Post your custom front disc brake setups.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:30 PM

To make a hub, I tossed a regular factory rotor in the lathe and cut off the braking surface. After that, I turned down the outer diameter of the hub so it would fit in the rotor.
Once that was done, I put a used Mercedes rotor in the lathe and opened up the center register to fit over the hub. Massaging the bolt holes in the rotor left me with a usable rotating assembly.

To fit it to the car, I had to figure out where that monster rotor could sit and clear everything. It turns out there was only one place it would fit and I've got a little under 1/2" of clearance.

After figuring that out I grabbed a spare spindle and chucked it in the bench vise. A little chunk of 2x4 wood became my caliper bracket. I hacked it up until the caliper fit the new rotating assembly. When the parts fit, I stuck a chunk of steel in the vertical mill and copied the wood mock-up.

When doing something like that you have to know where EVERYTHING fits and make sure that there is no contact when the suspension moves and you turn the wheel.

Having a laths and mill at home isn't necessary but it sure makes it easier to build stuff.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:44 PM

you'll either have to turn every rotor to clear the hub when you need to replace rotors, or turn the hub and replace it.

or, turn the hub, and when the bearings go out, replace just the bearings. it is easy to swap the whole hub since that's how it was designed, and entire hubs are available for sale, but you can also get just the bearings and replace them, keeping your hub.

I'm going to try to do mine on the "cheap" and with the hub mounted, use an angle grinder to remove metal while turning the hub as the grinder makes contact. might take me an hour or so per hub, but it's "free"

unless I find someone who can turn the hubs down for cheap, like $40 each. then it might just be easier to have them do it.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:46 PM

Quote:

To make a hub, I tossed a regular factory rotor in the lathe and cut off the braking surface. After that, I turned down the outer diameter of the hub so it would fit in the rotor.
Once that was done, I put a used Mercedes rotor in the lathe and opened up the center register to fit over the hub. Massaging the bolt holes in the rotor left me with a usable rotating assembly.

To fit it to the car, I had to figure out where that monster rotor could sit and clear everything. It turns out there was only one place it would fit and I've got a little under 1/2" of clearance.

After figuring that out I grabbed a spare spindle and chucked it in the bench vise. A little chunk of 2x4 wood became my caliper bracket. I hacked it up until the caliper fit the new rotating assembly. When the parts fit, I stuck a chunk of steel in the vertical mill and copied the wood mock-up.

When doing something like that you have to know where EVERYTHING fits and make sure that there is no contact when the suspension moves and you turn the wheel.

Having a laths and mill at home isn't necessary but it sure makes it easier to build stuff.

trying to picture what you did...so you cut an entire rotor down so it became your new 'hub'? have pictures at all?

if you wear out a rotor, what do you have to do? grab a new one out of the box and bolt it on? or do more lathe work?

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:49 PM

Quote:

To make a hub, I tossed a regular factory rotor in the lathe and cut off the braking surface. After that, I turned down the outer diameter of the hub so it would fit in the rotor.
Once that was done, I put a used Mercedes rotor in the lathe and opened up the center register to fit over the hub. Massaging the bolt holes in the rotor left me with a usable rotating assembly.

To fit it to the car, I had to figure out where that monster rotor could sit and clear everything. It turns out there was only one place it would fit and I've got a little under 1/2" of clearance.

After figuring that out I grabbed a spare spindle and chucked it in the bench vise. A little chunk of 2x4 wood became my caliper bracket. I hacked it up until the caliper fit the new rotating assembly. When the parts fit, I stuck a chunk of steel in the vertical mill and copied the wood mock-up.

When doing something like that you have to know where EVERYTHING fits and make sure that there is no contact when the suspension moves and you turn the wheel.

Having a laths and mill at home isn't necessary but it sure makes it easier to build stuff.

Yeah, I dont have a mill or a lathe. I wish I did. Someday!
But I do have a router table! I can make a wood or acrylic proto and wnen it fits, I can have it copied at a machine shop.

I have lots of acrylic. probably better than wood for making a proto like that.

Good thought, and that I can do.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:52 PM

Quote:

That was one of my thoughts on it too, and another thing is I am running a 28 inch tire out back with a smaller tire in front, so it might be of benefit. One of the things I have to know is if I can look at it, or if it even bothers me.

yea, you can run a big tire up front, and I prefer wide tires up front for turning and braking, to go with my wide tires in the rear for acceleration.

I like to use as wide of a tire that I can fit...within my budget too. my 275/55s are a tad too tall for me though. I want 275/50s at 28" tall. if I can't find them in my budget, then I'll be going with the federal 255/55s, stock size, 28" tall, and just over $100 a tire.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:52 PM

Look at that again. You haven't even mounted the tires on wheels and you've already got a road kill!

Seriously though, tires are a big part of a brake upgrade. I went from 235/60-15 and 275/60-15 BFG Radials with S speed ratings to 245/45-18 and 295/45-18 Nitto NT555s with W speed ratings.
There is a WORLD of difference. Stopping, starting, and turning ALL greatly improved with the tire change. I had them on the car before I installed the new brakes. Attached is a pic of the car with 11" disc brakes and the new rolling stock.

As for your rear ABS taking up the slack, remember that the ABS works great but it also dumps lots of heat in those brakes. They'll work fine for a while but if the brakes can't dissipate the heat they'll lose stopping power.
That's one idea behind large rotors. Not only does the larger diameter give you a longer lever arm but it also means more surface area to spread out the heat.
My rotors (and Ozhemi's since he used the same thing) weigh 27 lbs each. That's HUGE. However, I have not been able to overheat the rotors with enthusiastic street driving or lots of brake boosting on the highway.

Attached picture 6831365-newwheelsright.jpg

Attached picture 6831365-newwheelsright.jpg

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 03:55 PM

Quote:

Cut them out, then just cut out and welded on the legs/spacers you can see in the picture above to give it them the correct spacing away from the spindle and was good to go

OZ, what did you use to cut that steel? I'm assuming a mill.
If I bought a high speed carbide cutter, I wonder if I could use a router very carefully so not to fry it. I have a few routers that have pretty strong motors in them. I already have a few carbide cutters that would work. hmmm...

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:00 PM

Quote:

Look at that again. You haven't even mounted the tires on wheels and you've already got a road kill!

Seriously though, tires are a big part of a brake upgrade. I went from 235/60-15 and 275/60-15 BFG Radials with S speed ratings to 245/45-18 and 295/45-18 Nitto NT555s with W speed ratings.
There is a WORLD of difference. Stopping, starting, and turning ALL greatly improved with the tire change. I had them on the car before I installed the new brakes. Attached is a pic of the car with 11" disc brakes and the new rolling stock.

As for your rear ABS taking up the slack, remember that the ABS works great but it also dumps lots of heat in those brakes. They'll work fine for a while but if the brakes can't dissipate the heat they'll lose stopping power.
That's one idea behind large rotors. Not only does the larger diameter give you a longer lever arm but it also means more surface area to spread out the heat.
My rotors (and Ozhemi's since he used the same thing) weigh 27 lbs each. That's HUGE. However, I have not been able to overheat the rotors with enthusiastic street driving or lots of brake boosting on the highway.

hehe those are alaskan malamute hooves. She's never too far away.

Good thoughts on the ABS.

The beauty of this truck is every last ounce of computer controlled "goodness" is gonzo! No more ABS, no more efi.

I am fully in command.

The ABS and EFI in this truck were horrible to work with and drove me nuts. I will not be reaching any kind of crazy speeds as I am using a 727, so I dont think I need anything necessarily exotic for tires, but yes, the footprint is important. I want it to stop, not slide. A good hotrod can stop as well as it goes, and when it rains, not be crippled to 45 mph on the highway with everyone shooting you the bird.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:02 PM

Quote:

trying to picture what you did...so you cut an entire rotor down so it became your new 'hub'? have pictures at all?

That's exactly what I did. I was going to use drum brake hubs but mine disappeared, probably to the recycler.

No, I don't have any pics. I'm really bad about getting carried away in the garage. Unless I make a real effort to take photos I will move right along from one step to the next without stopping. Call it Mad Scientist Syndrome.

Quote:

if you wear out a rotor, what do you have to do? grab a new one out of the box and bolt it on? or do more lathe work?

When the rotors need replacing, I will have to chuck another one on the lathe and open up the register. I can tweak the lug holes by hand. No machine work is needed.

The Mercedes use a 5 on 112 mm spacing with 14 mm lug bolts. The Belvedere has 5 on 4.5" (114.3 mm) spacing with 1/2" (12.7 mm) lugs. The spacing works out pretty close. Not much work is needed there.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:10 PM

Quote:

OZ, what did you use to cut that steel? I'm assuming a mill.
If I bought a high speed carbide cutter, I wonder if I could use a router very carefully so not to fry it. I have a few routers that have pretty strong motors in them. I already have a few carbide cutters that would work. hmmm...

I would advise against using a router on steel, carbide bits or not. The little bits of flying steel swarf will find it's way inside the router and lay waste to the motor. It's just not a good idea.

You can do smooth lines like Oz has with careful use of a bench grinder. A hand grinder would work also but it would take a bit of time.
If your brackets aren't going to be all funky like mine you can probably get a shop to cut them on a water jet or mill. A rough cut is fairly quick and easy. Get that done and you can make them pretty at home.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:15 PM

Quote:

Yeah, I dont have a mill or a lathe. I wish I did. Someday!

I won my mill on eBag. Here's what it looked like when I got it home.

