit the brakes at the 50 metre sign and off came 60 mph.
Surprising thing is that the brake dust appears to be greatly reduced and the main amount came from the Greenstuff on the rears, eating into the disc itself. Gives some indication of how much stick I was giving them...
Still a bit of prototyping and checking as there is a vareiety of wheels and variations out there but it is looking good.
Steve
>> Edited by shpub on Thursday 1st August 19:00
I've been testing the discs and so on on my Griff 500. At Silverstone last night did a 30 minute session followed by 3 x 20 minutes with no brake fade at all and no overheating. So pretty pleased. Hanger straight at 120-130 and hit the brakes at the 50 metre sign and off came 60 mph.
Surprising thing is that the brake dust appears to be greatly reduced and the main amount came from the Greenstuff on the rears, eating into the disc itself. Gives some indication of how much stick I was giving them...
Still a bit of prototyping and checking as there is a vareiety of wheels and variations out there but it is looking good.
Steve
>> Edited by shpub on Thursday 1st August 19:00
quote:
Surprising thing is that the brake dust appears to be greatly reduced and the main amount came from the Greenstuff on the rears, eating into the disc itself. Gives some indication of how much stick I was giving them...
Very reassuring to read that. I did the same with my car at a track day and have been concerned ever since that the rears have been doing far too much work.
I've researched just about all of the available upgrades but due to cost will be limiting my next move to larger 285mm disks at the front when the existing ones need replacing. Have recently fitted greenstuff pads front and rear. Braking from 135mph on a track into a hairpin showed no signs of fade all day. Also, having fresh brake fluid I am sure helps much more than you would think.
The discs fitted to the front of your car should be 240mm with small Ford single piston calipers I would
For a reasonable upgrade speak to Richard @ Peninsula I know they have several 500 griff calipers that are good but out of use due to 4 pot calipers being fitted then perhaps go for 285mm discs with good pads etc
For a reasonable upgrade speak to Richard @ Peninsula I know they have several 500 griff calipers that are good but out of use due to 4 pot calipers being fitted then perhaps go for 285mm discs with good pads etc
The 500 callipers are not a bolt on fit for the 240m cars. The upright needs to be changed which makes it an expensive way forward.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Re the bolt on of griffith calipers to 240mm cars, you can do it, the upright for the front does not need to be changed. You must however take the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket from a griffith and this bolts straight onto the front carrier. Should take about 1 hour to do both sides, including fitting brake hoses and bleeding brakes. Parts required are calipers/caliper brackets, new disks/pads, brake fluid and bleed tool.
However changing the rears does require a new upright.
>> Edited by SMB on Sunday 4th August 19:53
However changing the rears does require a new upright.
>> Edited by SMB on Sunday 4th August 19:53
when doing the M i found that both the early and late calipers would fit, ie sierra and granada sized, with the granada ones you need a spacer to space the caliper mount out from the upright cos TVR use a strange large disc offset - typical tvr of course. mind you if you get the right disc you won't need that either. it's a straightforward swap and the easiest way to update your stoppers. why do tower view do it differently I wonder .. maybe they have a better set-up?
quote:
You must however take the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket from a griffith and this bolts straight onto the front carrier.
What calliper bracket? Mine and the myriad of cars I've looked at don't have a seperate calliper spacer bracket and the calliper bolts direct to the upright bracket.
quote:
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You must however take the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket from a griffith and this bolts straight onto the front carrier.
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What calliper bracket? Mine and the myriad of cars I've looked at don't have a seperate calliper spacer bracket and the calliper bolts direct to the upright bracket.
It's not the caliper spacer bracket, it the bracket the caliper mounts onto. the caliper comes in 2 parts, the caliper itself and the mounting bracket, you can't mount a 260mm caliper on a 240mm bracket, you need to replace both. there are no special brackets, no fabriacted parts ( all ford parts), it can be done simply.
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You must however take the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket from a griffith and this bolts straight onto the front carrier.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What calliper bracket? Mine and the myriad of cars I've looked at don't have a seperate calliper spacer bracket and the calliper bolts direct to the upright bracket.
It's not the caliper spacer bracket, it the bracket the caliper mounts onto. the caliper comes in 2 parts, the caliper itself and the mounting bracket, you can't mount a 260mm caliper on a 240mm bracket, you need to replace both. there are no special brackets, no fabriacted parts ( all ford parts), it can be done simply.
Oh well TVR's don't you just...
I have several uprights and callipers sitting in my garage and there is a difference between them. I am wondering if there has been yet another part change in the car's lifes because with the smaller upright I have that came from a 4.x car, the 500 calliper doesn't fit!
With the bigger one it does. Curiouser and curiousier as they say. Could have been someone else fitting a different upright (Escort vs Sierra vs P100) I suspect.
Time for some more investigations tonight I think. Thanks for the info.
Steve
I have several uprights and callipers sitting in my garage and there is a difference between them. I am wondering if there has been yet another part change in the car's lifes because with the smaller upright I have that came from a 4.x car, the 500 calliper doesn't fit!
With the bigger one it does. Curiouser and curiousier as they say. Could have been someone else fitting a different upright (Escort vs Sierra vs P100) I suspect.
Time for some more investigations tonight I think. Thanks for the info.
Steve
LOL Steve .. isn't it funny how TVR can take seemingly normal ford parts and manage to make life so complicated!!
I collected a range of uprights from many crashed chim and griff cars and found I could interchange between them all as long as you bolt everything from one upright onto another, the XR4i upright is a much weedier casting than the griff chim version but even on that the caliper mount lugs are the same distance apart, but that version also uses the granada sized caliper and mount, was the only sierra at the time to do so, so that's maybe the reason I didn't run into problems on that car.
One thing you can be sure of though, if there's a way to frustrate people then TVR will find it ..
I collected a range of uprights from many crashed chim and griff cars and found I could interchange between them all as long as you bolt everything from one upright onto another, the XR4i upright is a much weedier casting than the griff chim version but even on that the caliper mount lugs are the same distance apart, but that version also uses the granada sized caliper and mount, was the only sierra at the time to do so, so that's maybe the reason I didn't run into problems on that car.
One thing you can be sure of though, if there's a way to frustrate people then TVR will find it ..
I have just ordered my new discs from Pininsula(99 500). I did not have any fade at Oulton with the standard pads or discs. But the fluid boiled, leaving me with no brakes at all with no notice, a bit hairy to say the least. I have to up grade my fluid and thought i would go just a little better with the discs and pads. Oh discs £64
>> Edited by david beer on Tuesday 6th August 11:39
>> Edited by david beer on Tuesday 6th August 11:39
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