Steering, Suspension, & Brakes

I'm seein a lot of "heft" in these photos. Mazda mid 80's+, RX-7 an maybe Miata , nice/strong alum. hub, 5 on 4.5" 1.3/8" inner bear id. Nice alum. 4 pot caliper(same). US. Brake 11" x .810" vented rotor,uses a hat, $40 up. Got more $'s ? Willwood ? Good Luck, roverman.

Art, The GM hubs are probably lighter than stock MGB and use the same bearings. I don't know about the RX7 hubs. I will have to look at them. I do like the calipers; they have been used on 300ZX rotors and are similar to the later 350Z calipers. Will only work with .88 or so thick rotors.The bolt pattern is good but I don't know about bearing spacing or size.You might be able to bore the race holes or use different races for the right bearings. I do know you are partial to aluminum. The Camaro/Firebird/Corvette calipers are aluminum. You wouldn't use the stock iron brackets, slider bolts like aftermarket Metric or S-10 caliper mounts.Plus, the 12", 1.25" thicker rotor would be heavier but less likely to warp.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2011 02:20PM by mgb260.

This thread just keeps getting better. When it comes down to actually putting this stuff together, looks like there will be some choices to make. It's good to have options.

Probably adequate for most sports cars, lighter than RX-7's. Oops, RX-7 is 1.499" and .787" on bearing id's. Like I said STRONG. Alum. bush the hubs down to preferred bearing ? roverman.

"...an maybe Miata"

I believe only the latest generation Miata sports 5 lugs/wheel. The 1989-2005 were 4 X 100.

Story I heard is Miata is SLA. vs. strut ? I don't suspect many of us would convert from short/long a-arms to struts, maybe hard core drag racing. roverman.

Correct, all Miatas are SLA.

A bump for those interested in Chevy bolt pattern Big Brakes.

So is there a car that uses an aluminum hub with a 5 lug 4.750" bolt circle (Chevy and Jaguar) pattern?

JB

Jim B., Yes C5 Corvette, for sure. Don't know about C4 . I've used "larger shoulder" studs, in off-set boring operation, to move the BC. Good Luck, roverman.

Sounds interesting Art, I wonder if they used the same bearings as the rest of the Chevy line. What did they use for brake rotors?

JB

Jim and clan, big gnarly ones, like used on a serious, 3k lb. GT machine. 1.25x 12-13" ? I'm going with Wilwood, 2" dropped , Mustang II, forged spindles,(3x on strength), and bolt-on steering arms,(front/rear steer).Aftermarket crossmember for coil-overs,(QA-1/remote control). Cheers, roverman.

Jim, Picture of Camaro LS brakes:

Those certainly look like they'd work, but after a bit of reading it looks like C4 brakes might be the way to go. About a 7/8" (.81") thick rotor instead of 1-1/4" (lighter) 12" diameter instead of 13" (lighter, and still larger than stock) but it uses a single pot sliding caliper which is OK, but not great. I see the Mazda calipers like a .88" rotor, or .070" thicker. Might be able to mill down the mating face that much, or it might be within the minimum specified rotor thickness.

Or... Speedway has hats for $30 each, steel 2lbs (or Wilwood aluminum for $80) and rotors for $25 ea. That's an 8 lb (same weight as Wilwood) 11.75 x .81" rotor and a 3" offset on the hat. Not too shabby for new parts. Of course the hat is reusable so the extra cost to add lightness may be justified but 100 bucks for 2 to 3 lbs? That's getting pricey. Triple lug pattern which can be handy. For $60/pair the steel hats are an easy purchase and easily upgraded later if desired. So $110 for a medium-lightweight rotor set or $210 for the lightest. Or stock C4 rotors for about $80 which sounds pretty good, and available at parts stores everywhere but undoubtedly heavier, perhaps as much as nearly 16 lbs each like the Intrepid rotors on the other thread. (Are we beginning to see where the 80 lb weight loss of the Fast cars IFS comes from yet?)

The best compromise sounds like the Speedway rotors and hats with the RX7 caliper (about $65 ea reman with pads). for a total cost of around $250 plus mounting brackets. Not too shabby and also lighter than stock I'm pretty sure.

Art, those C5 hubs appear to use cartridge bearings so they won't work with MG spindles at all. Good try though. The Camaro guys are cutting down rotor/hub assemblies to work with the C4 and C5 rotors so there's no help to be found there. Jaguar apparently changed lug bolt circles when they were bought by Ford, creating a quagmire. Do any of the Japanese cars use a 4-3/4" bolt circle?

JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2011 04:09PM by BlownMGB-V8.

Jim and clan, I've bushed spindle dia's-larger, and ground spindles smaller,(tool post grinder).I've welded/re-machined, Porsche 911 front hubs, for 4.75 bc.'s,(Vette turbine wheels on 914)." Dorman" makes gaggles of wheel studs, with oversize shoulders,(hint).Good Luck, roverman.

Jim, Just make .035 shims for the RX7 calipers. Or even more to fine tune.My 86-91 ones had shims stock,the slot is 1" wide.They go between the pads and pistons. Use the pads for a pattern,the holes for the slider pins keep them in. You would need 7/8"-15/16" master. Would work good, very light. Did you see the 92-95 ones painted Alfa Romeo on the other thread? Also a pic on the 4 lug thread of the 86-91 Mazda caliper on hat and rotor setup(note spacer to widen it out for 1 1/4" rotor). I just ordered rebuild kit from Mazdatrix for $40 for both calipers(my junkyard jewels). Doesn't include 2 small O rings that seal the halves.Still have to buy Ceramic pads. So your price for reman is a great deal! I'm out $145 and I have to rebuild them($70-calipers,$40-kit,$35-pads)!



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2011 03:53PM by mgb260.

Jim, According to Centric specs, C4 12" rotor weighs 14lb.

Chances are good it'd work just fine, the only real concern might be the pad's backing plate slipping into the rotor slot if all the pad was worn off. If you've let it go that long there's no brakes left anyway. The pins wouldn't let them go too far I guess.

On those Mazda calipers, is it possible to pull the pins and slip the pads out the back of the caliper? That is to say, would it be possible to swap the pads without unbolting the caliper from the mount? Some BMW calipers were made that way and it would be a very handy feature to have. Very nice paint work on those "Alfa" calipers btw Jim, those were right sharp.

The $65 calipers were an ebay special, no core required. Painted silver. I might just have to buy a pair of those.

JB

Yes Jim, The Mazda and Toyota have a spring wire to lock the pins in. You can change the pads by pulling the pins. My Mazda calipers had 3 thin shims on each side,looked exactly like pad backing plate but thinner.They can't move because they are pinned through, just like the pads. I'll get a pic of them.You can see in the 4 lug thread picture the pad wear looked pretty even.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2011 09:01PM by mgb260.

Pics of shims, first shim toward piston stainless, angled with arrow(anti-squeal?)other 2 plain rusty steel, all about same thickness. Looks about .030. 3 on each side both calipers. Maybe to adjust to rotor after rotor is turned or these calipers were designed for thicker rotors. The slot is exactly 1" wide where the Toyota is 7/8".





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2011 09:43PM by mgb260.