Attached picture 6831396-mill.jpg

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:18 PM

The lathe is a bit heavier and a more interesting to move around. I used my brake upgrade as an excuse to buy it. It's come in handy for all kinds of stuff but I'm a tinkerer by nature.

Here's the Pratt & Whitney when I got it home.

Attached picture 6831402-latheontrailer.jpg

Attached picture 6831402-latheontrailer.jpg

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:22 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Cut them out, then just cut out and welded on the legs/spacers you can see in the picture above to give it them the correct spacing away from the spindle and was good to go

OZ, what did you use to cut that steel? I'm assuming a mill.
If I bought a high speed carbide cutter, I wonder if I could use a router very carefully so not to fry it. I have a few routers that have pretty strong motors in them. I already have a few carbide cutters that would work. hmmm...

I wish I had a mill...
Just used a combination of air cut off tool and a sawzall (for the rough cuts)

I do have alot of tools, but a mill is not one of them

To smooth it all, I used my Oz-made multi-tool...basically a belt sander sorta thing made for metal that uses all sort of different grade belts. (It mounts to a bench grinder motor) I use it constantly for everything...a great thing I bought many years ago.

Oh, and on the rotors...since I went with 5 on 4.75" bolt pattern I needed the rotors redrilled. Which is no big deal and when the time ever happens to come I need to replace them will just get it done again. My car is quite light though so figure the rotors should hold up for a while perhaps.

Looking back, I probably could have just got another set of hubs made in Mercedes bolt pattern and had that drilled when I made the wheels. (so could have used off the shelf rotors) Not like I am going to rotate the tires on the car

I would like to someday run (just for the heck of it) the same 8 piston calipers as Feets has...just need to wait for a deal on a pair.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:35 PM

Quote:

Quote:

hope that helps!

It totally helps.
Are you having to space out your front wheels? I saw this is an issue on the fronts with a dakota and viper brembos. I have also read that the caliper position is not all the way on the rotor on the front?

Is this true?

Or is that the bracket that is used on the late model spindle?

With having to space the wheels out..

That is where I took some time with checking alot of measurements. (And got lucky that feets had alot of Benz ones laying around to measure too

)
I checked around on rock auto a bunch to sorta start with since they have rotor sizing for most of thier part numbers.
I just tried to think of cars that came with big brakes and started checking

My first "easy" idea was to use 14" Z06 Corvette rotors...but they were way too 'flat' and not enough rotor height to have the caliper clear the spokes in my wheel.

I wanted to run a certain wheel and so just had to build the brake package to suit them. Where as with Feets, we had to build a wheel to fit his brakes

I just got some AP Racing calipers in the mail a couple days ago too and sorta held one up to the front on my car..they are kinda cool looking as well actually...but they are boxed up now and gotta mail them off to a guy in Oz on Monday.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:37 PM

Quote:

The lathe is a bit heavier and a more interesting to move around. I used my brake upgrade as an excuse to buy it. It's come in handy for all kinds of stuff but I'm a tinkerer by nature.

Here's the Pratt & Whitney when I got it home.

"Honey, I'll be right back, I am just running out to pick up a tool I need...."

PFFFT!!!

Believe it or not though, I am seeing all kinds of stuff like that around here for sale, and for cheap. I should look into a vertical mill at a minimum.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:42 PM

Quote:

That is where I took some time with checking alot of measurements. (And got lucky that feets had alot of Benz ones laying around to measure too )
I checked around on rock auto a bunch to sorta start with since they have rotor sizing for most of thier part numbers.
I just tried to think of cars that came with big brakes and started checking

I did the exact same thing. I got the deepest rotors I could find but still had to mess with the spokes on the wheels.

FYI... Rock Auto has the AMG calipers for $266 each. If you don't have a core to send in it'll cost an additional $300 but that's chump change for a guy like you.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:43 PM

Quote:

Quote:

The lathe is a bit heavier and a more interesting to move around. I used my brake upgrade as an excuse to buy it. It's come in handy for all kinds of stuff but I'm a tinkerer by nature.

Here's the Pratt & Whitney when I got it home.

"Honey, I'll be right back, I am just running out to pick up a tool I need...."

PFFFT!!!

Believe it or not though, I am seeing all kinds of stuff like that around here for sale, and for cheap. I should look into a vertical mill at a minimum.

Shops going out of buisiness is a great place to pick up a deal on equiptment.

I got my Snap-On mig welder a while back (wow...now that I think about it, it's been about 12 years

) and it was maybe a year old at the time and barely used..it was a tire shop I used to deal with that thought he was going to get into custom suspension work and just gave up on it all after a year and sold all his stuff off for next to nothing.

Sure with how things are going there are plenty of smaller shops around getting rid of mills and stuff too...but my garage is running out of room.

A nice metal cutting band saw would be handy too

And a....

And a....

And a.....

Never ends.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:46 PM

Quote:

Quote:

The lathe is a bit heavier and a more interesting to move around. I used my brake upgrade as an excuse to buy it. It's come in handy for all kinds of stuff but I'm a tinkerer by nature.

Here's the Pratt & Whitney when I got it home.

"Honey, I'll be right back, I am just running out to pick up a tool I need...."

PFFFT!!!

Believe it or not though, I am seeing all kinds of stuff like that around here for sale, and for cheap. I should look into a vertical mill at a minimum.

See? That's where you went wrong. I'm a single man. Tools require very little justification.

Being in Detroit, there should be PILES of machine tools floating around. I had to drive 250 miles to get my lathe out of Houston. For my mill, I ended up running to Syracuse, NY but it was only $425.

If you have a 2 car garage and can give up your side then you have plenty of room for big tools.

Oz, I know what you mean about running out of room. My tools have taken over the 2 car garage so I built a 504 sq ft shop. Now, it's full of stuff (and a little black hot rod) and the welder, press, lathe, mill, tool boxes, benches, drill press, grinder, band saw, and multitudes of other tools are still in my garage.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:48 PM

I happened to notice some of the newer Audi's use a similar big caliper and rotor setup too actually...might be an option for what ever setup I happen to build in the future for something.

Oh, and...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2010-Merc...=item2566ce2bab

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AMG-Merce...=item415d5f33fb

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:51 PM

A little high priced for used stuff but not too bad for those without connections.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:53 PM

If only I had some connections...

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 04:54 PM

POS, if you PM me your rotor dimensions (diameter and thickness) I'll look through my super duper top secret brake info and see if I can find you a set of calipers on the cheap. They're plain faced and powder coated black but you can paint them any way you like.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:01 PM

Quote:

Quote:

That is where I took some time with checking alot of measurements. (And got lucky that feets had alot of Benz ones laying around to measure too )
I checked around on rock auto a bunch to sorta start with since they have rotor sizing for most of thier part numbers.
I just tried to think of cars that came with big brakes and started checking

I did the exact same thing. I got the deepest rotors I could find but still had to mess with the spokes on the wheels.

FYI... Rock Auto has the AMG calipers for $266 each. If you don't have a core to send in it'll cost an additional $300 but that's chump change for a guy like you.

I was thinking they would cost more along the lines of one of those WAY EXPENSIVE 3500+ dollar Baer "Big Brake" Kits....I might even be able to eat that. They look like a hell of a set of brakes for the money and are definitely the proverbial "pimp pinky ring" of the car!
They stand out for sure, but not in a gaudy way at all.

What is the opinion of billet calipers from US Brake? I see a few really nice looking "universal" parts that look like they'd be nice. But I dont know. At the moment I am tilting between those or something from wilwood.

But at the price point you mentioned, the AMG calipers...I might be able to do those. I'll just sell off some goodies I'm not going to use...goodies are like having a secret bank account that your wife can't spend on shoes.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:02 PM

Quote:

POS, if you PM me your rotor dimensions (diameter and thickness) I'll look through my super duper top secret brake info and see if I can find you a set of calipers on the cheap. They're plain faced and powder coated black but you can paint them any way you like.

BRB!!!

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:06 PM

The "plane-jane" black ones Feets mentioned are a nice caliper as well (if they are the ones I am thinking they are) and they are a factory OE piece so you will never have a hard time finding pads for them and seals/etc all setup for street use of course too.

Oh, and saw these on CL too...

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/2596516662.html

Bit pricey when thinking they are bare perhaps?

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:10 PM

Quote:

The "plane-jane" black ones Feets mentioned are a nice caliper as well (if they are the ones I am thinking they are) and they are a factory OE piece so you will never have a hard time finding pads for them and seals/etc all setup for street use of course too.

Oh, and saw these on CL too...

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/2596516662.html

Bit pricey when thinking they are bare perhaps?

yeah those are expensive with nothing, but very nice.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:13 PM

I took this pic at SEMA the other year....I was hoping they were giving away free samples..

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:15 PM

Oh wow...didn't think I had saved it, but I did.

These are the black ones I "think" Feets is talking about.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:15 PM

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:36 PM

Quote:

yeah.....wow.
You could wash your car, then come up to speed and slam on the brakes.
All the water will completely fly off the car and it will be dry without spots.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 05:47 PM

Oh, and just another thing to think about once you get all the calipers mounted..Don't forget to make sure your brake hoses won't catch or get pinched on anything if you are routing them different (from running different sorts of calipers)

I made little metal clips that hold the hose where they pass along the spindle/ball joint stud area..

Attached picture 6831532-024(29).JPG

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 06:11 PM

Quote:

Oh, and just another thing to think about once you get all the calipers mounted..Don't forget to make sure your brake hoses won't catch or get pinched on anything if you are routing them different (from running different sorts of calipers)

I made little metal clips that hold the hose where they pass along the spindle/ball joint stud area..

