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I may need to replace both front calipers, 1 wilwood D8-4 leaks fluid, and the another the piston doesn't move freely again. I might just rebuild / replace. but I am also looking for a upgrade to a bigger rotor setup. (track days)
Any one successful with using a big brake kit.
I looked at companies like van-steel , ridetech and what they have used , but these calipers may not fit inside my current 18" wheels.
Rear doesn't seem to be a problem, but fronts are a different story.
Last edited by cagotzmann; Nov 12, 2019 at 09:05 PM.
FWIW, I have Ridetech's Baer 13" front and rear brake kit under my 18" wheels and they fit fine. Have not run it yet, so no input there.
what spacing do you have for you 18" for caliper clearance. I only have 1.2" or 0.92" on the second set of wheels. What do your wheels have for caliper clearance.
Also the wildwood kit ridetech uses is almost a 8" clearance from wheel center which is near the max my wheels allow for ?
You are asking a lot of my brain. I would have to measure again at this point. It has been maybe a year since I installed everything. I know I spent a ton of time measuring and remeasuring before I ordered my wheels.
The critical dimension as I recall is not the distance from center radially out, but the distance from the caliper outward (same direction as axle shaft) towards the wheel. I recall spending quite a bit of time making sure my wheel order had enough outward clearance so the caliper would not hit the center of the wheel. The wheel diameter fit much easier.
I also recall that I could have probably fit the 14" kit inside the wheels without much problem if that helps. Too bad I already had the 13" kit installed.
Seems to me I had a diagram of the wheel to compare to caliper spacing and made it work with my wheel order.
Pretty vague, and maybe not much help without getting a tape measure out. Perhaps Ridetech or Baer has a diagram that would help.
I went with Thermlock® Piston Technology with Grand National GN4R. with 5.40 square inches of piston area. I use BP20 pads. I couldn't even overheat these on the big 4.2 mile 18 turn track using Motul 600 degree.
My car won't see the track- but I went with the Wilwood 14" to fill up the 18" wheels. No problem at all with fit.
HOWEVER- they (Wilwood) recommends that you go DOWN 1/8 bore size - so I'm running a 7/8" as I have manual brakes-
What I don't like about their calipers are the NPT fittings- it you use a 90º- it won't necessarily 'stop' where you want the angle- so look at doing a 90º on the line and using a straight NPT to AN-3 fitting.
HOWEVER- they (Wilwood) recommends that you go DOWN 1/8 bore size - so I'm running a 7/8" as I have manual brakes-
I came across a problem last year with "(Wilwood) recommends that you go DOWN 1/8 bore size" on a manual brake 67 LS project. It made the brake pedal realy hard and you have to use lots of leg pressure to stop. I guess that wildwood figured that these superior brakes require less fluid pressure to induce the same stopping power or something? the problem went away when we replaced it with the original MC
I went with Thermlock® Piston Technology with Grand National GN4R. with 5.40 square inches of piston area. I use BP20 pads. I couldn't even overheat these on the big 4.2 mile 18 turn track using Motul 600 degree.
Overheating is not a problem, its more about working with my existing 18" wheels. I need to find calipers that fit inside a 14.5" dia circle, and don't extend more than 1.1" beyond the wheel mounting surface.
I was looking at Ridetech suspension changes such as
this allows for C5/C6/C7 brakes. So I found a solution for the rear, but all the brakes for c5/c6/c7 for the front require more than 14.5" dia circle and extend 1.28" past the wheel mounting surface.
Now I can get new wheels, but I already have 2 sets of 18" wheels for street / track use. Hoping not to replace the wheels.
I came across a problem last year with "(Wilwood) recommends that you go DOWN 1/8 bore size" on a manual brake 67 LS project. It made the brake pedal realy hard and you have to use lots of leg pressure to stop. I guess that wildwood figured that these superior brakes require less fluid pressure to induce the same stopping power or something? the problem went away when we replaced it with the original MC
A smaller MC will make the pedal easier, not harder. But travel increases so if the bore of the MC is too small the pedal hits the floor.
A smaller MC will make the pedal easier, not harder. But travel increases so if the bore of the MC is too small the pedal hits the floor.
I only got in at the end of the project. Could it have been that they installed a bigger bore Wilwood master? It had three reservoirs Front, rear, and clutch. Went back to the original manual brake setup and everything was fine.
I have the Wilwood 6 piston 14" fronts on my car (140-10617). Absolutely love them. With H pads, they work great on the track even with no ducting, pull the car up very quickly lap after lap and still work good when cold. Lots of dust and rotor wear though. I am running manual brakes, dual master cylinders with a balance bar. I would cook the factory front brakes within a couple of laps. They recommend minimum 18" wheels but they actually fit under my street 17" wheels too, so it really depends on wheel design and you'll have to measure against your wheels to know for sure.
Last edited by Metalhead140; Nov 20, 2019 at 06:45 PM.
I have the Wilwood 6 piston 14" fronts on my car (140-10617). Absolutely love them. With H pads, they work great on the track even with no ducting, pull the car up very quickly lap after lap and still work good when cold. Lots of dust and rotor wear though. I am running manual brakes, dual master cylinders with a balance bar. I would cook the factory front brakes within a couple of laps. They recommend minimum 18" wheels but they actually fit under my street 17" wheels too, so it really depends on wheel design and you'll have to measure against your wheels to know for sure.
Rotor ware is not the word for "H" pads 2-3 hours of track time and I destroyed the front rotors and the pads looked like they were barely used. I went to BP20 and then A compound. bigger wheels keep from absorbing so much heat. Some of the old historic race cars would come into the pits and all the splattered rubber inside the wheel would catch on fire when you were changing the tires in the pits
Big Brake kits anyone using them ?
