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Has anyone done 3KGT brakes on their Galant?

4orced4door

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Jul 19, 2002
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Has anyone done this? I'm going by this article and was wondering if anyone had any input or experience.

Install

I would like to do some bigger brakes since mine are shot and I am upgrading to 17" wheels anyway, but I can't afford $1000+ for a kit.

BTW don't get any ideas and bid on 3kgt calipers on ebay within the next couple of days, I'd hate to get outbid by one of you hosers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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Hey Paul I have a bracket already made for this. It is just hard to install when your wheels don't fit over the caliper. If you decide to do this install, look closely at wheel offset, that is the biggest set back when doing this.
 

Paul, let me know how this works out. I've been thinking of doing this for sometime now.
 

sweet setup. Now I know what to do with my extra TT front brakes... mmmm /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Damn, another project, just what I needed LOL
 

Yiuwa

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Aug 10, 2003
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I have that in my car. It's pretty much the same as that of link. Like the others say finding wheels that clear the caliper would be the biggest challenge of the project. In the Hong Kong's wheel market we can only get those super expensive Japanese made models to fit. I stayed with my cheap Taiwanese 17" (42mm offset) wheels + 13 mm custom made spacer on all four wheels

Right after you finished the conversion you may actually feel you need to press the brake deeper in order to get the same braking power because of the extra pistons the brake cylinder needs to drive. You can either live with it or upgrade to 3k VR4 brake master cylinder
 

iceman69510

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I think Kyle (blackhole) may have done this.
 

The guy in Russia has also done it. If you do a search he has a huge write up about it.
 

CO VR4

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I've got this setup which was previously on the Mofugas race car.
 

Wheel spoke clearance is one big issue. Now with the EVO out and a lot of other cars using fixed-piston calipers, there are more wheel options but the majority of wheels still won't fit. So unless you have wheels designed to clear these brakes, add that into the cost of the upgrade.

The other issue is bias - when you upgrade the front the car now has a very heavy front brake bias and needs more rear brake. The rear brake upgrade is the tough part since there aren't many large calipers w/ integral parking brakes and Mitsu uses such a wierd 90mm hub. If I had time & money I'd just convert the rears to a hydraulic line lock and ditch the parking brake cable entirely so conventional calipers could be used.

Even cheaper F brake upgrade: 94+ 13" Cobra rotors, 80/90s Toyota Tundra 4-piston calipers, and the bracket is very, very easy since the Tundra calipers have the same spacing as the stock hub-caliper mount and the Cobra rotor and Tundra caliper have close to the same offset.
 

In reguards to 13" cobra rotors and toyota 4 pots:

Sounds like a great suggestion for upgrading front thermal capacity (rotors) and brake torque but, If I'm not mistaken, the whole shebang will remain cast iron and you will be taking on quite a serious inertial load from the increased diameter and mass of the rotor. That massive toyota caliper (and the rotor) will also be contributing a good deal of aditional unsprung as well. Wheel clearance will be hell and will probably neccessitate such a narrow wheel selection range that this setup will probably be more bling than performance. 18" hoosiers and similar are available for these kind of ricey situations however. I'm sure porterfield, carbotech, .... all make race pads for these truck calipers too. Actually, they might have the same backing plate design (or close enough) to a performance oriented automotive application already and most of these companies will put friction material on any kind of backing plate. That isn't low-buck stuff by any means though. Good way to fill out those 18" dubs though. Make sure to slam it too. Drop the roll center through the ground, ride the bumpstops, enjoy the bump steer and horific camber curve, 'er loose those fender gaps I mean.
 
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iceman69510

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Those Toyota 4-pots are big and heavy. We use them on the front of our 240Z vintage race car, because they tend to frown on Wilwoods etc. in vintage.
 

you won't be able to run rims any smaller than 17", and finding rims will be a BITCH. i know, i've owned 5 3/S TT's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif i do have a list of rims that were compiled on one site that will fit over the TT calipers. if anyone is interested, i can find it and post it up.
 

iceman69510

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Quote:
So you should have an idea of how to get good friction material for them...


We order from Porterfield. Of course we use the full race version, the R4 I believe. I could probably get the number but not immediately as they are in the stored race trailer 250 miles from me...
 

with the 3000gt/stealth calipers, i would think the oem pads would be enough /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

i had hawk street F pads on my vr-4. a lot of brake dust, but stopped great.
 

OEM pads are rarely enough and never for the track.

I really am hesitant to say anyone needs more brakes than:
good OEM calipers
good *blank* rotors
GOOD race pad for the track only (IE Porterfield R4, etc)
Good street/autoX pad (R4S, etc)
Great fluid (SRF, ATE Blue, Motul whateva)
New OEM or stainless lines
Brake ducting if tracked

You can ONLY brake as fast as your tires allow and on street tires that's not very much. If you are on race rubber and at real track then there could be a situation where you need more brakes than above. It is not to stop faster though, it's to stop more often, with no fade, with longer brake life etc.

On a drag car you can switch to ditch weight but that's about the only reason and these calipers definitely do not do that.
 

CP

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The stock calipers are pretty damn good as is. It's the combination of upgraded parts that will make the biggest difference.

New rotors (slotted)
Better pads than stock, and some sort of race compound for track events, like the R4 mentioned above
Better brake fluid than DOT3
Cooling of some sort
Proper rotor seasoning and pad bedding

You shouldn't have to upgrade your brakes in order to slow down after 1/4 mile runs. It's the repeated, heavy use seen on a road course that may require some attention. I've got ducting on order, and will be routing that back from the ducts in the front bumper next week. Only to be taken off in a month for winter.
 

+1 for Pivvay! The only reason I'm doing the brake upgrade is because of the bling factor. Stupid? Absolutely. But it's my toy car to do stupid things with. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Yeah, the Toyota calipers are heavy and clearance is a b!tch. But they are cheap and available.
 
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