upgrading brakes

[Michael C Henry]

I have an older EM w/ jag rear 10" inboard brakes and mustang front with 10.5" GM intermediate rotors and calipers I have 16" wheels all around. I'm considering CWI's Wilwood conversion for the rear . I have Tilton 3/4" master cylinders wo/power assist. The brakes are ballanced and stop even, without locking. When I was ballancing the bias ,I could lock either the front or back.The brakes are agressive but I'd like more.Am I asking for too much?Now I just stand on the peddel and it stops. Who offers a combination for the front?Suggestions

[Tom Wells]

Having said that, here's why and what I did (actually, am doing, since the car isn't running yet!):

I want to do some driving schools. Standard 11" brakes probably wouldn't be adequate, so -

REAR: CWI vented rotors, Jag calipers. Mike at CWI talked me out of the Wilwood rear calipers, saying the Jag rears are commonly used in England for racing, the rear doesn't really get stressed as much since the fronts do most of the braking, the pads are harder to change on the Wilwoods since they sit to the rear, sort of tucked up against the gas tank.

FRONT: Baer 13" rotors and Mustang/Corvette PBL (?) calipers. I went for the 13" since they are vented, and Baer makes an aluminum center for the rotor as well as an aluminum hub, saving eight pounds or so per side. Not cheap, but used on the Bondurant Racing School Mustangs (I checked) and should have gracious plenty stopping power. I'm using 17" wheels, so you may want to use the template Baer supplies to check wheel clearance for your 16" wheels if you decide to consider this route.

The Mustang II/GM rotors just didn't seem like enough. I once said to an SCCA racer that you can't have too much horsepower. He immediately replied you can't have too large a set of brakes either!

Hope this helps,

Tom

[Mike Braddock]

Tom,

I too am thinking of upgrading from the 11" Granada/GM caliper front brake setup to the 13" Baer TRACK setup with the LITE rotor upgrade. What are your impressions of the overall kit and how did the installatin proceed? Did the kit come with a MII spindle and you had to return yours as a core, or did you assemble the hubs and rotors on your spindles? What size M/C are you going with Bill at Baer told me 15/16" for that setup, but the wilwood remote M/C's are only available in 7/8" and 1". I might be able to get a 1" and sleeve it and use a 15/16" piston, or bore a 7/8" M/C out to 15/16", but I'm not sure yet what the best approach would be. I don't know if I'll really notice the difference between the 15/16" bore vs the 7/8" bore. Does anyone have an opinion on this??

Also, did you reuse your flexible lines from the GM setup Tom? Thanks!

Mike

[Tom Wells]

Mike,

The Baer kit seems to be quality materials. It better be, it cost enough! It hasn't been installed yet - give me another few weeks. The instructions that came with it seem pretty comprehensive, covering such things as which caliper and disk goes where since they are specific to what side they install to.

The hubs are aluminum and made by Baer, so the stock Mustang II hubs are not needed - there's no trade-in or core charge. One item almost slipped by me: you can specify the wheel bolt pattern. Baer's default, if you don't ask for anything different, is the Ford 5-bolt pattern. I had mine made to the Jag/Chevy pattern to match the rear ones, although it probably isn't necessary since my wheels are different sizes front/rear. I guess I just wanted them all to be the same.

I don't know what size bore my master cylinder is. I'll have to check. I do know I'll have power brakes, and I am installing a proportioning valve to adjust the rear brakes downward if needed.

The front brake lines are yet to be fabricated so they will be made for this setup. This is a new car so there weren't any lines already at hand.

Hope this helps,

Tom

[CCX33911]

In the 13" upgrades: How is the caliper spaced outward to compensate for the larger diameter? Are the uprights replaced or are there some sort of adapter that mounts where the old calipers mount and provides mounting holes for the new location?

Thanks

[Tom Wells]

Hi CCX33911,

The kit from Baer came with everything, including calipers, rotors, hubs, brackets, nuts, bolts and seals. I added their aluminum hats in the center of the rotors for weight loss. I still have to supply the brake lines and the proportioning valve.

I found Baer confusing to order from. I had to make three calls before I thought I understood all the variations and things to specify. And of course, the price escalated every time I called. I ended up with a bill for $1200 for all the parts.

We may get to install everything next week or the week after, so I can comment on that aspect later!

Tom