On a dakota, they actually mount to the upper control arm and then come down to the caliper. I'll keep the hose there. The balljoint bracket is trick. I would have never thought of doing that.

Posted By: MuuMuu101

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 06:12 PM

I just favorited this topic. There's a lot of good info here

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 06:21 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Oh, and just another thing to think about once you get all the calipers mounted..Don't forget to make sure your brake hoses won't catch or get pinched on anything if you are routing them different (from running different sorts of calipers)

I made little metal clips that hold the hose where they pass along the spindle/ball joint stud area..

On a dakota, they actually mount to the upper control arm and then come down to the caliper. I'll keep the hose there. The balljoint bracket is trick. I would have never thought of doing that.

I wasn't sure on how the hose routes on the Dakota...so just was tossing the thought out there.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 06:37 PM

Quote:

I just favorited this topic. There's a lot of good info here

Yes there is. This is what keeps me coming here. There are a lot of mopar purists, but hiding in the shadows, there are a lot of Hotrodders with great custom creations and ideas.

Posted By: Dave440

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 07:11 PM

I gotta say FEETS I usually dont like modern rims on older cars...esp oversize rims...but that combination absolutely ROCKS!! Its like those rims were made for the car and the tires fill up the wheel wells perfectly! Gotta say... Ive heard of using Viper, Cadillac, GM and other assorted disc brakes but Mercedes? I swear...Just when I think ive seen everything there is to see... And OZ ...super job on those brackets!!

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 07:57 PM

Oz, that car belongs on the cover of Pimp My Tostito magazine.

I forgot I sent you those pics. It's been a while. Those are the calipers I had in mind. Things haven't settled down enough for me to consider making brake kits yet. When they do, I'll dig into it more.

POS, the AMG brakes I run might not fit 17" wheels. When mounted on my 18" Smoothie IIs I have really tight clearances. It's almost feeler gauge tight. However, these wheels have a raised runner in the back side of the drum that causes the issue.

Dave, thanks. I caught all kinds of flack for going to those wheels. I think they really made the car. Those front tires (245/45-18) are borderline for me. The short sidewall is really pushing it. Something a little taller would look better but I wouldn't be able to turn up a driveway without them rubbing.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 08:35 PM

Quote:

I gotta say FEETS I usually dont like modern rims on older cars...esp oversize rims...but that combination absolutely ROCKS!! Its like those rims were made for the car and the tires fill up the wheel wells perfectly! Gotta say... Ive heard of using Viper, Cadillac, GM and other assorted disc brakes but Mercedes? I swear...Just when I think ive seen everything there is to see... And OZ ...super job on those brackets!!

They were made for the car actually...they are a one-off casting to fit the brake setup he has.

The wheels I use were designed for road racing Porsches originally, and the style of outer they use has a special narrow drop area to give more caliper clearance actually. I could still go slighter larger in diameter with the rotor even and still have room. And even though the 4 piston Brembo are plenty I would say...if the situation does come up and fall upon some 8 piston AMG calipers..I'll just whitte up some new brackets and go with them.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 08:36 PM

Quote:

Oz, that car belongs on the cover of Pimp My Tostito magazine.

Just was working on it today some actually..the fuel gauge has never really been "right" since I built it so switched over to a different style sending unit and just trying to dial it in.

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 10:40 PM

For those not looking to get quite a wild as Feets & Oz another option is late model Mustang GT or Cobra brakes... I'm using the cheaper GT brakes on my station wagon, they are 12.8" rotors & two piston calipers which I found as new take-offs from Saleen, I got the rotors, calipers, brackets, pads, hoses, & hardware all for $149.00 plus $25 shipping... similar adapting & they are ready to run..... Not nearly as cool looking as the big AMG brakes but a huge improvement of stock & stupidly cheap.....

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 10:51 PM

The 14.2" rotors are only like $170 ? or so right from Mercedes by the way..

Not as cheap as the setup you have..but still a heck of a deal for what they are I think.

I've got a pair of brand new PBR twin piston calipers here too actually..they (along with some off the shelf adapters from Oz I have) bolt right onto the Aussie Mopar spindles

When I have nothing to do, just have to find a rotor to fit it..they use a 2 piece rotor/hub setup so having just the hubs to mount larger rotors on is only knocking-out-the-wheel-studs away.

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 11:04 PM

$170 for the pair? Or each? Either way I'm not saying there's anything wrong with going bigger just suggesting there are really inexpensive ways to greatly improve these old cars.... And yeah the calipers are PBR's, I'm sure they aren't of Brembo quality but I'll bet they stop better than the OE drums...

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 11:09 PM

Each

And the PBR ones are Aussie made, so nothing wrong there..

OE on Ford and GM here (and in Australia of course!)

I have a pair of brand new 13" drilled and slotted rotors around too...they are Holden Commodore ones, but too tall to work on my setup (push the caliper too far inward towards the control arm) but one of these days I will find something to do with them

(they might even work with the Valiant setup if I redrill them..haven't even measured them up yet..perhaps if using them mounted to the outside of the hub versus the inside like the factory Mopar ones mounted

)

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 11:21 PM

Quote:

Each

And the PBR ones are Aussie made, so nothing wrong there..

OE on Ford and GM here (and in Australia of course!)

I have a pair of brand new 13" drilled and slotted rotors around too...they are Holden Commodore ones, but too tall to work on my setup (push the caliper too far inward towards the control arm) but one of these days I will find something to do with them

(they might even work with the Valiant setup if I redrill them..haven't even measured them up yet..perhaps if using them mounted to the outside of the hub versus the inside like the factory Mopar ones mounted )

Damn, now my Wagon is gonna wind up upside down like your Charger....

Attached picture 6831903-+BY9cz2AtZcJ7tMs6xPpSkIzAeRA5GTX0226.jpg

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 11:25 PM

That is ok...it makes it a closer match to the wagon my buddy here is building.... I got him an OHC OzFord inline 6 and overdrive auto trans for it.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/18/11 11:26 PM

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 12:39 AM

That air cleaner...it looks perfect on it!

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 12:48 AM

The valve cover is just the stock one, so worked out cool with the aftermarket air cleaner assembly

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 12:52 AM

Quote:

POS, the AMG brakes I run might not fit 17" wheels. When mounted on my 18" Smoothie IIs I have really tight clearances. It's almost feeler gauge tight. However, these wheels have a raised runner in the back side of the drum that causes the issue.

Looking at the wheels you have now in the magazine article pics, I can see things are tight, but you're right. Might be that ridge. I'm currently waiting for my wheels to arrive in order to know what kind of room I am working with. I'm thinking 1/4 inch within the rim would be enough clearance given everything else is clear too.

It's just a waiting game for me now. I have the viper brackets I have to install on my rear axle, and then I have to acquire the calipers and rotors. This is just something I decided to do yesterday!

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 12:53 AM

Quote:

This is just something I decided to do yesterday!

Don't worry...that is how alot of projects seem to happen..

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 12:55 AM

Quote:

Quote:

This is just something I decided to do yesterday!

Don't worry...that is how alot of projects seem to happen..

Yes it is....

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 02:08 AM

Quote:

and my mind wandered

That can get expensive..

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 03:21 AM

Quote:

Quote:

and my mind wandered

That can get expensive..

I'm not counting anymore.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 04:12 AM

These are nice pieces!

http://www.afcoracing.com/brakes_a_calipers.html

They can accomodate a 1.25 thick rotor.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 04:27 AM

Quote:

These are nice pieces!

http://www.afcoracing.com/brakes_a_calipers.html

They can accomodate a 1.25 thick rotor.

Only an Inch and a quarter?

Wouldn't even fit over mine then

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 10:52 AM

Quote:

Quote:

These are nice pieces!

http://www.afcoracing.com/brakes_a_calipers.html

They can accomodate a 1.25 thick rotor.

Only an Inch and a quarter?

Wouldn't even fit over mine then

Looks like once you get over that rotor thickness, they get really pricey from what I am seeing and they add another pair of pistons.

1.25 inch thickness seems to be very common in the aftemarket.
I think that would be the practical route for me to take...if I dare use that word to begin with.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/19/11 11:13 AM

I keep coming back to these....thoughts? These will accomodate a "common" 1.25 inch rotor and have a 3.5in mount hole center to center which would likely work with the 4.5in inch center to center mounts on the spindle after some playing around with brackets...well we all know anything can be made to work with enough incentive. I almost want to buy them and then "force-figure" it out. I do my best work when I have no choice but to make something work. ha!

Anyone have experience with them? They definitely look great, made by afco, and they seem to be really light too.

450 for a pair of them isnt bad at all either providing they are any good. They have to be better than what I have...

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/20/11 01:20 AM

Never have used them....do they have the dust seals on the pistons like the OE style calipers at least?

They do look cool and all, and the mounting style looks like it would lend itself to custom mounting as well.

Do they use some sorta-common pad as well so you'll be able to get them a few years down the track?

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/20/11 02:09 AM

Quote:

Never have used them....do they have the dust seals on the pistons like the OE style calipers at least?

They do look cool and all, and the mounting style looks like it would lend itself to custom mounting as well.

Do they use some sorta-common pad as well so you'll be able to get them a few years down the track?

One of the things that immediately jumped at me was the look. They have a great industrial look to them.

I'll have to call them and see what they have to say about all that.
They definitely appear to be nice, but you've made some good points.

I dont know if the pad is commonly available or not. I dont know much about pads in general or what the common styles of pad are. The dimensions are for the pad on the top left...

http://www.afcoracing.com/brakes_pads.html

It almost looks like a design common to many of these aftermarket calipers with the cotter pin in the center...but that's a guess.

