Well, i know of the 7sOnlyRacing brake upgrade kit, which looks mighty sweet, and i'm highly considering it, because my brakes are ***, and well... i want a car with REALLY nice brakes, i love the feeling of nice brakes.

so there's that kit, which is 11.75" rotors with 4 pot calipers front and rear, and they *should* fit into my ROH Snypers (15")

are there any other "big brake" kits around, maybe something not as extreme as the 7sOnly kit? Does anyone know what that kit costs... i emailed them, but no reply yet.

I know most people are gonna say get stock discs all around with new rotors and Hawk HP+ Pads, and i may eventually end up just doing that, but now that i have proper money to do some modding (18th bday + HS Graduation) i'd like to do something real nice, especially now that the suspension is done, and i'm still waiting on the rack and pinion kit. Now that my suspension is tight, goddamn does the steering feel like crap.

on a side note, i'm also still waiting to pick up that TII motor and do that swap, but that money is set aside already.

-Kurt

 

I have heard of using '84/'85 strut housings with the larger than pre '84 spindles. this allows you to use a 2nd gen hub and rotor, you will need an adapter for the large bearing and seal which any machine shop can make. Then use either 2nd gen calipers or go aftermarket like Wilwood.

 

Call Tom at sevensonly, they don't answer emails very quickly.

 

I guess I am one of them. I have a GSLSE, and I do track events at Summit Point, VIR, etc. I have the stock SE brakes (I keep them in top notch shape BTW) and Hawk HP+ or Porterfield R4S pads on the street and maybe better versions of the same pads on the track. If I had more brakes I would be slower on the race track. Seriously, the only way I would be better is to have lighter brake parts that worked as good or better.

FWIW I also have stainless steel brake lines, very well thought out brake ducts, etc.

I have been road racing one way or another since the late 1970's. Trust me when I say that.

The exception to this rule might be if you really significantly up the top end of the car. If you are getting 250-300 hp then you might consider an upgrade.

As an inexpensive upgrade I think you can adapt 2nd gen calipers, rotors, etc. to a first gen. I have looked at these and I am sure with a few small parts fabrications they can adapt to a first gen for a fairly nice upgrade without breaking the bank.

 

I saw the brake kit from 7's Only and was also interested in the price. If you find out, post it here.

 

I know that kit has been the topic of several discussions and for some reason I seem to remember the price being like $1700 or something crazy like that. I might be way off, but that seems to ring a bell.
Jutny, you don't wanna hear this I'm sure, but if you've got good stock parts on your car the brakes are way more than enough. What kind of shape are you pads and rotors in?

 

Ya, I remember the price being well over a grand myself. So I just upgraded to GSL-SE brakes and am very happy.

 

Whats the website to 7sOnlyRacing?

 

http://www.sevensonly.com/

 

The whole system is $1700, it is a little under a thousand if you want the front only.

 

Well, you could just do what I'm doing and swap in a 2nd gen front subframe... takes care of the redorkulating ball steering too.

... I'm a nut though, so...

 

Oh wait, you've got S1s. http://www.selectmaz.com.au/main_frame.htm has kits for the S1 and S2... they called it $990 to $1590 Aussie. 'course, there's shipping, but...

 

The 7sOnly kit was designed first and formost for their GT2 tubeframe car and uses all new Race parts, real good quality stuff. Outlaw aluminum calipers with heat shields, etc.... More than enough brake for the street.

For street stuff you might try the selectmaz.com.au Turbo][ kit. Looks nice and good price.

