My Evo IX Brembo Calipers on FC3S Upgrade
 

I recently came across a sweet deal on Evo IX Brembo front calipers with Hawk HPS pads and stock Evo rotors. You can get the specs on the calipers and rotors from the Evo IX FSM. I'll post them up later on the thread too once I get the Evo FSM off my work computer.

The deal was too good to pass up and I hope the big brake setup will eliminate brake fadding on longer track day runs. The car is very modified and I run it at open track day events as much as possible.

After researching the Evo FSM, FC FSM, Brembo.com and a few forums, I didn't find anything conclusive about adapting the Evo front brakes to the FC. Not to be discouraged I started comparing the Evo/FC components and recording measurements. Using a extra FC spindle I started mocking things up and found things to be much closer than I had thought they would be.

Here is what I did and came up with. First I drilled out the threads on the FC spindle using a 29/64th drill bit. The Evo caliper bolted right up to the FC spindle without any custom brackets. I know the Evo and FC have the same wheel stud pattern, so I put the Evo rotor over the FC hub. The center hole ID on the Evo rotor was too small. I lined up the caliper over the rotor, shimmed it out and threaded in the mounting bolts. It was damn close, but the outside edge of the rotor was dragging on the inside of the caliper when I spun it. I took a couple more measurements, then sent the rotors out for machining. I had the rotor center hole ID openned up to match the FC hub. Then I had 1/16th taken off the outside of the rotors to get the clearance on the inside of the caliper. I got the rotors back today and everything bolted together great!

I took some additional measurements now that I had the rotor fit and caliper bolted on securely. Because the Brembo caliper bolts to the opposite side of the FC spindle and the caliper has a larger body, it pushes the caliper outward a little more than the stock location. With the offset of my rims, I think I am going to have to use a 1/8-3/8" wheel spacer to clear the calipers. Ohhh, while I'm thinking about it.. You need 17" rims to clear the calipers too. I'm pretty excited with the way things have come together.

I'll be going to the Parker Fluid Systems store to get some stainless lines and adaptors to get all the lines connected. Once I get everything, I'll start mounting everything up on my car.

Here are some pictures of what I have so far.

http://www.interneticon.com/pics/brembo/brembo1.jpg

http://www.interneticon.com/pics/brembo/brembo2.jpg

http://www.interneticon.com/pics/brembo/brembo3.jpg

http://www.interneticon.com/pics/brembo/brembo5.jpg

http://www.interneticon.com/pics/brembo/brembo4.jpg

I'm glad you didn't let the bickering and childishness in the other thread from discouraging you from posting this up.

^ Thanks Titanium. I was having internet problems last night and didn't think the thread even posted, but I guess it did. I'll be sure to keep posting pictures and my progress going forward.

Everyone please keep this thread informative and on topic.

Let me be the first to say...... Holy Christopher Walkin!!!!!!

beutiful

Is there really a bigger benifite to using Brembo rather than a 4 pot Mazda caliper?

man, those are gonna look sweet!

I feel that there are more advantages in the pad selection, pad area, heat dissipation for the rotor, not to mention the rotor itself is bigger.

Exactely how big is that rotor in diameter. Mazda 5-lugs are 10.9" I believe.

Sweet!! I've been wanting to check this fitment out for a couple years now. Did you allow room for rotor growth? If you track it heavily, they can grow quit a bit, just wondering if you took that into account when you shaved the rotor down.
Also, the pad doesn't drag accross air now were the rotor was turned down does it?

~Mike................

I'm interested to hear about the pedal travel after the install.

Leverage should be improved via rotor diameter, but I wonder what the piston ratio of master v caliper will do to the pdeal travel/effort.

Good project and I'm surprised they're so close in fit fro mthe start!

Oh I see. I can't really tell how big the rotors are and that alone would make it worth it (assuming they're bigger). At one point I was thinking about getting the overly large brake kit... but then I wrecked my previous 7.