I am exploring some "OEM" options that look pretty impressive for not so much money that fits the criteria too. Something is just going to fall into my lap soon and I am going to roll with it I think. I'm pretty set on using the viper rotors as they are a lot more friendly to my application. So I have to work around those. I need to get this stuff in hand. So I think I am going to order a set of rotors, wait for my wheels and then take some of these caliper measurements off the sites and make some dummies out of foam or something to see what fits and how.

I was also laughing earlier with my wife...my other truck is in for repairs and I have this later model dakota loaner...it has 2 piston calipers with a nice plated finish and larger rotors. I chuckled to myself for even thinking of it.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/20/11 02:17 PM

they look to be very similar to the caliper mounting holes for the Gen 2 viper calipers.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/20/11 05:55 PM

Quote:

they look to be very similar to the caliper mounting holes for the Gen 2 viper calipers.

Yep!

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/20/11 10:30 PM

Quote:

Quote:

they look to be very similar to the caliper mounting holes for the Gen 2 viper calipers.

Yep!

Lookie what I got from the Fed Ex guy today!

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/20/11 11:33 PM

Those look nice.

I'm dying to get my wheels so I can pick something already. They're supposed to be here on the 5th...that's like 6 months in "waiting time". I hope I make it!

Please show us what you are going to do and how it all worked out.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 03:19 AM

Quote:

Lookie what I got from the Fed Ex guy today!

Lookie what I got from the insurance guy:

Attached picture 6835431-Maseraticaliper.jpg

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 03:35 AM

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 12:33 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Lookie what I got from the Fed Ex guy today!

Lookie what I got from the insurance guy:

Showoff

yea, the insurance guy gave you those, but how much was your premium?!

is your dealership hiring? I could use a job where the customers have more money than they know what to do with, and don't care how much it costs to fix something, and say "call me when it's done"

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 01:52 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Lookie what I got from the Fed Ex guy today!

Lookie what I got from the insurance guy:

man!!!!

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 05:33 PM

Quote:

is your dealership hiring? I could use a job where the customers have more money than they know what to do with, and don't care how much it costs to fix something, and say "call me when it's done"

Sure! They just posted some listings for a shop porter and car wash guys.

Maybe we could get you on as a service porter at the new store. Do you think you could handle shuttling Maserati, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, McLaren, Jaguar, and Lotus cars to and from the client's homes and places of business? The pay isn't impressive but the benefits are nice.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 09:06 PM

Quote:

Quote:

is your dealership hiring? I could use a job where the customers have more money than they know what to do with, and don't care how much it costs to fix something, and say "call me when it's done"

Sure! They just posted some listings for a shop porter and car wash guys.

Maybe we could get you on as a service porter at the new store. Do you think you could handle shuttling Maserati, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, McLaren, Jaguar, and Lotus cars to and from the client's homes and places of business? The pay isn't impressive but the benefits are nice.

yea, I sure could! but...I doubt the wife will want to relocate away from her nearly 6 figure income and very promising career with her current employer, so I can go make just above minimum wage driving around such beauties!

Plus there's that whole "you're doing THAT with your college degree?" side of it!

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/21/11 11:08 PM

hey, POS...can I borrow those rear brackets from ya!

or can you trace them for me onto paperboard?

you're gonna hate me, but I just paid for a complete set of viper calipers. all 4, with pads, and rear rotors, for $270 shipped. guy took them off his snake at 3,000 miles to put Gen 3/SRT brakes on his car. (the 14" brakes vs the 13" Gen 2 vipers)

so...now I've got 2 sets of viper front calipers and a single set of rear calipers. a buddy is giving me his extra front rotors, since he couldn't sell them.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 12:59 AM

Quote:

hey, POS...can I borrow those rear brackets from ya!

or can you trace them for me onto paperboard?

you're gonna hate me, but I just paid for a complete set of viper calipers. all 4, with pads, and rear rotors, for $270 shipped. guy took them off his snake at 3,000 miles to put Gen 3/SRT brakes on his car. (the 14" brakes vs the 13" Gen 2 vipers)

so...now I've got 2 sets of viper front calipers and a single set of rear calipers. a buddy is giving me his extra front rotors, since he couldn't sell them.

You mean these????

Sure, I'll take some tracings for ya no problem. They're going on my axle tomorrow night.

I didnt realize they were aluminum. They're 1 inch thick and 1/2 inch thick at the mount points. They have two different sized bolt holes for mounting the caliper. The holes for the axle tube are recessed probably for allen head capscrews? Just a guess. I think I'm going to use those anyway. I like allen fasteners.

I think I'll order me some rotors friday and then once those are in my hands I'll sit back and think about calipers. You know, the viper calipers likely arent the only option here.

But to do the fronts I have to have the wheels in hand. I may also have to borrow feets' insurance guy. LOL

Cuda...You know you can relocate a front set to the back, right?
I believe that's what all the people who sell a kidney and get a "big brake" kit do on their vipers. They move the original fronts to the rear. Think about that...because you might want to just duplicate that bracket instead! It'll be even better! But if You want the tracing of these, you got it...

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 01:13 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Lookie what I got from the Fed Ex guy today!

Lookie what I got from the insurance guy:

Got any Bugatti Brakes?

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 02:38 AM

Thanks! yup, that's exactly what I want. I'd like to keep both of my kidneys!

...even if I DID get 4 front calipers and 2 rear calipers for less than $500

dang 1" thick!? those things are beefy!!

1/2" is more than sufficient I would think!

so they're totally flat with the exception of a thinner spot milled down to 1/2" where the caliper mounts? I wonder why they did that instead of just making the whole thing out of 1/2" aluminum?

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 02:41 AM

now I get it. I re-read your PM.

its 1" thick to get the caliper spaced out from the mounting flange, not because they wanted a thick bracket. then they milled it down 1/2" to accommodate a thinner bolt.

so...a 1/2" thick bracket, with 1/2" "washers" to space it out from the flange, would get the job done and do the same thing.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 11:17 AM

Quote:

now I get it. I re-read your PM.

its 1" thick to get the caliper spaced out from the mounting flange, not because they wanted a thick bracket. then they milled it down 1/2" to accommodate a thinner bolt.

so...a 1/2" thick bracket, with 1/2" "washers" to space it out from the flange, would get the job done and do the same thing.

If it was half inch thick, I would recommend steel as the material.
Are the front brackets steel? It was my plan to use steel regardless.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 11:29 AM

Quote:

Quote:

now I get it. I re-read your PM.

its 1" thick to get the caliper spaced out from the mounting flange, not because they wanted a thick bracket. then they milled it down 1/2" to accommodate a thinner bolt.

so...a 1/2" thick bracket, with 1/2" "washers" to space it out from the flange, would get the job done and do the same thing.

If it was half inch thick, I would recommend steel as the material.
Are the front brackets steel? It was my plan to use steel regardless.

yup, the fronts are steel. thats why I was surprised that your rears were aluminum. I planed on using steel anyway.

I have some steel plate that's 3/8" thick, that should be plenty thick enough, especially since the loads will be sheer loads through the cross section, and not a bending force.

if I used the 3/8" plate, the plate won't be the weak point, it'll be the mounting hardware, and standing it off the 1" from the mounting flange, so I'll look at that when I fabricate the brackets

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/22/11 03:34 PM

I'm thinking of using 3/8 steel plate up front.
I have some half inch and some 3/8.

I'll have to see when i get to it. Right now the rears are what I am focused on because that was the plan to begin with before I got distracted.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/24/11 04:56 PM

Is it done yet?
Is it done yet?
Is it done yet?

Posted By: BigBlockMopar

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/24/11 05:29 PM

some of the calipers shown in this topic are ridiculous... We have cars on the road here that are smaller than those...

I wanted to show my own custommade discbrake fiblings, but with puny 11.75" stock '73 Chrysler rotors I don't think anyone would be interested after all the posy-stuff shown above, so I think I'll pass...

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/24/11 06:27 PM

Quote:

some of the calipers shown in this topic are ridiculous... We have cars on the road here that are smaller than those...

I wanted to show my own custommade discbrake fiblings, but with puny 11.75" stock '73 Chrysler rotors I don't think anyone would be interested after all the posy-stuff shown above, so I think I'll pass...

I do get asked about the size of my brakes on occasion. I didn't go with them because of the "size matters" thing or a flashy sticker.
It all started when I wanted a big disc brake kit 7 years ago. There were very few options available. What was out there had insane prices on them.
After working at Mercedes for a while I took home a used rotor to compare to what I had. It was close enough to work so I priced the rest of the stuff.
Believe it or not, with my employee discount I was able to buy the front and rear AMG brakes CHEAPER than the front-only sets on the market at the time.
After finding out that the AMG stuff was cheaper and bigger it was a no brainer. As a bonus, the brakes were attractively finished but weren't some obnoxious blinding color that would jump out and smack you when you looked at the car. Instead, it made for a nice overall package.

The hot rod has some neat stuff on it without excessive *BLING* in any one place. To me, the body, wheels, tires, and brakes work together to present a complete package that works together visually.
Too many people get all caught up in bright shiny objects and start slapping the stuff on their cars without regard to how it looks as a package.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/25/11 03:43 AM

Quote:

some of the calipers shown in this topic are ridiculous... We have cars on the road here that are smaller than those...

I wanted to show my own custommade discbrake fiblings, but with puny 11.75" stock '73 Chrysler rotors I don't think anyone would be interested after all the posy-stuff shown above, so I think I'll pass...

WHy wouldnt we be interested? Post up!