 

i have been looking in to this 4 a while. the good i found 2 kits other than the 2 listed above. the bad things... $$$$$$ and you have to have a 17" rim MIN to fit the kits. heres the 2 emails i got about the 2 kits

Tripoint
We carry Brembo front brake rotors and Japanese rear brake rotors $239.00
set. We also carry Hawk Brake Pads and S/S Lines @ $89.95
If you have any questions or would like to order please call us at
818-348-5385. Thanks. Mark.


precisionbrakes
Thanks for the inquiry for a kit for your '85 RX7. There is a Big Brake
Kit available for your application. It comes with 2 piece 13" rotors either
Superlite 4 piston calipers or Superlite 6 piston calipers and all mounting
hardware. Cost between $1399.00 and $1799.00. Depending on options.
This kit needs to an 17" or larger wheel.
If you are interested, you can place an
order by phone, e-mail, or our easy and convenient online order form
http://www.precisionbrakescompany.com/orderform.html

Thanks again...........
Regards
Mark Oliver
please visit our website at
www.precisionbrakescompany.com
3161 E. Main
Ashland, OR 97520
1-866-99BRAKE (27253)
Don't forget about stainless steel braided flex lines and fluid for your
braking system.
Please attach all correspondence to ensure more efficient service

 

thanks for pointing out those other two sites. i hadnt seen those before.
ahh... if only i wasnt 20 and broke. the things i would buy.

P.s. who makes a 17" wheel for 1st gens? Simmons maybe?

 

www.mazspeed.com has a tutorial for upgrading brakes to the later 2nd gen 4-piston caliper and bigger discs. Just follow the link and ye shall see: http://www.mazspeed.com/4pistonbrakeconversion.htm

 

i just bought factory sized but drilled and slotted with hawk pads front and rear for 349.00 from mariah. i couldnt see spending thousands on brakes just yet. anyway they look good and the people at mariah were very helpful.

 

I am pretty sure that a stockish first gen will turn slower lap times around most road race tracks with 13" rotor brakes than it would with stock brakes. I just can't see that would actually improve performance overall on a first gen. You give up a great deal in acceleration in getting those 4 big flywheels turning (remember you probably spent extram money for a lightweight flywheel for the engine, why add it back 4 times at the wheels).

Even if I improved the brakes to infinity (instant decrease in the desired cornering speed), I am not sure that it would gain over what you would lose in acceleration.

Granted if you have a 3 rotor engine or a 400 hp turbo I can see it, but anything less and I can't see the benefit.

 

*cough* Who ever said anything about "stockish"? *points at Jutny's sig, denoting TII swap in progress*

A thought to consider is that dropping the weight off the flywheel actually counts more than at the wheels in terms of inertia, because of the whole "rear end gearing" thing, but... *shrug* It's not an unknown point to bring up. But... I'm not ending up with a "stockish" first gen. Nowhere near. So I want those brakes. Well, the 5-lug sized 2nd gen ones at any rate. I think those are sufficient overkill for me.

 

I think the 2nd gen 5 lug brakes are a good choice and I would probably consider that if I were putting a TII in my first gen. But the 13" rotors and whatever the calipers those came with are overkill for a 300 HP car that weighs in about 2500 lbs which is what a reasonable streetable TII swap would end up with.

 

FWIW, if you use the GSLSE bolt pattern you have the choice of literally hundred of Honda rims that work find on a first gen, pleanty of which are 17" and if you use the 5 bolt pattern you have the choice of more of the off the shelf rims the ricers use. So doing away with the 12A bolt pattern is a plus in this area too.

 

Hmm. Oh yeah, those. Well... uh... any company that expects 17" wheels to fit their brakes is probably not designing with first gens explicitly in mind?

 

Entirely agreed. IMHO the 13" rotors are more designed for the show/street ricer crowd who are more concerned with making the observers go "Oooh. Aaaah." rather than the track crowd that is interested in optimizing the lap time improvements per dollar spent on their cars.

That is not an insult against the company that makes these brakes or the people who buy them. It is just what I think, please don't take this as flame bait.

 

I've tossed the idea of a bigger brake setup many times in my head...but I really don't want or need a huge track rotor...I just need somehting that won't fade on hard driving. There are some amazing roads around here and my car doesn't like to come down from 160-100km or 120-60km many times before it cooks. I'm pretty sure being able to brake deeper and reliably is the next big step in improving my driving.

Has anyone tried the Powerslot rotors for 79-83 cars? I was thinking about using those upfront with Hawk pads.

 

I have Powerslots (F Only) for my 84 SE along with Hawk+ and Steel braided lines. Works great, feels great!