BRAKES 3

I got the rt. side finished today but still have to get a set of bolts to fit the caliper. I'll use 3/8" bolts and make a sleeve to go on them to tighten up the fit. I hope to have the other one by maybe Tuesday and will take it for a test drive.

Took the test drive today and the brakes are fantastic. Wow, does it stop now and much less pedal pressure. I can lock the wheels if I push too hard. Better tires might prevent that. I think 32mm pistons would do just as well. This is an area where you don't know till you try it but I'm happy.

BRAKES 2

I was not happy with the look of the Suzuki calipers and will send them back. I bought, instead, a pair of Ducati Monster calipers with four 34mm pistons and four pads per caliper. Much higher price but larger pistons so more braking effort than what I had. The Suzuki calipers have four 32mm pistons and 108mm bolt spread. The Ducati has a 100mm bolt spread. Both are about the same size but the Brembo ones are a tiny bit smaller

The 3x3x1/2" aluminum angle will be made into the mounting brackets. I roughed out one today. I plan to add Drillium to it to lighten it up and do some contouring to it also.

I think these will look great when all finished up which should be early next week.

FRONT BRAKES

I haven't posted for some time because I've just been driving and the car has, for the most part, has performed beautifully. The one exception has been the front brakes. The calipers I got with all the parts were from Wilwood, an aftermarket supplier. They have turned out to be not up to the job. They will stop Ok but in a panic stop I have to really push hard on the pedal and the calipers over heat, boil the brake fluid and then tend to lock up. Following that they start to leak fluid. The calipers I got are described on the JZRUSA page. http://www.freewebs.com/jzrusa/07.htm

So, I have had enough and have bought new calipers.

These are from a Suzuki 600, 750 and 1300 Hayabusa bike on ebay. They have 4 pistons with 32mm pistons, similar area to the  Wilwood units and larger pad area than the Wilwood units.

Some notes on caliper area/pad area.
A single piston floating caliper with a piston area of, say 2.4 sq. in., is the same as a caliper with 2 pistons with 2.4 sq. in. area each. A 4 piston caliper with a single piston area of 1.4 sq. in is still the same as all the above. You take the number of the pistons on one side of the caliper and figure their area to find the force the caliper can create. A 4 piston caliper will have larger pads due to the larger spread of the 2 pistons on each side. Look at the width of the caliper on the web site above and look at the calipers I just bought. The piston area of the new ones is 2.5 sq. in. but are much wider.

Now for the myth of pad area. If you double the pad area you will not change the pedal effort required to stop the car!!! I know, this doesn't make sense but it is physics 101; trust me or look it up. So, what does happen by increasing the pad area is that heat is dissipated better and pad life is extended. Of course all the above requires the same master cylinder pad composition and the same pedal force. There are some other very small bits that affect pedal pressure but the above are the main areas of concern.

I'll post photos as I make the brackets and mount the new calipers. BTW the brake hose hookup will be really simple.