I dont think the brakes posted so far are ridiculous....I place a high value on having something original and powerful stopping is always a good thing, but anything different regardless of what it is, is what I would like to see. that's why I posted this thread to begin with. Please contribute.

Oz, Good news...my wheels will be here monday or tuesday so i can get some measurements, and figure out what to do. My 13 year old is involved and we've been getting some stuff painted and cleaned up while I wait for the rest of this stuff.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/25/11 03:48 AM

Quote:

Quote:

some of the calipers shown in this topic are ridiculous... We have cars on the road here that are smaller than those...

I wanted to show my own custommade discbrake fiblings, but with puny 11.75" stock '73 Chrysler rotors I don't think anyone would be interested after all the posy-stuff shown above, so I think I'll pass...

I do get asked about the size of my brakes on occasion. I didn't go with them because of the "size matters" thing or a flashy sticker.
It all started when I wanted a big disc brake kit 7 years ago. There were very few options available. What was out there had insane prices on them.
After working at Mercedes for a while I took home a used rotor to compare to what I had. It was close enough to work so I priced the rest of the stuff.
Believe it or not, with my employee discount I was able to buy the front and rear AMG brakes CHEAPER than the front-only sets on the market at the time.
After finding out that the AMG stuff was cheaper and bigger it was a no brainer. As a bonus, the brakes were attractively finished but weren't some obnoxious blinding color that would jump out and smack you when you looked at the car. Instead, it made for a nice overall package.

The hot rod has some neat stuff on it without excessive *BLING* in any one place. To me, the body, wheels, tires, and brakes work together to present a complete package that works together visually.
Too many people get all caught up in bright shiny objects and start slapping the stuff on their cars without regard to how it looks as a package.

I like a little bling. My wheels are black and the truck is likely to be black too. I think some bling in the brakes would look really nice and add some class.

These are really neat too...I'm still looking as you can tell. lol

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/25/11 04:01 AM

Another thing I read was the opinion of someone else regarding the piston dust boots...Oz mentioned this a little while back.

I guess where the problem comes with scoring is when actually changing the pads and compressing the pistons with them dirty.
That all that would have to be done before that is hit them with some brake cleaner to get the dirt off the pistons and this wouldnt be an issue.

What are the thoughts on that? Why do they make so many of these aftermarket calipers without the dust boots? A lot of them seem to be upgrade kits for muscle cars on the street...thoughts?

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/25/11 04:52 PM

I think the dust boots help to just keep road grime and crud from getting in there to score the pistons too...probably would only be the kind of thing to show up as an issue after some time though?

Oh, and what wheels were you getting, I mustn't have noticed before if you mentioned

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/25/11 09:26 PM

Quote:

I think the dust boots help to just keep road grime and crud from getting in there to score the pistons too...probably would only be the kind of thing to show up as an issue after some time though?

Oh, and what wheels were you getting, I mustn't have noticed before if you mentioned

Just some cheap black PC'd aluminum wheels from AR. Nothing exotic. Out of all the crap I looked through i liked them the best. One of the problems with my 6x4.5 pattern is the selection of wheels either sucks, or is WAY expensive. I was even looking at centerlines, but the ones I liked at the price point with no protective coating was more than I was willing to pay. I really wanted torque thrusts, but the whole 5 lug conversion to use the 5 lug wheels was more than i wanted to bother with.

They have more clearance in back than the dakota wheel and are a good deal lighter. The front tires are also lighter than the old ones. So they save weight, they will fit more stoppage in there and they are black. I dont like those stupid "screw" things around the lip, but at the 600 dollars I paid for a whole set, they dont bother me enough.

I think they will give me the overall look I am after. The truck will be one solid color with some kind of oldschool black accented mopar theme so picture something like that in your head.

Attached picture 6841933-mywheels.jpg

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/26/11 03:21 AM

Not too bad a looking wheel when you are limited abit like you said with the 6 lug...and sure those are a ton cheaper then using actual billet wheels.

If only you had decided to upgrade the brakes and could have just done the 5 lug conversion at the same time....

Oh wait..

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/26/11 08:56 PM

Quote:

Not too bad a looking wheel when you are limited abit like you said with the 6 lug...and sure those are a ton cheaper then using actual billet wheels.

If only you had decided to upgrade the brakes and could have just done the 5 lug conversion at the same time....

Oh wait..

LOL

I wasnt willing to do it at the time I started building the truck so I didnt. I dont really regret it though. I'm happy with where things are at thus far.

If I ever do a lug conversion it would be because I dumped the 9.25 axle and had a dana 60 built. Might be something I eventually do in the future. who knows?

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 12:59 AM

Well the wheels will be here tomorrow, so I'll be able to see how I like the look on the front end and take some measurements. I have the rear apart now and it looks ok. I'll be giving it the por15 treatment and putting it all back together soon so I can get this rear brake business sorted out....

Posted By: CrAzYMoPaRGuY

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 06:58 AM

I have Wilwoods on my Coupe, I think they should be fairly easy to adapt to anything....

Now if you want a WEIRDO brake setup..... try a three piston caliper!!

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 10:40 AM

Hey crazy! Thanks for contributing! What size rotor is that with the wilwoods?
How do they perform as well? They're the "narrow mount" version? Or the wide mount?

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 03:53 PM

Quote:

Well the wheels will be here tomorrow, so I'll be able to see how I like the look on the front end and take some measurements.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 04:29 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Well the wheels will be here tomorrow, so I'll be able to see how I like the look on the front end and take some measurements.

I know it man...I should see something show up this afternoon maybe 4:00...

Status is "out for delivery".

Posted By: finadk

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 04:48 PM

I am very interested in how you guys with the custom brakes were able to balance front/rear bias in the system with the large rotors and calipers.

I have a 56 Dodge that I am converting to 4 wheel disc using the following:

FRONT Front Rotors: 12" Dia. x 1.25 wide (from 74-81 dodge 1/2 ton 4WD PU)
Front Calipers: Single Piston 2.94 bore (74.76mm) (from 72- 78 Suburban, 71-76 Electra, Bonneville, Caprice)

REAR SSBC KIT
Rear Rotors 11" Dia
Rear Calipers: Single Piston 1.7 in bore (45mm) (from a 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe)

Based on my calculations I come up with a car that is very Front Biased at about 70/30. Even if I go down to a smaller 11" front rotor it is only slightly better at 75/25.

Im just wondering how you were able to get an adequate balance using such large brakes.

Thanks.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 05:06 PM

I used this..

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WIL-260-11179/

And mine seems pretty well balanced.
(I have the brakes I showed in the front and a smaller 13" rear disc setup outback.)

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 05:13 PM

Here is where I mounted the brake valve as well...made a little bracket that holds it just under the master cylinder.

Attached picture 6844812-018(20).JPG

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 05:15 PM

Kinda see the lines in this one....after thinking of where to mount it, and deciding on there, it worked out really nice. Easy to adjust and easy to run all the lines to it.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 06:17 PM

Quote:

Here is where I mounted the brake valve as well...made a little bracket that holds it just under the master cylinder.

very clever use of the banjo fittings. I like that!
I never thought of using them up at the master cyl, but there's a lot I havent thought about yet!

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 06:21 PM

Quote:

Im just wondering how you were able to get an adequate balance using such large brakes.

Thanks.

FWIW 70-30 is close to ideal, the majority of the weight transfers to the front of the vehicle during hard braking so rear lock-up is always a concern... Lighter brake applications lock-up front or rear isn't much of an issue but the harder you stop the more weight is transferred... Typically an adjustable proportioning valve is added to the line going to the rear brakes so the pressure to them can be limited.... Once the car is on the road & has a few miles on it so the brake pads have had a chance to properly bed themselves, take it to the testing location of choice... (I live in a farming community so...) Leave the adjustable valve at full pressure... Anyway start off easy, Threshold braking from maybe 35-40 mph if the rears lock-up reduce the pressure to them & try again... When things are good at 35-40 raise the speed to 55-60 & try again... It doesn't take long to get it balanced & then you'll feel much more confident when you need them to work...

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 07:06 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Im just wondering how you were able to get an adequate balance using such large brakes.

Thanks.

FWIW 70-30 is close to ideal, the majority of the weight transfers to the front of the vehicle during hard braking so rear lock-up is always a concern... Lighter brake applications lock-up front or rear isn't much of an issue but the harder you stop the more weight is transferred... Typically an adjustable proportioning valve is added to the line going to the rear brakes so the pressure to them can be limited.... Once the car is on the road & has a few miles on it so the brake pads have had a chance to properly bed themselves, take it to the testing location of choice... (I live in a farming community so...) Leave the adjustable valve at full pressure... Anyway start off easy, Threshold braking from maybe 35-40 mph if the rears lock-up reduce the pressure to them & try again... When things are good at 35-40 raise the speed to 55-60 & try again... It doesn't take long to get it balanced & then you'll feel much more confident when you need them to work...

Thanks for chiming in...what effect does having a larger diameter tire out back on brake bias? Let's say I had a smaller rotor out front like an 11 inch and 4 piston caliper and a single piston caliper out back with a 13 inch rotor? would I be in trouble besides people making fun of me?

Maybe I should say does a larger tire out back affect anything at all?

I would think the larget tire would have less a tendency to lock up is my logic.

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 07:17 PM

Quote:

Thanks for chiming in...what effect does having a larger diameter tire out back on brake bias? Let's say I had a smaller rotor out front like an 11 inch and 4 piston caliper and a single piston caliper out back with a 13 inch rotor? would I be in trouble besides people making fun of me?

You just like to make trouble for yourself...

