304 Stainless Instead of Aluminum

[dcozzi]

I am building a front brake system and the Wilwood aluminum bracket is too thick (3/8") to get the caliper centered. Can I use 1/4" thick 304 stainless plate, in its place, to make a bracket without sacrificing strength or safety?

Also, is heat dissipation going to be an issue when using 304 stainless?

Thanks,
Dave

Setup is Kore3 hub on LE1 spindle, Wilwood Billet Narrow Superlite 6 Radial Mount Caliper, Wilwood caliper perch with their hardware.
Bracket is between the iron spindle and the aluminum perch bracket.

[Schwartz Performance]

I don't see an issue with that. Except that 3/16" is thinner than 1/4" and doesn't sound like it'll cure your problem, lol. Maybe you meant 3/8"?

-Dale

[dcozzi]

I meant 3/8".
Sorry, that'll teach me to screw around at work.
Fixed!

[dcozzi]

Still not enough clearance gained. I may just sell the calipers and get a kit from wilwood.

[Apogee]

Still not enough clearance gained. I may just sell the calipers and get a kit from wilwood.

There are numerous ways to increase your brake offset dimension, however it may require a bracket that is more complicated than a flat plate of a given thickness. The rotor/caliper combination you're using will define the required brake offset dimension, the distance between the caliper and rotor mounting surfaces. Determine that dimension, and then go from there. If you need to machine a "Z" shaped bracket to get the required offset, so be it. While strength is important with respect to caliper mounts, rigidity is also very important and usually more of the limiting variable with respect to material thicknesses, whether you're talking about aluminum, steel or stainless steel.

[dcozzi]

Tobin, interestingly enough, the guy I bought the setup from used your hub, C3 HD 13" rotors and his own bracket that was one piece (caliper to spindle) instead of the Wilwood 2 piece (bracket to spindle + bracket to caliper). The one piece made the clearance but, was not precision fabbed, to put it nicely, and the perches for the caliper were about 3/8" diameter rather than the 3/4" they should have been. The caliper would have wobbled and wallowed out the underside. Very bad!

I was checking the spindle and noticed, the bolt holes were not drilled in perpidicular so the spindle bolts do not tighten up flush with the bracket. These spindles are going to the great scrapyard in the sky.

It is pretty cool how you can cut an iron spindle with ease and a piece of 304 stainless barely yields work hardens and eats blades if you do not go slow and keep it cool the whole time.

Wilwood will sell me a kit minus the calipers and pads. I can use it on the existing spindles on the car that have already been modified. The older BNSL6R calipers have the same dimensions as the new FNSL6R. Viola, I get big brakes.