The Volvo 240 caliper was a pretty cool option. I personally opted for FC front and rear brakes with a 5x114.3 lug pattern.

Extended ARP Wheel Studs on the same 4Runner Toyota 8" Solid axle. I think it'll give plenty of room for coilovers and my 225/45-15 square setup.

Alex, what tire sizes have you experimented with in the rear? I have a 23.75" (185/60-15 I think) that I'll be test fitting back there in hopes of altering gearing with tire size (originally planned a 25" tall tire). 255+ width would be nice.

 

ive been able to fit pretty much whatever tire, but the larger diameter stuff is a bit big for my liking. I'm only using 15" wheels so that is a consideration too.

Was able to finalize some mounting with the toyota 4 piston caliper. Ill get pictures once i have the rotor hat machined.

 

Is that a REAR caliper with cable e-brake unit? I had no idea Toyota made a 4-piston like that.

 

its actually a front caliper from the pickup. No parking brake option then obviously, but i have a hydraulic brake for now. Technically, I should have a mechanically operated brake but technically, that isn't going to happen.

 

Technically, I should have a mechanically operated brake but technically, that isn't going to happen.

if you get called out on mechanically operated parking brake-

I have seen people make wings off the pad backing plates, a stiff sprig in between and have the e-brake cable pull the outer wing to get around the mechanical operated parking brake rule.

Wilwood has a 4 pot caliper with this set-up, but last I hear it was not able to ship to US/Canada.

Pic of caliper-
http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment...ke-clapper-jpg

Pic of "parking brake" mechanism-


Doesn't actually hold the car on a hill though...

I have seen people slap a $90 kart brake or two on as well (this would actually hold the car).

 

thats a bit interesting. if for any reason i do get called out at tech, i might try that bonus caliper thing. Although i could argue that a brick under the wheel is pretty mechanical....

 

well here is how the rear brakes turned out. Ideally they should be...good. Or at least decent.

Slightly modified and rearranged disc brake mounts for the front calipers of a toyota pickup circa 1984. rotor hat modified to fit my axle I already had machined to a Saab rotor (thanks JVL!), and a 300mm non-vented rotor for said hat!

 

Alex, did you ever model the Ford Escort Mk2 geometry into the 4-Link calculator and see what is happening at ride height and +/- 3" of travel? What total travel are you aiming for on the rear end? Using any forms of limiting?

 

Didn't bother. I new the links weren't going to be as long as the Ford's but I could only make them as long as I could. The design is going to be how its going to be.

 

Were you allowed to cut into the body like what I'm doing, or is that against class rules?

I would have done a ZERO compromise rally spec rear suspension with 8"+ of travel.

 

yea i can cut into the body however I please. The links basically are limited by centerline of the axle to the back of my seat.

 

Hi Whizbang. I just came from your FB rally page. Cool. Kindered spirit. I used to co drive for a friend using an AE86 long ago. Before that bikes, karts, and saloon cars. I have an unpracticed engineering degree which helped me out when I put an fd into a miata which I race (circuit) with the Miata Club of the Philippines. You were one of the first rx7 members to help me out. Thanks a lot and keep rallying.

 

I'm glad someone found all my nonsense useful!

 

so yea. still working on this between grad school studies.

Basically, I'm in wiring mode and reworking the vent line on the fuel tank. Hope to get it running in December and actually driving by summer.

 

Have you been able to get the OMP seat to fit inside the roll cage and window opening? On my car we have to have the XL version to fit some of my full grown drivers, and for now the left hand wing is almost completely outside the window opening, you can see just how far it is by looking at the existing window net mount. I plan to cut the floor and part of the transmission tunnel out to slid it over as far inside the car as I can, but I am not positive that I can get it over as far as I need.

Also interested in your T5 swap, now I am running a stock transmission with Miata gears which works pretty nice but I think I am near the limit of durability for endurance racing and have thought about changing. Looks like you can build a pretty close ratio T5 if you use the .8 5th gears.

 

So it fit but doing exactly that. Notching the transmission tunnel and floor and having the seat "over" a little.

 

At the same time, you can then try to mount the seat as low as possible by dealing with the unusual floor contours.

 

this basically what I did.

 

Awesome build man! Can't wait to see it done!

 

Question: did you make the "hole" where the rear shocks are bigger?

 

yup. I use a turret to raise the mounting point and I cut out all the original metal so it make a larger tunnel for the coil.

 

some quick updates.

Brakes are finally assembled throughout the car. The fronts are power slots with Hawk DTC60s. Had a local shop redrill for the 4x114.3 pattern and used the spacer modeled after aaron cakes write on that from 1000 forum-years ago.

Also just wanting to point out the travel. This is full droop. Without the swaybar, which is how i had rally car V2.0, the car works great and I gain about 1.5 inches of travel.

 

Damn that's a lot of travel :o

 

i probably should find a way to better utilize it by not have it just be a 0 lb helper...

 

Alex, why not do a dual spring rate method like the offroading guys? So you get two 7" tall springs of various spring rates instead of a tiny spring and a very tall spring.