Between brake pad surface area, brake pad friction material selection, tire size/compound selection there are tons of variables, most can be compensated for by an adjustable PV, but really the PV limits brake pressure to the rear, it therefore limits/reduces braking ability, you are better off to select components that work closely together & don't require much tuning with a PV....

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 07:29 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Thanks for chiming in...what effect does having a larger diameter tire out back on brake bias? Let's say I had a smaller rotor out front like an 11 inch and 4 piston caliper and a single piston caliper out back with a 13 inch rotor? would I be in trouble besides people making fun of me?

You just like to make trouble for yourself... Between brake pad surface area, brake pad friction material selection, tire size/compound selection there are tons of variables, most can be compensated for by an adjustable PV, but really the PV limits brake pressure to the rear, it therefore limits/reduces braking ability, you are better off to select components that work closely together & don't require much tuning with a PV....

hehe yup!

The bias in a dakota is pretty good with the factory prop valve, but I'll have to see how it goes. I am using the viper 13 inch rotor out back and a 4 piston caliper with hopefully a 14 incher up front, but likely 13 inch. My front tires are 26 inch, wheels 17 inch but the rears are 28 inch. I guess I wont know until I CAREFULLY drive it the first few times.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/27/11 11:25 PM

Alright, so I have wheels now.

I kinda like them. The pictures really dont show the nice shine.
Black is a hard color to take pics of. They're definitely weird. Not something I would typically go for, but I think they will grow on me and i still have to see them on the truck...I'm compelled to go out there and play right now, but I ate dinner, went running and now I feel like a slug.

Anyway...

Looks like i have about 16 inches to work within upon quick measurement. I'll have to go out into the garage tomorrow and get more accurate measurements but I'm pretty sure about it. I think the 13 inch rotor is doable. The 14 inch is not given the caliper clearance I would likely need, but I'll begin to pry for that information soon.

Here's a couple pictures...

Attached picture 6845199-POSDakotaWheel1.jpg

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 12:17 AM

You are nearly done now that you have the wheels.

Thats a good step though and you can start to see if all the planning will actually all work out how you had worked out, and hopefully it comes along pretty simply now.

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 12:24 AM

Quote:

What size is that, and how much were they? I want to get viper wheels to run with my viper brakes, but I'm not going to have $1500-2000 to buy a used set off the forums for quite some time.

I'm going to have to borrow some wheel spacers to use the stock R/T rims.

Oh, and my brakes are second on the list of things to do. This is the priority:

(What the.... that makes no sense! on my phone, it's "right side up" on my computer, it's right side up. on photobucket where I uploaded it to, it's right side up....I post it here as an attachment, and it's sideways!!!)

Attached picture 6845270-photo(5).JPG

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 12:38 AM

Quote:

You are nearly done now that you have the wheels.

Thats a good step though and you can start to see if all the planning will actually all work out how you had worked out, and hopefully it comes along pretty simply now.

haha! In a perfect world!

I'll get the tires mounted to the wheels tomorrow and put them on. I also need to see where the rotor sits inside the wheel. I think they sit further back in reality than I think they do, but we'll confirm it. There is definitely enough room for something good and that's all that matters...

I think I am going to flip through some catalogs and match up a pair of rotors to a pair of calipers best I can and commit to it. Like I've said before, I do my best work when I have no choice but to make something work. Anything else is just the easy way.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 12:55 AM

Cuda,

I dont know what my priorities are anymore.

I just grab whatever I can do at the moment and do it as parts come in and as I recover from previous injuries.

The wheels are 17x8 and cost just under 600 bucks for 4 of them, chrome gorilla nuts with locks and stems were another maybe 30 something bucks. I waited for them because they were on backorder. I think they still are.

I built my engine last year. I am very happy with it.
It's a 408, 10.3:1, RHS heads from IMM, magnum shaft rockers from hughes, [Email]250something@.050[/Email] (I forget) intake duration roller with .600 at the valve, geardrive (couldnt help myself) scat superlight crank and forged scat I beams. It should kick some butt. Nothing monstrous, but definitely no slouch either.

I have a 727 trans, 75.5 inch aluminum driveshaft

and 3800 stall going behind it all sitting behind me...in my office.

Cooling is a champion corvette three row radiator.

I have a set of ceramic coated PPH mid length headers for it and I'm running dual exhausts. No more 3 inch y pipe. They should work great. I also ripped out the fuel system and went to a full return aeromotive a-1000 stealth system. I can run my engine, a nitrous system, and a flamethrower all at the same time.

It's hard to really do anything with these dakotas, but being original with them is definitely cool. I hate it when I go to a show and everyone has the same truck with the same everything on it. Not this cat.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 12:58 AM

Quote:

Quote:

You are nearly done now that you have the wheels.

Thats a good step though and you can start to see if all the planning will actually all work out how you had worked out, and hopefully it comes along pretty simply now.

haha! In a perfect world!

I'll get the tires mounted to the wheels tomorrow and put them on. I also need to see where the rotor sits inside the wheel. I think they sit further back in reality than I think they do, but we'll confirm it. There is definitely enough room for something good and that's all that matters...

I think I am going to flip through some catalogs and match up a pair of rotors to a pair of calipers best I can and commit to it. Like I've said before, I do my best work when I have no choice but to make something work. Anything else is just the easy way.

Sounds eeeeeeeeeasy....

Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 01:13 AM

POS....you've got a bit more motor than I do!!

that ought to move that 4,000+ lb pig pretty well!!

long driveshaft...sounds like a club cab. the custom shaft I had made for my old truck with the big block and TKO was 73.5" long.

dang truck weighed 4200 lbs with me in the seat!

this little blue truck is only about 300 lbs lighter.

I know what you mean about "all the same" seems everyone has the same cold air intake, same valve covers, etc. which is why I went old school with my engine theme. it's just a stock rebuilt 5.9L with a hughes whiplash cam, .544 lift, 222 duration @ .050 107LSA. heads shaved .030 and a .039 felpro head gasket. thinking I'm at about 9.5:1 compression now. maybe as high as 9.7:1 all depends on how big the stock chambers were before I cut them .030!! I've heard they were 59-63 CCs, then someone else told me they actually CCd their heads after a .040 cut and a valve job (sank the valves a bit) and his were 63CCs

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 01:16 AM

Brakes break ?

I think getting the right rotor (to have the caliper sit where you want in relation to the wheel is the main hurdle. Making the caliper brackets (in my case at least) was not really a huge deal. Making the little template piece to get the angle right was a good start and then just start cutting out of the thick stuff.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 01:27 AM

Quote:

POS....you've got a bit more motor than I do!!

that ought to move that 4,000+ lb pig pretty well!!

long driveshaft...sounds like a club cab. the custom shaft I had made for my old truck with the big block and TKO was 73.5" long.

dang truck weighed 4200 lbs with me in the seat!

this little blue truck is only about 300 lbs lighter.

I know what you mean about "all the same" seems everyone has the same cold air intake, same valve covers, etc. which is why I went old school with my engine theme. it's just a stock rebuilt 5.9L with a hughes whiplash cam, .544 lift, 222 duration @ .050 107LSA. heads shaved .030 and a .039 felpro head gasket. thinking I'm at about 9.5:1 compression now. maybe as high as 9.7:1 all depends on how big the stock chambers were before I cut them .030!! I've heard they were 59-63 CCs, then someone else told me they actually CCd their heads after a .040 cut and a valve job (sank the valves a bit) and his were 63CCs

My chambers are 62cc or extremely close to that.

I've taken so much crap out of it, It ought to be lightened up quite a bit. Given the fact of what just the wheels weigh alone, going to lighter ones took over 40 lbs off alone. aluminum qai shocks weigh a good deal less than steel shocks...every little thing adds up. I laughed when I realized how heavy just the wiring harness was alone...

I liked the oldschool idea myself is why I went with it. The factory efi is a joke and the overdrive trans is just too heavy and reacts too slow. It also looks like crap.

So now I'm working with this...

Attached picture 6845411-more4.jpg

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 01:34 AM

Quote:

Brakes break ?

I think getting the right rotor (to have the caliper sit where you want in relation to the wheel is the main hurdle. Making the caliper brackets (in my case at least) was not really a huge deal. Making the little template piece to get the angle right was a good start and then just start cutting out of the thick stuff.

I hope brakes dont break!
Yeah the selection I have is late model 6 lug 12 inch rotors, viper 14 inch, viper 13 inch, and everything else is likely something I have to mod. I think I would even have to mod the hub for the 13 inch viper to fit.

This will all become a lot clearer to me tomorrow when I am looking at a wheel over my current brakes. It will be even clearer than that once I have parts sitting here to place and measure. Once I get a rotor and caliper, I can hook up the caliper, bleed it, put it where I want it, have someone hold the brake pedal to center it and meake my templates. something to that effect.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 08:59 PM

Quote:

What the.... that makes no sense! on my phone, it's "right side up" on my computer, it's right side up. on photobucket where I uploaded it to, it's right side up....I post it here as an attachment, and it's sideways!!!

It's quite simple. You, my friend, suck.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 10:18 PM

HAHA!!!!!

Ok, I got tires mounted to my front wheels and threw them on the mighty (albeit mostly apart) POS Dakota....

I have about three inches all around my 11.3 inch rotors in there now.
from the edge of my clumsy iron single piston caliper, I have what I am going to limit to 1.25 inches for safety. I have some room to work with. I will need a caliper that doesnt stick too far past the end of the rotor and I will clear the wheel with a 13 inch rotor. Definitely a 12 inch rotor from a later model dakota. If I did go with the 12 inch rotor, I think any 4 piston caliper coupled with that would be a lot more stopping power. I'm digging the look though...

