13" brake kit install with pictures

[skivittlerjimb]

What model year Civic brake lines are those?

-Jim B.
280/1000
1432/2000

 

[bazeng]

i agree with the lock up of the fronts.
i am using this setup and if i break hard, the fronts will lock up causing the rear of the car to want to slide past the front.. (not good!!)

im trying to find something for the rears (larger rotors / calipers) with a provision for a cable handbrake...

there is one issue with this setup that i am not happy about,
its the fact that the rotor is not centred via the centre of the hub but rather the lugs..

if we could get a ring of some sort to seat the rotor perfectly in the centre of the hub, that would be great.. anybody up for machining some up?? RON??

apart from that, im my experience the brake feel is a little spongy, not as good as the stock feel, but im not sure if its caused by air in the lines.. i'll have to re-bleed it and see..

as for weight of the setup, the calipers are alloy and are much lighter than the stock vr4 brakes... BUT the rotor quickly evens things up... 17" rims minimum!! so say goodbye to the sleeper look...

overall, I am happy with the setup, will try to improve things with it soon.. I've already got a rear caliper in mind (FORD FALCON SINGLE POT REARS, WITH CABLE HANDBRAKE)..
cheap too!!

 

[Luke]

bazeng: If you look at the picture I posted, Ron does provide a centering ring to center the rotor on the hub. I would not drive a car with the rotor centered on the wheel studs.

The brake feels a little spongy, because the camaro calipers have larger pistons than the stock calipers.
The larger pistons on the caliper means that you need to move the brake pedal more to move the pad the same distance closer to the rotor.

If you ever figure out how to install the rear caliper upgrade you mentioned, please post a howto.

 

[Luke]

The stainless-steel braided brake lines are from 1992-1995 civic, front lines.
I bought mine from fastbrakes.com

 

[bazeng]

RON!! I need those rings!!

I'll PM you...

 

Luke its not so much that slotted or cross drilled rotors are bad
its the actual design. If the rotors are cast(made) with these options
they are just as strong as any normal rotor. Its when they drill out the holes
after the rotors are made that you can encounter cracking etc. Just look at any
race car they all have some kind of slotted or cross drilled rotor and they do not
fall apart.

 

[steve]

The elusive "cast slotted/drilled rotors" theory again. I think they are all drilled, never cast with the holes already in them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[Rausch]

Steve is correct...from what i have read, and even in school, all the "drilled" rotors were just that, drilled. i have never come across any info stating that any rotors (including the high $$ carbon jobs) were cast with holes.

 

Why are they called cross DRILLED rotors if they are cast with the holes in them?

 

[656of1000]

A few questions...
1) What are the rotor thicknesses from the Cobra compared to the Camro or Vette (whichever car the calipers are from) rotors? If the Cobra rotors are thinner, I'd be concerned that when the pads wear low, the possibility may exist that the pistons will extend too far. It probably wont, but I know that rotors have specific discard specs per application. Is this something that was considered, or is this even relavent?

2) Do the pads sufficiently cover the with of the rotor surface? I.e. will the rotors have a large lip as they wear, or do the pads hang off the edge of the rotor?

3) Where are the hub spacers available, or were they made along with the caliper brackets?

I'm not trying to be devil's advocate, or a PITA, but rather trying to encourage discussion to further develop this setup as an extremely viable, cheap upgrade.

 

[Luke]

For completeness, here is the change of front-to-rear brake bias with this brake upgrade.
( Note: A positive number means that brake bias is shifted towards front )

[*] stock caliper + 10.9" rotor +0%
[*] 3kgt caliper + 12.35" rotor +16%
[*] camaro caliper + 13" mustang cobra rotor +44%
[*] corvette caliper + 13" mustang cobra rotor +2.7%

The above numbers are obtained by multiplying the piston area increase and the rotor "effective diameter" increase.

Brake piston diameters are as follow:

[*] stock front calipers : 2 X 40.4 mm
[*] corvette C5 calipers : 2 X 38 mm
[*] camaro/firebird calipers : 2 X 45 mm
[*] 3000GT calipers : 40.4 mm and 42.8 mm

 

[Luke]

1) Mustang cobra rotor thickness is 1.1". Camaro and Corvette rotor thickness is 1.26". Unfortunately that means the pistons will extend 0.16" further than GM intended when the pad wears low. However, I have ran my setup before with a set of very worn brake pads for about 2 months, and didn't have problems.
I think, to be safe, if someone can come up with some shims that are about 0.08" thick, this issue can be fixed. People use shims all the time for brake pads for anti-squeal/rattle purpose.

2) I do not know about this.. only time will tell, I guess..

3) I ordered the hub-rotor spacers at the same time from Ron.



Quote:
A few questions...
1) What are the rotor thicknesses from the Cobra compared to the Camro or Vette (whichever car the calipers are from) rotors? If the Cobra rotors are thinner, I'd be concerned that when the pads wear low, the possibility may exist that the pistons will extend too far. It probably wont, but I know that rotors have specific discard specs per application. Is this something that was considered, or is this even relavent?

2) Do the pads sufficiently cover the with of the rotor surface? I.e. will the rotors have a large lip as they wear, or do the pads hang off the edge of the rotor?

3) Where are the hub spacers available, or were they made along with the caliper brackets?

I'm not trying to be devil's advocate, or a PITA, but rather trying to encourage discussion to further develop this setup as an extremely viable, cheap upgrade.

 

How much do you guys end up spending total after the brackets, calipers, rotors, spacers, etc?

 

1)The rotors are .10 thinner but you should not have to worry about the pistons extending too far.
The discard specs are more for how many time you could resurface the rotors.

2)The pad do cover pretty much the whole width of the rotor and 100% of the pad grab the rotor.

3)I've included the hub spacers for the last 10 sets that were shipped.






Quote:
A few questions...
1) What are the rotor thicknesses from the Cobra compared to the Camro or Vette (whichever car the calipers are from) rotors? If the Cobra rotors are thinner, I'd be concerned that when the pads wear low, the possibility may exist that the pistons will extend too far. It probably wont, but I know that rotors have specific discard specs per application. Is this something that was considered, or is this even relavent?

2) Do the pads sufficiently cover the with of the rotor surface? I.e. will the rotors have a large lip as they wear, or do the pads hang off the edge of the rotor?

3) Where are the hub spacers available, or were they made along with the caliper brackets?

I'm not trying to be devil's advocate, or a PITA, but rather trying to encourage discussion to further develop this setup as an extremely viable, cheap upgrade.

 

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much do you guys end up spending total after the brackets, calipers, rotors, spacers, etc?





Total should be under $300.

 

[Rausch]

since math and i don't sometimes get along, and i am unsure of the formula used, can someone do the math and figure out what percentage increase in bias would go to the rears with a set of stock fronts back there? my thought is that if the increase is similar to that of the camaro caliper, or somewhere close, we could then approximate what size rotor/caliper/pistons would be needed to balance the equasion for each of the choice brake upgrades.....anyone?

 

[Luke]

Front : camaro caliper and mustang cobra rotor conversion.
Rear : stock front caliper and rotor

F/r brake bias change is -51%.
I.e. the brake bias will significantly shifts towards the rear of the car.