Big Brakes with a Twist
 

So...I have an SA with a streetported 13B that I upgraded with Respeed rack, coilovers and Illuminas a couple of years ago. I loved these upgrades eventough I had to tweak some of it for it to totally suit me. The car handles like a slot car and with springs that are soft enough for my wife to tolerate. I love it. I had avoided upgrading the brakes cause I was relunctant to loose my 4 x 110 wheels but I finally gave in and decided to upgrade.

The twist part is that I did not go with the normal turbo II setup. I really wanted to keep it as light as possible, use 4 x 114.3 pattern and get the best braking possible so I found KC Raceware that makes lightweight aluminum hubs that use rotors made by Coleman Racing. These parts are designed to be used with SE single pot calipers and I wanted 4-pot calipers and larger rotors so I got coleman racing to make larger rotors and got Mr. bwaits to help me out by designing caliper brackets (Thank you Mr Waits!!!!)

[IMG]http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0be63688.jpg[/IMG]


This was a little pricey, but it will give me the larger brakes I wanted and at the same time, and this is hugh to me, reduce my unsprung weight 5.5 pounds per wheel!!!!

Just waiting on new springs so I can bolt it all in.:nod::nod:

Very nice! keep us posted on how this all goes.

Looks pretty beefy! Did you end up using Turbo II calipers? Are they willing to make more? Yea, keep us posted on the progress.

I researched and found that the FC and FD calipers are pretty much identical as far as piston diameter and mounting dimensions go, I ended up with FD calipers.

Damn! 5.5 lbs! That's going to be a big deal at the end of the control arms. Let us know how the ride changes afterwards. Should be really nice. Illumina's are adjustable both ways, or just one??

I also pray at the alter of Mr. Colin Chapman. :-)

Nice Robert! Can't wait to see it at DGRR.

One adjustment changes both the bounce and rebound.

Yea, I hope 5.5 lbs makes a big difference. I also installed KC Raceware lightweight hats and rotors on the rear that is supposed to be over 4 lbs lighter. They also use rotors available from Coleman racing.

Looks like a nice setup. I used Coleman rotors for my front big brake setup, too. They can basically make any size you want, and they're in my home state of MI. What diameter are the front rotors?

that's very cool!

excellent! and damn you sound excited.

I would imagine those things carry a minimum clearance in terms of wheels?

They are 10.8, which is the same as FC brakes and they will fit inside 15 inch wheels, but just barely, I started to try 11 inch rotors but they would have been so close that they may have interfered with stick on wheel weights. You could go really large with 16 inch wheels but I like the look of 15's, plus they are about two pounds lighter.

Looks like an awesome setup, and an alternative to the RE-Speed swap that will work better in the end.

Wait to be innovative, I applaud you :biggrin:

Here are some pics for comparisons:
Old vs new:
Attachment 679059
Attachment 679060
Im hoping these will dissapate lots more heat, last year I seriously overheated the old ones @ deals gap.

Test fit of the new caliper bracket. This was the key for using the KC
Raceware hubs and big rotors. It had to be offset and it got complicated, without the help of bwaits cad skills it would not have been possible , for me anyway.
Attachment 679058

Test fit in the new wheel:
Attachment 679057
Thats a 15x7 +40 offset with a 205/50-15. The caliper to wheel clearance is only about 1/4 inch. I tried to get a pic of the gap without success.
A wheel with about a 35 offset would have been a little better but I could not find one that I could live with appearance wise.

Another pic of the bracket testfit:
Attachment 679056

Looking good!

I purchased the RE-Speed front and back BBK. I really like your approach. Maybe if Billy is willing, he can make or share his skills and maybe you could make a parts list for us?

I've been to the KC Raceware shop serevral times. I even have a neigbor that works for them once a week.

Just noticed while looking at the pictures -- that KC Raceware hub is a 2-piece unit, isn't it? I was wondering how they pressed in the studs, then I saw the 4 socket head cap screws in the first picture -- interesting design.

Wow, just wow.

I would be glad to share my information, the only part number you would need from me is for the rotor, the KC Raceware part is not unique, all you have to do is let him know what bolt pattern you want.

As far as the caliper bracket, as far as I am concerned the design belongs to Billy, he took an interest in my project and was nice enough to help me out, I would'nt want to put him to any additional trouble or inconvenience.

Yea, Charles @ KC Raceware was super nice and is very knowledgable. He was also very patient. When I described to him what I had in mind, he said " you want to do what?"!! But he kept listening and sent me just what I needed.

Yea, its two piece, and that is the only possible down side. If you ever need to change the wheel studs you have to unbolt it and press it apart. Given that would be a very rare occurance I dont consider it a negative. If you were racing every weekend and changing wheels often it may be more of a concern. Well worth the hugh weight reduction imho. :dunno:

Thank you Sir!!! You are a genius!

:worship::worship::worship::worship:

Sorry guys, this was a one off engineering exorcize for a friends project. I can't offer designs for others.