I recently entered and event and the hand brake did not lock up the rears tires. I then, ordered a set of Hawk Hp plus pads and its still doing the same thing.

I have taken all the slack out of the wire from the hand brake lever to make it as responsive as possible. Is this wrong???? Do you want the lever to be easily janked all the way to the top to put more force on the pad?

What pads do you all use for your drift cars?

 

Stock type rear pads cause they don't need much heat to grab. Sure, they overheat easier, but its drifting not road racing, brake temps are not a worry at all.

You're not wrong in thinking you should get it as tight as possible, that is correct. I've heard FD hand brakes suck though.

 

i need to upgrade mine as well, hopefully in the next couple weeks. it'd be good to have some input from others on brake setups in general.

i know ive seen more than one FC with brake ducting.

i'll probably be doing fresh brembo blank rotors and hawk hp pads

 

Brake ducting is good for road racing and terrible for drifting... Those ducts take away steering angle. C'mon you guys!

 

having a welded diff made lock up much easier.

 

My hand brake doesn't lock my rears either, I dunno if its because of the 255s. I probably need narrower tires to lock em.

 

same problem!!!!!!!!!! I tried fixing mine and had no luck. Right before an event at VIR I replaced all my pads and front main cable - no luck once again. **** rx7 handbrakes!

Whats everyones trick who has a good handbrake? I feel like its probably my rear lines going to the calipers.


HYDRO!!!!!!!

 

I'm going to be converting to hydro but I have never needed the handbrake to initiate a drift, only to hold it such as on a reducing radius turn where I needed to scrub off speed.

 

Stock pads suck but they will work ok for rears. It is good to get a grippy pad that does not require a lot of heat to work.

Most rx7s have problems with the hand brake by design. I had a car that never had a hand brake and therefore I really never use it in drifting……anywho it does come in handy in many situations. My problem was that I needed to rebuild the calipers in the rear. I just swapped mine out for good ones but rebuilding is an option. That is the only real fix since the cable is tight.

 

thanks for the info. So far, I have been drifting without the hand brake and it has not been a problem at all. I'm just trying to compare it to a 240sx hand brake were the rear tires lock up instantly on entry. I'm going to research a hydraulic brake set up for the FD using a CNC brake master and lever. Kinda what a rally car would have.

 

i believe k sport makes a universal hydraulic hand break kit.

 

yeah there are universal kits out there. it just T's into the back lines, pretty straight forward.

240 hand brake has the same design as rx7 unless you do the 300z brake upgrade where you get the drum type E brake which is 100% stronger. Although most 240s seem to work better than 7's

http://www.ksportusa.com/asp/hydraulic.asp

 

If you want to wait, get some Project Mu D1 Spec rear pads.

 

Go with a CNC brand/style staging brake. I know a couple 240 guys that have had lots of success with it. Do not get an independant resivour one. If you do it will not function correctly unless you purpose mount another set of calipers for it.

My current setup for brakes/braking is EBC yellow pads (Purposes: Rally Racing, Extreme Track Use...) and im working on installing the CNC hand brake with proportioning valve...(read: lack of time)

Daily driving, or track use, they have no issue...really. In the morning driving to work, they bite. After a bunch of hard corners, and road racing, they bite. IF they were to ever light on fire...they would probably still bite. At 30mph my RX stands on its nose if I jab the brakes. They do dust a fair amount though...but they are R compound pads for all intents and purposes.

I had another hand brake set up originally...but it was designed for VW bugs...and wheel cylinders. Short stroke, smaller bore. Im using a 3/4 bore (.875" which is the factory master cylinder size) now, with about a 2 inch stroke. I havent had time to test it yet...and it will wait untill at least around the 21st before I get back to it... (vacation time)

The old one I had on there used to slow down the rear end considerably, but didnt lock it up. Locked up the front just fine...but didnt do a damn thing to the rear in comparison. Could have been an issue with bleeding it or the bore/stroke size.

Anyway, thats my 2 bits. I dont have any experience with hawk pads, but Porterfield R-4's were a bit of a pain to heat up...after that they were golden though.

Good luck on your quest for locking up the rear.

(Another quick note...dont weld your diff, you can make an LSD nice and tight with a couple tricks...send me a message and I will let you know how.)

 

No no no no no no no. and no!