Yeah definitely theres a better selection for pads etc, I think its a great idea.

Great work!
Can you please post up a few more pix for us?
1) I'm looking for a side-by-side pic of the Evo Brembo and the FC 4-pot
2) The Evo Brembo piston diam. size? Im wondering how much more fluid the Evo Brembos displace compared to the stock FC 4-pot.
3) The Evo rotor diam and width? Im wondering if there is a mechanical advantage (leverage) to the Evo rotor.
Thanks Project7, and again...great job on this!
-a

I'm astonished that it more or less bolted right up, I wouldn't have predicted that.

Are you going to do anything about the brake balance? You'll likely need more rear brake pressure or bigger rears now to even it out. Corksport sells what you need to do the rear using FD parts (bigger) for fairly cheap.

I'd love to have an upgrade like this, stupid class rules prevent me from doing so.....

There should be plenty of room for rotor growth. I can't imagine them growing more than a 1/16th". As you can see in pictures 3 and 4 the pads are not across air on any part of their surface.

Once I get all the specs from the FSM, I'll do the math and find out the numbers behind the change. I personally don't care that much about the exact numbers and will likely tune by feel in the end. I still have an option on the Evo booster and master in the event I don't like the feel with the FC stuff.

I will post more pictures later this week with all the specs I have. The calipers are much larger that the stock FC calipers and the routers are roughly 12.5" OD with a 32mm thickness.

I will likely use a proportioning valve in the engine bay. Get it where I like and forget it. I didn't know they had that for the FD rears on the FC, but I'll have to look in to that now. Thanks!

Thanks for all the comments guys, I will be sure to keep everyone updated on the progress and anything I find along the way.

http://www.interneticon.com/pics/brembo/brembo6.jpg

Damn, they practically bolted on!

I'll find out how much more fluid they will need once I get in to all the specs. I think they are B-Family Brembo calipers based on my initial research.

Could we get this archived?

You mean stickied?

Nope, Archived (when completed).

I think we can get a decent idea of the relative fluid displacement (clamping force) by measuring the diameter of the Brembo caliper piston. So, the diam of the caliper piston x4 (4 pistons), and then we can measure the diam of the FC cailper piston x4 and compare the diference. That will dictate how much more/less clamping force will be exerted on the rotor give the same master cylinder and brake pedal pressure.

So, lets assume that we have 500lb of force entering the caliper (from master cylinder), and the caliper piston diam on the Brembo is 1 inch. That gives us a .78 area under the piston x 4 = 3.12. So, now our 500psi of clamping force has been
multiplied to 1,560psi of clamp force.

On the FC, lets assume the caliper piston diam is .5 inches. Thats .196 x 4 = .784. 500psi x .784 = 392psi of clamping force in the stock system for the caliper. (all numbers hypothetical! I have not made a single measurement here guys)

Someone correct me if im wrong on my math here. Im by no means an engineer.

So, Im looking for the real measurements on the Brembo caliper to do that math with.
Thanks!
-a

Be aware that unless you put the valve on the front brakes or disable the stock proportionning valve that it'll only be able to reduce the line pressure going to the rear, and therefore reduce their effectiveness.

The rotors can reach surface temps of well over 1000 degrees, so the growth will be significant. So assuming it's been measured at about room temp of 70 degrees and it reaches a peak temp of 1070, with a coefficient of thermal expansion of 0.0000067, it'll grow by 6.7%, which equates to 0.84", or a radial expansion of 0.42". Now it won't actually grow that much, since it'll remain cooler in the center where it's bolted to the hub and in the vents where it's getting cooling air and is away from the source of the heat, but the point is it could expand a lot more than just 1/16" when being used heavily on track.

wow great work mate :D

So can we assume all evo brembo's can be done to do this :D
you didnt think about getting the rear brembo's as well, so you dont have to worry about overbreaking the rear stock ones ?