2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992) 1986-1992 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections.

Big Brake Kits

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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 02:35 PM
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Big Brake Kits

I have been looking all over for brake kits for my 91 RX-7, and I have yet to find any. I was wondering if you guys knew of any nice brake kits, And where I can find them.
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 02:40 PM
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do u have the 4 bolt or 5 bolt? there is none for the 4 bolt.. if you have the 5 then youi can get croll drilled brakes and slotted rotors.. not much in the way of big brake kits.. we dont have hondas here.. a good working brake system with good rotors and calipers with SS lines should work awesome for ya
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 03:36 PM
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www.rx7store.net
www.rx7.com
www.corksport.com
www.mazdatrix.com

start with these
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 03:46 PM
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www.k2rd.com
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 03:53 PM
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I CAN HELP...

I think I may be of assistance here...

I have a set of Cross Drilled Brake Rotors for 4 lug model Rx7's - $260 obo ( $240 reserve price )

I also have stainless steel braided brake line set for $79 shipped.

If you're interested email me:
avrfan "at" attbi "dot".com for pics or questions.

Dave
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 05:53 PM
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i think a calipers are pretty darn good stock (4 piston)
does anyone make a spacer that moves the caliper mount farther out so a bigger rotor can be put on? with 17" wheels, that should make room for somthing like 13" rotors...
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 06:21 PM
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The stock brakes are more than adequate for mildly modified cars...four piston fronts and single piston rears? My friend's WRX (2002) has TWO piston fronts! Save the money for something else.

One more thing. Contrary to what many people would have you believe, stainless steel brake lines DO NOT increase braking power. It gives you a better pedal feel and protection against (somewhat unlikely) brake line bursts.
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 06:31 PM
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yes, WRXs have 2 piston fronts, and they're just as good as ours. they're floating/sliding calipers, ours are fixed. if what i learned is true, 2 piston sliding calipers are near equivalent to 4 piston fixed calipers.
i didnt think SS brake lines would even give you a better feel unless your prior lines were flexing, and i doubt they would be.

i'm not worrying about brakes anytime soon, but who would on a near stock 91 N/A? unless they were autocrossing..
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 07:24 PM
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i have a 6-piston wilwood kit, with 13" rotors. Should be big enough to outbrake most cars on the track
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 07:28 PM
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cymfc3s: i hate you.. no, seriously.. hate.
..okay, its the damn envy, i admit it. nice car.. lemme know when you decide to sell a turbo2.
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 07:42 PM
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I autoX.
i think some bigger rotors would be nice...

Anyway, all the big racing calipers do not have sliders. Look at a set of some 6 piston brembos, alcons, or wilwoods.

What you learned is not true, who was your teacher? The slider is just a compromise to get an even distrabution of force on both sides of caliper, theres no way in hell that design is more rigid/stronger then a single 'monoblock' design, that does not have sliders. More pistons = more pressure per area, too. so 4 pistons is better then 2. Though our calipers are pretty small... especially if you compair them to a Wilwood superlite or DL... It has long been known that the RX-7 has some of the most sweet *** brakes from the factory out of a lot of cars that cost this much.

its not to hard putting together a 'kit' yourself, my Bro did that for his 3rd gen F-body. Hes got a pair of superlite's on the rear of his car... he just down loaded a simple free cad program, designed some really simple mounts (really simple people, just made from plate steel 1/2" thick (way overkill)) sent the design to a machine shop then, BLAM! Huge brakes on the rear of his car, that use a custom rotor hat (cheap) and the best thing is that the rotors are so cheap and theres a ton of people who make'em for race apps.

Wilwood has the dimensions of all their calipers on there page, so get building!
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 07:48 PM
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o, BTW, im sure anyone can back me up when i say SS brake lines make a huge difference. No matter what you drive, you brake will feel much differnt if you replace rubber lines with SS ones.
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 08:23 PM
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Originally posted by OC_
I autoX.
i think some bigger rotors would be nice...
Then you don't know what you're talking about.

More pistons = more pressure per area, too. so 4 pistons is better then 2.
Wrong.&nbsp Unless you got crappy quality brakes (i.e. brake pads flexing), it's still all about brake pad area.&nbsp Multi-piston brake calipers just makes for better wear on the brake pads.&nbsp All those expensive 4/6/8 piston brake calipers are designed for better brake pad wear, since brake pads with these calipers tend to be very long from end to end.


It has long been known that the RX-7 has some of the most sweet *** brakes from the factory out of a lot of cars that cost this much.
It's funny you actually say this.&nbsp I don't know of ANY autocrosser who can overpower the stock 4-piston fronts once upgrading brake pads.&nbsp These brakes are damn good stock.&nbsp Upgrading to better brake pads will usually give you close to phenomenal braking performance.&nbsp We've run the stock brake calipers with upgrade brake pads (non-existant Cool Carbons and Hawk HP/HP+/Blues) on tracks like Laguna Seca, Sears Points, and Thunderhill with very good results.

Very extreme cases will overpower the stock brakes, like 400+hp or running NASA SU classes like tims does.&nbsp Bottom line, unless you're a hardcore racer, stick with the stock brakes.