Weld it.

and you'll love it way more! At least I think so, but that is also because I think having a more predictable car will help you to further your skills and techniques. imagine that

Or just be baller and spend the green on a legit 2-way, but that would be about an extra $900 +/-

 

the normal K style brake works great, its actually overkill by some great margin. I cannot think of an instance where you really need to lock up the back tires that much for that long. Also im not sure the staging brake would really work any better.

If you were doing the entry to road atlanta a hydraulic ebrake could certainly be your friend, even though its not the right way to do it.


Ok a welded diff is a good option when you just can't get a real diff. Yes it works, obviously better than an open diff and head and shoulders above viscous but it certainly not better than a real diff with clutches. The reactions from a welded diff and a real diff are quite different in many situations. I will not go into them here but if you continue drifting seriously I think a properly set up differential will pay dividends.

 

My stock NA clutch style is just as tight as a locked one at low speeds, at higher speeds is when it starts to act the way it should.

You dont have to spend 900 dollars on a diff...if you know how to tighten the clutch pack up a little bit and still close up the case. (the one where the ring gear sits) You can do that for about 30 dollars, including the gear oil and limited slip additive.

I also vote for a lighter flywheel and clutch assembly. Im currently using a 13lb flywheel and a 6 puck (both ACT brand) with a stage 3 pressure plate. Very nice when dont want anything to slip.

 

try weight shifting before you use the handbrake.... my car used to lock it up fine and my rear brakes were dodgy as ****... but i had to use some weight transfer to get the weight off the back first..

also the quicker you go the easier it is.. seriously....

dont even bother with FD stock handbrake... they are useless

 

See what you are referring to on your diff is a 900 dollar diff already. Some models of RX7's came with a clutch type differential from the factory, and yes you can shim them to make the initial torque lower so it locks earlier. However Many cars came with a viscous diff, which you can really do nothing with. Sometimes changing the fluid often and using a thicker like 140wt will help but in the end viscous will not cut it for drifting. Those that have an open diff, can just weld it and get by but the "best" solution is to buy a clutch type diff which your car already has.

Some models of S4 cars had good diffs. All S5 had viscous.

 

Ah, I thought he was talking about something like a KAAZ unit.

Mine started life as an 88 GTU so it was either an option, or standard on that, cuz i didnt actively search for it or anything.

I really wish I could find a T2 one...I would think the torque and the weight changes would eventually tear a NA one apart. At least with the turbo one, you upgrade to an 8" (or is it 8.something?) ring gear.

 

i'm still running my stock hand brake, also the same pads/rotors that i started with 4yrs ago... hydraulic handbrake isn't needed, just properly adjusted stock hand brake and stock pads has worked awesome for me.... stock rotors too.. just SS lines and neo synthetic brake fluid

 

If you are still running NA engine I don't think you will have any advantage with a T2 diff. The bigger diff will allow you to run more power without breaking it. I have a feeling the NA trans will go way before the diff.

As far a a KAAZ unit or whatever brand you can just look around for a rx7 that has a mechanical diff in it and use that, it might save you some money.


I still use my stock handbrake as well and stock rotors. I learned to drift without a handbrake so I tend to use it less than other people. There are a few places where you NEED to use the handbrake but a stock one works just fine. In Japan using the handbrake on entry would land you a zero for that run; here in the states FD has never judged against using the handbrake. They just want massive entry speed and a hydraulic hanbrake gives you the ability to go really fast then slow and turn near instantly to achieve the entry speeds they want. But yeah most people do not have any reason to have a hydraulic e brake.

 

Hydraulic hand brakes!!! Meh, unless your doing 90+ entry speeds, you dont need it.

1: Adjust the hand brake.
2: MAKE SURE your tappin the clutch when you yank. Breaks traction, when you let the brake off, and dump the clutch, your sideways and spinnin the timres.

 

like it was said before.. u gotta use weight transfer when initiating.. especially with a hand brake initiation.. u can't expect to yank it and get sideways.. u gotta wanna get sideways to make it happen..

 

Im working on an engine build right now...it will probably take a while, but I want to try and get the T2 diff when I do that.

I already have a T2 trans, rebuilt that just recently. That will definitely not break before the diff I have in there. Well, unless I destroy a synchro (mazda synchros = weak under high hp and load)