Race brakes

[ho428]

I've got a road race 1968 Firebird, about 3200 lbs, have to run 15" rims in class. Pretty much limits me to 11" Rotors. All the front kits I've found have large GM style single piston Calipers. Problem or not?
I have some Old OEM 4 Piston Calipers, but over $600 just to have them sleeved and I'd have to run spacers to clear the Factory 15" Rally rims.

Any other options or opinions out there?

Thanks.

[silver69camaro]

Wilwood will, or does have, a 6-piston system to work with 15" wheels. Should provide great pedal feel and you'll have a great selection of pad compounds. Give them a call.

[HarleyR]

All NASCAR wheels are 15 inch you can get some serious brakes in those wheels it just depends on your spindle/steering arm situation...You can find super deals at second chance race parts store here in Charlotte... I found a full set of Carbon/ Carbon Brembos from a ALMS auction calipers pads hats and rotor new never ran for 4k...AP's'Alcons and regular brembos less than 1200 a set.. pads and rotors like you can belive..

[jcs]

On my 1968 set up as a track car, I use first gen drum hubs with a common Corvette 11.75"x1.25" rotor, fits right over the drum hub with the right offset, using AP SC400 calipers on brackets I made. This is relatively similar to the old JL8 option, you could use your calipers or C3 Vette calipers but it's cheaper to get aftermarket ones and they'll be lighter. The AP's are expensive, but you can use a number of fixed 4-piston calipers like Wilwood or others with a 3.5" bolt spacing (get a stockcarproducts catalog). The brackets are relatively simple to make from plate steel. This just fits inside a Torque Thrust D with a 1/4" spacer. It is similar to what a lot of vintage guys run although they often use floating rotors, the spacers help a bit with getting rid of understeer too.

It's not fancy, but its pretty cheap and works great. With Hawk HP+ pads, it easliy hauls my car down from 110mph with no fade for a 20min track session in my 3400# car.

[Skip Fix]

"All NASCAR wheels are 15 inch you can get some serious brakes in those wheels. " Same with alot of the Late Model asphalt cars.That's why I always wondered why all the "kits" just go for bigger rotors, alot of guys would like to keep their 15" and go a little bigger.

I think Herb Adams used some Stock Car products spindles and Hurst Airheart brakes on the old cat he built with 15" wheels.

[ho428]

All NASCAR wheels are 15 inch you can get some serious brakes in those wheels it just depends on your spindle/steering arm situation...You can find super deals at second chance race parts store here in Charlotte... I found a full set of Carbon/ Carbon Brembos from a ALMS auction calipers pads hats and rotor new never ran for 4k...AP's'Alcons and regular brembos less than 1200 a set.. pads and rotors like you can belive..

What's this second chance parts store? Charlotte is but an hour+ away.

Nevermind, found them. Brembo Calipers run $1400, I think not. Thanks anyway.

Found some MB type kits, runs less than $400 for the complete kit. May not be top of the line, but at least they're better than stock drums.

[ks71z28]

c'mon. Get creative. My GT-2 Datsun fits 11.75x1.25 rotors with wilwood supelite calipers inside of the trailer wheels and they are 14" steelies!

[silver69camaro]

All NASCAR wheels are 15 inch you can get some serious brakes in those wheels it just depends on your spindle/steering arm situation...You can find super deals at second chance race parts store here in Charlotte... I found a full set of Carbon/ Carbon Brembos from a ALMS auction calipers pads hats and rotor new never ran for 4k...AP's'Alcons and regular brembos less than 1200 a set.. pads and rotors like you can belive..

They also run pads with extremely high cf ratings that require extremely high heat to work right, something you'll never be able to do on the street. They also eat rotors like you wouldn't believe, and the brake dust can actually etch aluminum wheels. Just because NASCAR uses them doesn't mean it's a good thing for everybody else...

[Donovan]

You could do C3 brakes with 4 pot calipers and 11.75x1.25" rotors. Like the factory 4 pot you need spacers to clear the caliper but it fits in a 15"rally. 1/4" spacer

good pad selection and relatively cheap parts available from autozone or any other part house.

[HarleyR]

They also run pads with extremely high cf ratings that require extremely high heat to work right, something you'll never be able to do on the street. They also eat rotors like you wouldn't believe, and the brake dust can actually etch aluminum wheels. Just because NASCAR uses them doesn't mean it's a good thing for everybody else...

If you take the time to look through a Performance Friction, Mintex,Ferado Wilwood or Hawk catalog you can find pretty much any compond/backing plate configuration you can think of...As far as wear goes they wouldnt be as bad as you think..Unless you run Cross drilled rotors...which belong on Show cars anyways..

As far as price goes you wont find anything on line.. you need to go to the store its like a huge swapmeet you haggle for the prices or more often then not there cheaper than Ebay stuff... this is from experence...