rgrigsby Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 AVES RS14 on the rear and Mintex 1155 on the front, stops well and seem to last for AGES but hopeless pedal feel. As soon as RS14's are available for the new style front caliper I'm going to switch to those although then I will probably have to fiddle with the bias again... Cheers Rob G www.SpeedySeven.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian P Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Aaaah - a good call, Hoopy, particularly as I'm planning some track time this year. Is the answer simply some tougher pads or does it need to be the whole pad/disk/caliper thing? (or back to the Avons?!) Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 harder pads will sort it but with two caveats - 1) the pads won't work well from cold. although i think the RS14 do, but hey cost several times as much and increase disk wear 2) extreme cases may end up boiling the fluid although the brakes are fine. I have big fronts and small rear brakes. Using 1144 pads on the front i cooked them on an airfield day. I've moved to red stuff but the feel is less good. I'm planning on going to the uprated rear disks (to get 2 pot instead of a nasty claw 1 pot) and then probably rs 14 all round. although i need to chat to people to confirm the pad choice. Peter C's recommendation is to go for the vented rear disks. the bias is then slightly rear ward so he then uses a bias valve to set it to taste. The problem is that there is no handbrake solution for this at MOT time. HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian P Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Hmmm...and so I suppose we're back to the top of the thread for solutions! It's never as easy as you think, is it? Maybe I'll ease into some new pads and see how things progress... Enjoy the weekend! Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Hoopy, Rally Design sell a neat little mechanical caliper for £45 that will accomodate the rear vented discs up to 20.8mm thick if you are set on this upgrade. IMO the claw caliper is more than up to the job if the correct pads are fitted. The problem with this caliper and the caterham installation is that its fed by solid pipes which is poor engineering as part of the caliper floats, this can work harden and cause the flared ends to fail it also can act as a spring disturbing the position of the floating part of the caliper and thus seating of the pads each time you take your foot off the brakes. This is partly resposible for the poor peddle feel. The rigid pipes also make it very difficult to successfully bleed the calipers. I have also noted on my car that under hard use the rear discs are expanding and hitting the fixed portion of the calipers. If these problems are addressed by installing flexible hoses and reducing the diameter of the discs by about a mm, I can see no reason why the claw calipers should not do the job I have no problem with bite,breaking effort, or fade . Another important point to watch out for is pad wear when using these calipers, if the pads get below half worn 4MM the floating part of the caliper can foul the radius arms. Rob Edited by - Rob walker on 4 Jan 2003 09:13:50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Rob - lots of VERY interesting stuff there.... I'm still thinking about brakes and the engine, dash and cage are all ahead on the todo list. I think brakes are fighting with second set of wheels/tyres for 4th on the list. Do you have any urls for info on the std rear caliper bveing ok and a rally equip URL 🤔 cheers HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick M Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 For what it's worth at this stage in proceedings, I use Wilwood Dynalite 2 calipers on my Westfield with solid 247mm discs and Hawk Black ferro carbon pads. Coupled to an AP m/c and with aeroquip hose throughout the car, and a bias valve to cure the rearward brake bias, the pedal feel is excellent (rock solid) and the stopping capability is very impressive. OK, they don't have dust seals but for the sake of cleaning the calipers every couple of months I'm not that bothered about that. The Hawk pads do eat the discs but since a pair of Cortina discs is cheaper than the pads.... I did initially try Red Stuff pads but, like Hoopy, found them a bit dead - no feel and not at all confidence inspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Hoopy, Sorry its Rally Design not Equip as I previously posted. They do not seem to have a web site but their phone number is 01795 531871 and they will be at the M Sport show next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Rally Design are at http://www.raldes.co.uk/ Also have a catalogue inside the latest (Feb '03) CCC, not slipped inside just part of it, thought it looked a bit thicker than usual lately, what a con. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 ah yes - i find the raldes website truly awful... maybe i should buy a CCC at the show to get the catalog.. HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE GILBERT Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Regarding the dust seal issue I have Alcon 4 pots that have been on the car for about 4years. I dismantled them when I rebuilt my car last year and it was a pointless exercise as they had no corrosion at all on the stainless pistons. See My Zetec Power 7 Here Edited by - STEVE GILBERT on 4 Jan 2003 15:06:52 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMMO Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 I agree with Steve. Lack of seals is not really a problem if the materials used are OK. I ran a Mini with four pot ali calipers with no seals for two winters with no problems. Motorcycles sometimes don't have seals as there is no room to accomodate them. I bought some Wilwoods as the price was amazingly good from Rallye Design. I'll be fitting these soon in conjunction with modified Lotus Elan + 2 discs (244 mm diameter instead of 232 mm) and Hawk HP Plus pads. The discs have been reduced in thickness from 12.5 mm to 10mm and have been crossdrilled. I've left the discs on the thick side as the Hawk pads have a reputaion for eating discs. The extra thickness allows me to give them a couple of skims if neccessary. Didn't want to go to vented discs due to weight and cost. The Elan discs (same as Triumph GT6) can be bought for around £15.00. I think I will probably have to reduce braking at the back. I'll suck it and see. At a later date I also want to put ali calipers at the back to reduce weight. AMMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Board Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 Simon, Re request for mintex 1144 part no. "MGB533M1144". Cost £36.61 inc from Camberly Auto Factors or similar. Hope this helps. Cheers Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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