-Ted
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 08:32 PM
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what cars you run with ted? i was hoping our FMs would be goin to laguna seca, but i dont think its gonna happen.
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Old Feb 18, 2003 | 08:41 PM
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A multi-pistion caliper will always be better. Plus our fixed calipers provide a much different pedal feel. With more pistions, it requires more fluid to move and thus longer pedal travel. What's nice is the fact that they are a bridged (fixed) type caliper. It reduces the amount of static friction required to move the caliper. IE you don't have to slide the other side. And as it's been said before, you get better wear from the more even piston area on the pad. By doing so, you've reduced the chance of a high pressure spot and thus the chance of lockup. So in reality, you do get better performance even though the braking torque might be similar.
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 01:04 PM
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Originally posted by casio
what cars you run with ted? i was hoping our FMs would be goin to laguna seca, but i dont think its gonna happen.
This is testing with the K2RD cars when I was still with them.&nbsp These are all basically IT-S NA's.


-Ted
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 01:08 PM
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Originally posted by cbrock
A multi-pistion caliper will always be better. Plus our fixed calipers provide a much different pedal feel. With more pistions, it requires more fluid to move and thus longer pedal travel.
It's all about the ratio of the brake master to the brake caliper piston area.&nbsp This really has no bearing on anything being multi-piston design, as all the aftermarket brake calipers offer several different sized brake piston bores.&nbsp This is how K2RD designs their Wilwood brake kits - by controlling the brake piston bores.

What's nice is the fact that they are a bridged (fixed) type caliper. It reduces the amount of static friction required to move the caliper. IE you don't have to slide the other side. And as it's been said before, you get better wear from the more even piston area on the pad. By doing so, you've reduced the chance of a high pressure spot and thus the chance of lockup. So in reality, you do get better performance even though the braking torque might be similar.
I'm not going to directly argue against this point, as almost all the "big" aftermarket brake caliper manufacturers (i.e. Brembo, AP, Lockheed) use bridge designs.&nbsp The only large manufacturer of brake calipers that tout their "floating" design is Baer.&nbsp If you take a look at the Baer literature, they claim the floating design is superior to the fixed designs.&nbsp Go figure...


-Ted
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 01:09 PM
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the K2RD car runs stock brake pads. They work great. And believe me, the car is no slouch on the track.
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 04:33 PM
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Originally posted by RETed
Then you don't know what you're talking about.



-Ted
ok, i dont know how you can get off saying that.

what i would want is a bigger rotor with the stock 4 piston caliper.

1st, a bigger (taller) rotor will allow the caliper to have better leverage on the rotor. For example, spin the wheel on a bicycle and try to stop it by grabbing a spoke closes to the center. Then try the same thing, but grab it as far out as possible. What’s easier? You know this….

2nd, with a bigger rotor, I would hope it would last longer then a stock sized one since it will have more material to go around.

3rd. There is a lot of people who make rotors for hats, making the rotors cheap.

tell me why you would not want longer lasting cheaper rotors?
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 04:54 PM
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I'm gonna be getting the F50 Brembo kit from Biot of Japan. A friend of mine turned me onto these. They make them for the front and rear.

Nice two piece rotors, anodized hats, and beautiful calipers.

Rishie
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 06:25 PM
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Originally posted by OC_
what i would want is a bigger rotor with the stock 4 piston caliper.
(SNIP)

Why mess with the brakes if they work?&nbsp You're trying to modify something in which you have very little experience on it's limits.&nbsp You mention autocrossing, which will almost never produce the brake temperatures a road racing vehicle will see.&nbsp Therefore, it is safe to assume that brake performance will not degrade as much as a road racing vehicle.&nbsp Have you even tried running upgrade brake pads on your stock brakes?

How much experience do you have in autocross?&nbsp After seeing how nicely the STOCK brakes behave on a big, fast road course, I can't see wasting time and money trying to modify them if all it takes is a difference set of pads to gain adequate performance.

Why you want bigger rotors for?&nbsp If we're talking theoretical performance gains, aren't you ADDING more upsprung weight with the bigger rotors?

I used to think I needed bigger brakes, but after seeing for myself how well the stock brakes are with a competent set of aftermarket brake pads, I have all the confidence in the world driving such a vehicle.&nbsp It's easy for a knee-jerk reaction to go upgrading the brakes, but it really isn't necessary for these cars.&nbsp Now, my AE86 on the other hand scares the crap out of me on the street...



-Ted
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 07:03 PM
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I'm convinced this is why the TII is known for it's fairly *soft* pedal feel. They put more pistions (mind you I haven't measured the pistions on both calipers), what they didn't do is upgrade the master cylinder. Why not? Well, they probably felt that it would work good enough, plus that's one extra thing they'd have to have 2 seperate parts bins for. Plus it gives all the people that tinker something to do. I really don't see why Baer loves the floating design, except it's cheaper. But in all reality, they should perform the same in real world applications, minus maybe some extra brake drag caused by the floating design. That and they probably sell caliper slides for 8 billion dollars. It's all about selling parts.
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 07:04 PM
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Not to mention what aftermarket brakes do to your CLASS.

Unless you like running with the full slicked FP cars.

The stock 4 piston brakes the RX-7 came with are fine. Some good pads, you're set.

PaulC
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 07:29 PM
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show me the ae86. i have to see it... *drool*
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Old Feb 19, 2003 | 08:04 PM
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Originally posted by bcty
do u have the 4 bolt or 5 bolt? there is none for the 4 bolt.. if you have the 5 then youi can get croll drilled brakes and slotted rotors.. not much in the way of big brake kits.. we dont have hondas here.. a good working brake system with good rotors and calipers with SS lines should work awesome for ya
The S5 FCs like his 91, all came with 5 lug.

But most 91 NA coupes did not come with the 4 piston brakes.
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