Winter upgrades... in the summer!

[pigeondave]

Mk2 escort is correct
if youre doing the upgrades you might as well goto rally designs and get some willwood powerlites.

they will save you a kg per side and its unsprung weight so even better. if youre worried that the car is above 750kg go for midilite as theyre a bit bigger but you need to use 15" wheels and maybe change the master cylinder. midilite have dust seals, powerlite dont. but its not a major issue to clean the pistons every now and again.

to wind the pistions back in i got one of these.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DISC-BRAKE-PI ... SwQTVWArrm

but you will have to grind it down to fit in the powerlites as its too wide. easy job with a bench grinder.

[russtik]

I was thinking about some HiSpecs:

http://www.hispecmotorsport.co.uk/245-billet-m16-2.html

...but this was a bit annoying

Our kits are made to order, Please allow up to 28 days from your purchase date to shipping of your HiSpec conversion.

Hmm, HISpecs or Willwoods??? I know some people who don't have many positive things to say about Willwoods.

[jeffw]

Midilites will fit under 13" wheels without an issue. Never had any major dramas with Wilwood calipers (excepting they are not expensive calipers so they flex under duress). I've had HiSpec in the past and have had issues but I'm told they are much improved.

[russtik]

I've had HiSpec in the past and have had issues but I'm told they are much improved.

Same sort of issues of flexing or something else?

Midilites will fit under 13" wheels without an issue.

What diameter and thickness discs were you running Jeff?

Cheers

Russ.

[jeffw]

Rally design ones

https://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=3923

260 x 20

[pigeondave]

Im running solid discs like this but not drilled or grooved https://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_i ... s_id=10507
i want floating rotors next, (why? because i do) only trouble i've had was at Mallory Park when i was playing the lets brake later and later game. But the pads were thin so this could have been a contributing factor.

Never had any issues in the alps or pyrenees.

Ive yet to add cooling. The cooling ducts can fit where the recess in the bonnet is for the indicators as theyre not used. If you know AdiT on locostbuilders forum hes done it and worked well. I think jeff did too.

Go to the RGB forum http://www.rgb-racing.org.uk/rgbbb/ and see what they say about hi specs. Ive not looked into them for ages. I do know that their CNC machine used to have a random number generator built in so no two items were the same. I have some nice ally hubs as paper weights.

[russtik]

Thought I'd write a bit of an update...

We left off with a seized caliper and me considering a new set of brakes. My preference was HISpec but I tried to contact them by phone and email with no response. That combined with the advertised long lead time I decided to crack on and go with Wilwoods which are readily available and in stock at Rally Design.

I phoned Rally Design and told them my setup on the car so they could send me a suitable kit. I went for Midilites with 260mm discs. The kit turned up and the first thing I noticed was the caliper bracket had the wrong hole size and bolts to fix to the upright lugs.



This was disappointing as I'd explicitly said on the phone the lugs take M12 bolts. I phoned Rally Design and they said "just drill out the brackets" No, send me the right brackets! So back they went and I waited for the right brackets to arrive. A few days later I got a parcel with the very same brackets sent back to me drilled out That was annoying, but I couldn't be bothered to have an argument about it so I thought I'd fit them anyway. That was until I encountered the next problem... the supplied bolts wouldn't go through the holes in the calipers.



I phoned Rally Design again and told them to which their reply was "oh yeah this happens quite often, the calipers are American and use 3/8 UNF but we supply them with M10 bolts" WHAT, WHY!? And what should I do? Yep you guessed it; "just drill them out" they said! NO! the whole lot got sent back for a refund. Sh!t.

So, back to HISpec. Let's see if they'll pick up the phone this time. They did answer the phone but for one reason or another couldn't take an order. Kept getting promised a call back and when it didn't happen I'd phone back up again and the same thing would happen on repeat, day after day. I just find this incredible, I don't know how these businesses survive, I'm trying to give them money FFS! It took about a week of back and forth over the phone before they were finally able to create the order. Then it was just a matter of waiting.

They were true to their advised lead times taking the absolute maximum of a month before the brakes turned up. Some of the hardware was missing from the package so I had to get back on at them to send that through. I've trial fitted them and this is where I'm at currently.



The calipers are sitting 1mm off the centre line at the moment.



Oh and I can't get the flexi hoses out of the old calipers which seem to be stuck fast and have started to round off. So I reckon I'll need to find some new hoses.



Nothing's ever easy is it

Pass the box of matches.

[b33fy]

Shame about Rally Design Russ, I’ve always found them pretty helpful. What type of spanner are you using on the pipe?

[russtik]

What type of spanner are you using on the pipe?

Tried a 13mm spanner and a 13mm crows foot. There is a bit of slack so I’m guessing it’s imperial?

Tried soaking it in penetrating oil and tried a bit of heat. Won’t budge.

[b33fy]

Might be worth trying a 1/2” brake pipe spanner and a plumbers blow torch for heat. The other option is new pipes as you mentioned. You could make your own, not too tricky. CBS sell the hose and fittings.