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 10:20 PM

Another...

Not bad!

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/28/11 10:31 PM

Quote:

Once I get a rotor and caliper, I can hook up the caliper, bleed it, put it where I want it, have someone hold the brake pedal to center it and meake my templates. something to that effect.

Put a rotor on a hub and hold it down tight with an old open lug nut. Make sure there's no excessive runout when you turn the hub. Then, lock it down so it doesn't spin. If it's a drilled rotor you can wire it to the lower control arm. Whatever method you use, it must prevent the rotor from spinning while you play with the caliper.
Once that's done, drop the caliper with pads over the rotor where you want it to be. A pair of vise grips clamped to the rotor (using cardboard under the jaws to prevent damage) will keep the caliper from sliding off the rotor. I used small needle nose vise grip pliers to grab a cooling fin from the edge of the rotor and let the caliper hang off of it. You can then put shims between the brake pads and rotor to center the caliper. Be sure to space the caliper so the pads are at the right depth and the rotor doesn't touch the caliper.
When everything is locked down tight you need to turn the steering wheel back and forth to check for clearance. Adjust the caliper position accordingly.
If there are no conflicts you need to bottom out the suspension and turn the steering wheel again. Adjust position as needed.
Next, fully compress the suspension and check for clearance again.
After you have the "perfect" position figured out run through the suspension and steering movement one last time to guarantee a collision-free position.
Be sure to mark the position of the caliper on the rotor with a Sharpie or other fine marking device. Permanent marker ink will wear off the rotor. If you like you can stick masking tape on the rotor to draw the outline of the caliper.

Finally, with the caliper in it's best position you need to crawl under the truck and start making measurements to determine the best mount to place the caliper where you want it to be.

Only then can you pull the caliper off the rotor, marking the shims and pads used to position it. That will enable you to reset the stack should the first mount not work out.

When I did my brakes the calipers only fit in one position and I had less than 1/2" of up/down adjustment available.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 12:21 AM

Sounds kinda complicated....mine just sort of fell into place.

Then made the little adjustable aluminum template for the bracket to get the angles for it right and went to it.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 12:24 AM

Quote:

HAHA!!!!!

Ok, I got tires mounted to my front wheels and threw them on the mighty (albeit mostly apart) POS Dakota....

I have about three inches all around my 11.3 inch rotors in there now.
from the edge of my clumsy iron single piston caliper, I have what I am going to limit to 1.25 inches for safety. I have some room to work with. I will need a caliper that doesnt stick too far past the end of the rotor and I will clear the wheel with a 13 inch rotor. Definitely a 12 inch rotor from a later model dakota. If I did go with the 12 inch rotor, I think any 4 piston caliper coupled with that would be a lot more stopping power. I'm digging the look though...

If you are going to go through the effort, would be cool to get the little 13" rotors in, just have to watch the rotor height I suppose (so the caliper does not get near the spoke of the wheel)

Once you have the caliper in hand you can figure out for sure how far out you can space it, then just find a rotor to fill in the space.

Guess the 6 lug thing does limit you some but hopefully with the ones you have to choose from, one of them will suit.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 12:57 AM

My choices are what I have now (bah!)

11.3 inch diameter
2.52 inch height
.950 thickness
2.89 hub register
Weight: 15 lbs

Upgrades:

03 dakota
12.12 inch diameter
2.47 inch height
1.02 inch thicknes
2.89 register
19.5 lbs

01 viper
13 inch diameter
2.45 inch height
1.26 inch thickness
2.89 inch hub register
23 lbs

The nice thing about this truck is that the backspacing on the wheel is I think about 5.5 inches and the offset is 25mm. The spokes come out and away and arent too deep like my old wheels. I know the factory dakota r/t wheel needed a spacer because of this. I dont think I do. We'll find out...and a machinist can fix anything.

Given the lovely gift of early viper cross-compatibility, it's almost a no brainer to say if I can fit them then by all means please do..but if I feel uncomfortable buying rotors that might not fit and I chicken out, it's nice to know I am still doing what is purported to be a nice upgrade to the 12 inch...and of course with a 4 piston caliper, that's only augmented I'm sure.

So I'm going to do what I was supposed to do first like a good boy (wife's watching this build, with interest) and do the viper brakes out back onto my 9.25 inch rear axle with the 13 inch rotor and 01 rear caliper/e-brake deals, then "find" some new calipers and rotors that someone mysteriously left on my doorstep out of charity.

I think that charitable individual is going to choose the wilwoods for me. They have really nice drawings with measurements of their stuff online and they will make life a lot easier for me. Those calipers look great too with the whole black stealth theme I have going on...if some better ones pop up with the same measurements though, I definitely won't cry.

I still want this thread to keep going though...I hope more keep commenting and contributing...ahem!!!!

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 01:06 AM

Quote:

Sounds kinda complicated....mine just sort of fell into place.

Then made the little adjustable aluminum template for the bracket to get the angles for it right and went to it.

He's very thorough, and I cant knock that. Whatever it takes until you're convinced you're doing it right is what you gotta do.

Yep I have all your pics saved and this thread added to my favorites because of what a cool general reference it's become so far. Thanks for your contributions too. The more of the details I see packed into your car, the more ideas I get myself. You guys are awesome.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 01:14 AM

Quote:

He's very thorough

I guess you could call it that..

I know every setup is a little different of course...but with a little back ground work (like you are doing) it's really not thaaaaaat huge an under taking for what you end up with from it.

And if you decide to plop an LS1/T56 into the Dak, I can try and help out there too..

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 01:21 AM

Hey Oz,

Here is a better idea of how the spokes come out. I dont think I will have a problem. The mounting surface is the same diameter of the hub and it tapers outward sharply from there. Should be enough room to not require a spacer. I dont want any wheel spacers.

The wilwood caliper only comes out 1.9 inches from the rotor surface on either side. I'm likely good. All that remains is the outer diameter fit...

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 01:31 AM

Quote:

Quote:

He's very thorough

I guess you could call it that..

I know every setup is a little different of course...but with a little back ground work (like you are doing) it's really not thaaaaaat huge an under taking for what you end up with from it.

And if you decide to plop an LS1/T56 into the Dak, I can try and help out there too..

My next engine is a Dart Machine Big Block Chevy M Block and Big M 410 cfm aluminum heads...god help me.

I like chevy stuff too.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 09/29/11 01:52 AM

I'm 2.5 inches away from the rotor surface now at the most outward part of the wheel which means with the extra thickness of the 13 inch rotor and the 1.9 inch caliper distance from the surface of the rotor isnt enough to hit.

Just bouncing numbers off the wall per quick measurements...

The difference in thickness between what I have now (950) and the viper rotor is .31 inch, and if the caliper extends outward 1.9 inch from the rotor surface, the viper rotor will leave me about .29 inch clearance...

Total outside radius with caliper would be a bit over 7 inches...not enough to hit on the outside...

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/01/11 07:19 PM

If you changed your mind on the wheels...just came across...

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/2626566433.html

And are they done yet?
Are they done yet?
Are they done yet?

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/01/11 07:20 PM

Quote:

I'm 2.5 inches away from the rotor surface now at the most outward part of the wheel which means with the extra thickness of the 13 inch rotor and the 1.9 inch caliper distance from the surface of the rotor isnt enough to hit.

Just bouncing numbers off the wall per quick measurements...

The difference in thickness between what I have now (950) and the viper rotor is .31 inch, and if the caliper extends outward 1.9 inch from the rotor surface, the viper rotor will leave me about .29 inch clearance...

Total outside radius with caliper would be a bit over 7 inches...not enough to hit on the outside...

Sounds like a mile of room!

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/01/11 11:51 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I'm 2.5 inches away from the rotor surface now at the most outward part of the wheel which means with the extra thickness of the 13 inch rotor and the 1.9 inch caliper distance from the surface of the rotor isnt enough to hit.

Just bouncing numbers off the wall per quick measurements...

The difference in thickness between what I have now (950) and the viper rotor is .31 inch, and if the caliper extends outward 1.9 inch from the rotor surface, the viper rotor will leave me about .29 inch clearance...

Total outside radius with caliper would be a bit over 7 inches...not enough to hit on the outside...

Sounds like a mile of room!

Yup! I'm going for it. next week I'll have the back brakes going, and soon after the wilwood dynapro billet calipers and 1.26x13 viper rotors will be on the way. This has become one hell of an expensive carb conversion.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/01/11 11:54 PM

Quote:

If you changed your mind on the wheels...just came across...

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/2626566433.html

And are they done yet?
Are they done yet?
Are they done yet?

I really like these black wheels. They're staying. But onc ethe truck is out and driving I'm going to do another car...as long as life keeps being good to me...

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/04/11 12:43 AM

I was playing around with the spare Oz Valiant spindles and hubs I have laying around again and sure looks like it will be pretty simple to rig up a 13" or more setup onto them too

Be cool to see how the viper rotors sit on your setup!

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/07/11 02:47 PM

I know the 13 inch fronts will work. That's the plan...

But right now I need to order my rear calipers since I am on the rear axle portion of my build....

So what calipers work on my rear brackets?
I know 70Cuda383 knows the answer to this question....right now I'm confused at all the conflicting info I am seeing at various E-tailers.

I guess another question that might help me get a good answer is what years did the rear calipers stay the same??? I looked around on allpar and maybe didnt look hard enough, but didnt see anything I could use.

