You beauty!.........through engineering

[Philm]

Congratulations,

Almost there, can't help on the brakes issue.

Phil

[Rebel1]

Stephen, Investigate putting Nissan 4 spot alloy calipers on the front.

They are slightly smaller than the jag (maybe better balance) and are a whole lot lighter than the jag calipers. Still uses the Jag rotor.

May be other options.

Cheers

[400TT]

Well done mate.

The Nissan calipers will help rectify the front -> back brake balance. Are your calipers the 4 piston jag ones, I know they are the worst for brake balance in a cobra as they have very large pistons. 48mm pistons from memory. The Nissan calipers have smaller 37mm pistons. Assuming you pedal ratio is similiar to mine, I've calculated with standard jag rotor, that Nissan calipers will give close to perfect brake balance. If you have a larger rotor(like I have bought), then you will need something in between the jag and nissan piston sizes. You can get Wilwoods that are perfect, just slightly larger pistons than the Skyline calipers or 2 piston PBR calipers that have 42mm piston sizes from memory, getting a little on the large size, but still much better than jag 4 piston.

The jag 3 piston calipers have a much better piston size and will help brake balance.

Is your pedal travel feel about right?

I would fix the brake balance first, then see how it all feels.

You can sit down and calculate this stuff, lots of info on the Internet on it. Very time consuming though.

[BEB]

Originally Posted by 400TT

Well done mate.

The Nissan calipers will help rectify the front -> back brake balance. Are your calipers the 4 piston jag ones, I know they are the worst for brake balance in a cobra as they have very large pistons. 48mm pistons from memory. The Nissan calipers have smaller 37mm pistons. Assuming you pedal ratio is similiar to mine, I've calculated with standard jag rotor, that Nissan calipers will give close to perfect brake balance. If you have a larger rotor(like I have bought), then you will need something in between the jag and nissan piston sizes. You can get Wilwoods that are perfect, just slightly larger pistons than the Skyline calipers or 2 piston PBR calipers that have 42mm piston sizes from memory, getting a little on the large size, but still much better than jag 4 piston.

The jag 3 piston calipers have a much better piston size and will help brake balance.

Is your pedal travel feel about right?

I would fix the brake balance first, then see how it all feels.

You can sit down and calculate this stuff, lots of info on the Internet on it. Very time consuming though.

Hi,

I'm following this post with much interest from the UK.

The front brakes on my Cobra lock up too easily and l would like to know more about the Nissan calipers you're talking about.
I have series 2 Jaguar brakes with standard size rotors and although l have looked at replacing the pedal box with twin master cylinder/adjustable brake bias, but can't find anything to fit so maybe the Nissan calipers with the smaller pistons would help.

What exactly are the Nissan calipers you are talking about - model, year, part numbers, etc.

Thank you.

[400TT]

Originally Posted by BEB

What exactly are the Nissan calipers you are talking about - model, year, part numbers, etc.

Nissan Skyline R32 & R33. You would probably find R32 GTS-T model the best suited as they come off a similiar sized & thickness rotor.

All the calipers are 4 piston. R32 GTR & R33 GTS-T have calipers that were off 300mm rotors.

Nissan 300ZX Z32 Calipers from same era are the same.

It's relatively easy to spot the smaller sized calipers(R32 GTST/Z32) as they have shallow ribs. All the other calipers have smooth housing.

Calipers are labelled with Nissan or Sumitomo.

Hope that helps.

I picked up this knowledge from building a Cobra with Skyline rear end, front uprights & Skyline brakes front & back.

The reasoning for changing caliper is that it will not only help correct the brake inbalance, but you also end up with a very small & lightweight caliper that will reduce unsprung weight and perform much better than the old Jag calipers.

[REPTYL]

Well done Steve,

Busy with work stuff so haven't had time to read all the posts, so forgive me if someone has already covered this.

Rather than a full brake upgrade. Maybe put in a Holden one toner master cylinder and add a wilwood adjustable pressure gate.
Why reduce your braking on the front when you can increase the rears to match.

Cheaper and manual adjustment for varying track or tyre conditions.

See you thursday night.

[BEB]

Originally Posted by 400TT

Nissan Skyline R32 & R33. You would probably find R32 GTS-T model the best suited as they come off a similiar sized & thickness rotor.

All the calipers are 4 piston. R32 GTR & R33 GTS-T have calipers that were off 300mm rotors.

Nissan 300ZX Z32 Calipers from same era are the same.

It's relatively easy to spot the smaller sized calipers(R32 GTST/Z32) as they have shallow ribs. All the other calipers have smooth housing.

Calipers are labelled with Nissan or Sumitomo.

Hope that helps.

I picked up this knowledge from building a Cobra with Skyline rear end, front uprights & Skyline brakes front & back.

The reasoning for changing caliper is that it will not only help correct the brake inbalance, but you also end up with a very small & lightweight caliper that will reduce unsprung weight and perform much better than the old Jag calipers.

Hi,

So it looks like either the Skyline R32 GTS-T or 300ZX Z32 calipers are the one's to go for.

Are the mounting points exactly the same as Jaguar - do they simply bolt on?

The current rotor size is 285 x 24mm.

Any other help/advice you can offer is appreciated.

Thanks again,
Simon

[400TT]

Simon, you will need to make adaptors for the calipers. The caliper mounting ears are no where near the same.

You will also need to put same spacer plates between the pistons and brake pad as you have a narrow rotor.