Starting the Search for an ERA

[dacobb]

Originally Posted by fastd

interested to know since OP said something about outboard brakes being a bit of a non-starter; i have inboard brakes on my ERA and don't feel like it's been a problem...i have 11k miles on mine and probably wouldn't ever have to change them...I however did have them changed (by someone else) to get a more aggressive pad.

If I had the outboard brakes, would my life be somehow better?

Maybe not better, but rear brake maintenance would be much easier.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by dacobb

Maybe not better, but rear brake maintenance would be much easier.

A lot of the rear maintenance would be easier, but chances are you'd never have to do it. Aside from brake pads, replacing an inner stub axle on the outboard braked rear is less than an hour's work. Doing it on a Jag rear is a nightmare. In the one in a million chance you break a u-joint on the half shaft, or the HS itself, with a Jag rear your wheel is going to flop over and the game is immediately over. With the outboard braked rear, the upper trailing arm should hold the wheel upright enough so that you can limp your sorry ass to the side of the road/track. Not to mention you can tweak the toe settings to get things "just right" (what that really means is that you'll shoot a weekend monkeying with the rear toe only to find that it doesn't really make a noticeable difference anyway).