This is my holdup right now...and I want to order them today as my rear axle will be ready for them by then...have to keep working and I need the parts to keep coming in to do this...

If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it. I dont need the wrong parts. LOL

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/08/11 04:26 AM

Alright, so I got a set of 99 rear viper calipers, a set of rotors, pads, and the mounting bolts ordered.

For anyone curious and not in the know like i was, 2000 is the last year that works for the viper disc brake conversions on the rear end of a dakota. Guess they went to ABS, different calipers, dimensions and stuff after that on the rears. Fronts changed after 2003 I think.

So they are on their way and I'll post up when I get them and the installation as well. cost is about 700 bucks so far and all I need now are the hoses for the rear....anyone know what the proper length should be? I want to say no longer than 10 inches woudl be needed. I guess it's up in the air since this is all custom and everything is being replaced.

Going to use this for all the brake lines...
http://store.fedhillusa.com/

Anyone every try it? It's supposed to bend super easily by hand without kinking, is DOT approved, and doesnt corrode.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/08/11 04:40 AM

Cool deal you got some calipers lined up

On brakes lines for the rear.. I just used normal hardline and bent it up and flared the ends and such. Then used 3 flex lines.. One from the diff T fitting up to the body then one on each side of course to the calipers.

I don't remember the hose length off hand on the 2 for the calipers

but 10" - 12 or so maybe? Just see what fits nicely with no kinks and gives ample clearance and movement.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/08/11 04:45 AM

Here was after I bent up the hard line.. I had welded some tabs on the diff housing as well you can see to hold the flex hoses near the ends.

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/08/11 05:23 AM

Quote:

Here was after I bent up the hard line.. I had welded some tabs on the diff housing as well you can see to hold the flex hoses near the ends.

Yep, that's exactly what I was envisioning.
Right now it's all hardline, so I had to think about it.

Yeah, I almost got pissed today and ordered a kit just to save my hair, and then I found a place that had the stuff in stock.

Order is submitted, so I should hopefully have something next week.
It said the calipers were in stock, but they mention some extra time for powdercoating...so we'll see.

I just complicated the situation though because I had the calipers powdercoated in red. LOL Now I have to find a red anodized caliper. Wilwood makes them so I'll go with something that has the 3.5 inch narrowmount scheme that will work well for me with 4 pistons, and I'll be good to go.

I payed 132 bucks for the pair of slotted/drilled 13 inch rear rotors with a lifetime warranty. The fronts cost a little more than that. Most places charge you A LOT. In my eyes they are all iron and they are all rotors so I went with the best price. Especially since they guarantee them.

these....th picture isnt the real rotor as mine are 6x4.5 but you get the spiel....

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/18/11 05:13 PM

Alright...

I had the hardest time finding a set of rear viper calipers for this thing. Most places (and I dont know why) have the driver side, but not the passenger side? I could have bought used, but I really dont like buying any used stuff. And choices were kind of limited there too from what i could see.

One place said they had them in stock, so I placed an order and then got an email they dont have them. lol I was so mad. So I waited 5 days for a refund and found someone who had them new in box and they are on the way. rotors will be here this afternoon and I have the bolts and backplates sitting here... I've had the rear axle redone and sitting in wait. More to come...yes this is still happening.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/19/11 01:16 AM

Quote:

More to come...yes this is still happening.

If you wait too much longer, there will be some other new whiz-bang sorta thing come out..

Waiting to see pics and hear how it goes..

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 10/19/11 02:11 AM

Quote:

Quote:

More to come...yes this is still happening.

If you wait too much longer, there will be some other new whiz-bang sorta thing come out..

Waiting to see pics and hear how it goes..

The pair of rears only cost me like 140 bucks and the fronts a little more than that. They are zinc plated 13 inch gen2 vipers. Rear viper calipers will be here tomorrow and then we can play. It's getting cold here man...whew!

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 12/14/11 05:21 PM

Posted By: MuuMuu101

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 12/27/11 05:03 AM

Quote:

MIA?

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 12/27/11 12:08 PM

Quote:

Quote:

MIA?

Nope, not MIA. Just waiting till I have something substantial to share. With the holidays, home renovations, and moving my mom into the neighborhood, I haventhad time to do anything.

The brakes I have chosen are brand new corvette z06 6 piston calipers. There will be more to come. The spindles on the dakota require substantial changes in order to fit the custom caliper brackets. I just wanted to wait until I had more to post. It's all coming soon.

And yes, I am using the 13 inch viper rotors to make life a lot easier, as I cannot get a 14 inch vette rotor in there anyway.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/08/12 04:15 PM

I've upgraded mine again...

4 piston brembos are off, and going on are the 8 piston ones.

Before..

And after...

Posted By: POS Dakota

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/08/12 06:38 PM

Quote:

I've upgraded mine again...

4 piston brembos are off, and going on are the 8 piston ones.

Before..

And after...

Hey Oz,

Those look great. How much of a difference do they make from what you had?

I'm finally in the clear and with the weather nice again I'm about to resume work on my pile. I've been cleaning up my shop to get better organized. This winter definitely took a long time to die.

I bought a lot of equipment to help me do more of my own work instead of depending on other people. We'll be moving forward here pretty shortly. I hate waiting.

Posted By: feets

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 12:25 AM

Yeah, Oz. How well does one front caliper stop the car?

Sorry about not catching the damage on the other caliper. Hopefully the replacement lands this week. With luck you might be cruising Friday night with big stoppers.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 02:25 AM

Quote:

How much of a difference do they make from what you had?

As Feets mentioned....they don't stop me too well at all

One of the ones had some damage to it in the box, hopefully it'll be here soon and I can get it cleaned and painted and the system bled and then will see how it goes.

I did get the pads today at least, and one side is ready to go now at least.

And I know what you say about having the stuff to do the work yourself, makes projects go much better IMO the more you can do for yourself.

Posted By: Vert

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 02:56 AM

Sweet! I have a nice set of red Gen II Viper calipers. Just haven't found time or $ to grab the adapter kit and a set of wheels for it.

Posted By: racer_amx

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 05:00 AM

Quote:

I've upgraded mine again...

4 piston brembos are off, and going on are the 8 piston ones.

nice!

Posted By: MuuMuu101

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 05:16 AM

Quote:

Quote:

How much of a difference do they make from what you had?

As Feets mentioned....they don't stop me too well at all

One of the ones had some damage to it in the box, hopefully it'll be here soon and I can get it cleaned and painted and the system bled and then will see how it goes.

I did get the pads today at least, and one side is ready to go now at least.

And I know what you say about having the stuff to do the work yourself, makes projects go much better IMO the more you can do for yourself.

With that large of brakes on your small car, you should be able to brake fine with just 1 front brake.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 05:23 AM

I could just try driving the car the way it is...one 8 piston caliper on the right, and one 4 piston one on the left, and see which side stops better.

Hopefully the other one gets here before tooooooo long though so I can get it cleaned, painted and bolted on.

Posted By: MuuMuu101

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 05:26 AM

Quote:

I could just try driving the car the way it is...one 8 piston caliper on the right, and one 4 piston one on the left, and see which side stops better.

Hopefully the other one gets here before tooooooo long though so I can get it cleaned, painted and bolted on.

If it gets here by Friday, I might be able to stop by and check them out!

Posted By: Keith Black®

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 07:05 AM

here's mine:

Attached picture 7198218-2-FrontBrakes-13.jpg

Posted By: Keith Black®

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 07:07 AM

..another:
(we CNC'd billet brackets as they are non-kit calipers. they're actually Wilwood's largest available calliper).
disc's 14.25.

Attached picture 7198221-2-FrontBrakes-7.jpg

Attached picture 7198221-2-FrontBrakes-7.jpg

Posted By: Keith Black®

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 07:08 AM

wheel

Attached picture 7198222-3-Frontin-9.jpg

Posted By: Keith Black®

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 07:13 AM

a'nudder

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 03:55 PM

Quote:

..another:
(we CNC'd billet brackets as they are non-kit calipers. they're actually Wilwood's largest available calliper).
disc's 14.25.

Darren, out of curiosity...what does the engineer have to say about those home made spindles?

Posted By: Keith Black®

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/09/12 09:13 PM

Quote:

Quote:

..another:
(we CNC'd billet brackets as they are non-kit calipers. they're actually Wilwood's largest available calliper).
disc's 14.25.

Darren, out of curiosity...what does the engineer have to say about those home made spindles?

Hi Jeff, he doesn't like them. They're actually the Fat Man spindles and the only 2 in drop spindles available at the time. They'd be ok, but I will probably (most definitely) replace them with the one-piece Magnum force units.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 05/10/12 01:28 AM

I wouldn't have thought he would have liked it. I know the engineer I know of probably would have

at it. That is good at least you have another option for it in mind.

Posted By: OzHemi

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 08/11/12 10:20 PM

Quote:

I've upgraded mine again...

4 piston brembos are off, and going on are the 8 piston ones.

Before..

And after...

Matching AMG Brembo rear calipers are now on.

Posted By: fuseable

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 08/11/12 11:08 PM

Since this is a brake thread I will throw this in. Will the Wilwood radial on the AR kit fit under a 15" wheel? How does it compare dimensionally to the slider on a 11.75 rotor, ( I mean what would the dimension be from the outer edge of the caliper from center line, or any other way to compare the two setups)?

Posted By: brads70

Re: Post your custom front disc brake setups. - 08/11/12 11:33 PM

Here is my creation for 73 c-body spindles and rotors -Viper calipers on my Challenger...

[IMG]http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu240/B_Richmond/PDRM0835.jpg[/IMG

Post your custom front disc brake setups.