Wanted - Worn out 355mm Brembo disc Sydney

[xr6tForMe]

After some driving at Luddenham raceway where my standard G6E Turbo brakes did not cope, I am looking at upgrading my brakes.

 

I have Territory rear brakes on the way and I believe that fitting them on the rear should be fairly straightforward.

 

For the front I am hoping to put together an upgrade which ideally fits behind the standard 18" wheels (or, if necessary, the 19" wheels which were an option on the FG1 and standard on the FG2)

 

There is a reasonable amount of room between the standard turbo disc/caliper and the inside dimensions of the standard 18" wheels on my car.

 

I have standard FG calipers, turbo FG calipers and have 340mm Territory turbo discs and calipers - which I believe are not a straight "bolt on" - on the way.

 

The 355mm Brembo disc has a taller height (51mm) than the 340mm Territory Turbo disc (45.5mm), which should put the disc further away from the wheel spokes giving more clearance to the spokes as well as moving the caliper in relation to the mounting point on the car.

 

I am after a 355mm Brembo disc to include in doing some test fitting to see what might be possible as an upgrade.

 

I am hoping that between the parts I have, turning down a 340mm Territory Turbo or 355mm Brembo disc to a smaller diameter if needed, and/or making a caliper mounting adapter, that I can set up a nice brake upgrade which still fits inside the standard G6ET wheels.

 

Has anyone got a 355mm Brembo disc that they are throwing out?

[El Andrew]

Is this car for the track only? You could be in a world of insurance and legal bother if you make those sort of changes to the brakes and have an accident, regardless of whether or not the brakes were the cause.

I know that's not your question, but worth thinking about.

Edit: And yep, Territory rear calipers and discs are a piece of cake. Have done the same on my FG. Just get the Territory lines and trim a bit off the backing plate where the caliper fouls it - easy to work out once you are in there.

[hjtrbo]

Just to throw in some extra things to consider. Mark your discs with heat paint to see what temps your hitting? Could justify a cooling duct mod. Knowing and controlling disc / calliper temps, speaking with a specialist race pad supplier for instance. Race rated brake fluid (and a flush if you haven't done one recently). 

With your brake upgrade, you using same size pad? If yes, nothing is free, the pad is still exposed to the same amount of work in stopping the car. Work is joules. Presuming same tyre, the car won't in less distance (assuming you weren't braking like a pussy and were braking like a real man  ). Joules over seconds is watts. Watts is heat. 

Things to ponder is all.

[xr6tForMe]

On 13/02/2024 at 9:28 PM, El Andrew said:

Is this car for the track only? You could be in a world of insurance and legal bother if you make those sort of changes to the brakes and have an accident, regardless of whether or not the brakes were the cause.

I know that's not your question, but worth thinking about.

Edit: And yep, Territory rear calipers and discs are a piece of cake. Have done the same on my FG. Just get the Territory lines and trim a bit off the backing plate where the caliper fouls it - easy to work out once you are in there.

 

Thanks for the feedback.  That is something I am considering as the car is not track only.

 

At this point , the exercise is to see "What is possible?"

 

The next part would be "Is it a good idea?"

Edited 15/02/24 05:03 AM by xr6tForMe

[xr6tForMe]

On 14/02/2024 at 2:36 PM, hjtrbo said:

Just to throw in some extra things to consider. Mark your discs with heat paint to see what temps your hitting? Could justify a cooling duct mod. Knowing and controlling disc / calliper temps, speaking with a specialist race pad supplier for instance. Race rated brake fluid (and a flush if you haven't done one recently). 

With your brake upgrade, you using same size pad? If yes, nothing is free, the pad is still exposed to the same amount of work in stopping the car. Work is joules. Presuming same tyre, the car won't in less distance (assuming you weren't braking like a pussy and were braking like a real man  ). Joules over seconds is watts. Watts is heat. 

Things to ponder is all.

I have only been on the track in my FG once - great fun by the way!

Definitely lots of things come into play!

If/when I go again, I will look into the heat paint.

The pads that were in it were rubbish.  Someone had changed them without me asking for it while they were doing the diff bushes.  They told me that they had changed the back pads and I was not happy about that as I do all the brakes myself and had new pads on hand, but I had not checked the back for a while and thought "If it needed doing and its done, that's ok".  They did not tell me that they had changed the front ones as well.

At Luddenham, when I went back to the pits after a few laps when the brakes started feeling a bit "off", there was smoke coming off the front brakes and someone who was following me on the track commented something like "I was following you and just eating brake dust"

I checked the pads later at home and they were well in need of replacement, but worse, the rubber boots around the one of the pistons had also cooked and crumbled.

I bought some lower mileage second hand NA calipers and swapped them onto the Turbo brackets, which is why I have some NA brackets on hand.

If the Territory Turbo calipers do not work out, and I end up keeping the FG calipers I will rebuild my original ones and put them back on.

I think the turbo territory pads are larger, but even if the pads are the same size, if the discs are larger/thicker, the discs should stay cooler and the pads should cope a little better

[hjtrbo]

ouch. Yeah, too hot fella. Bigger disc pad combo will help a little, but you got to get rid of that heat man. Not much fun doing a cool down lap every 3rd lap. Get some 4" heater duct from bunnings and cable tie it where required to get some fresh air to those calipers. 

I would also flush that brake fluid out, she would have been toasty az

Edited 15/02/24 11:23 AM by hjtrbo

[xr6tForMe]

Pickup of the Territory Turbo brakes was delayed (my mate went when the seller was closed) and then delivery from VIC to NSW still needs to be arranged, so it still will be some time before I get those parts.

Getting rid of the heat is pretty important!  I have not seen much about ducting to brakes on FG falcons, but it sounds like a very good idea. They are big heavy things to pull up!

I was also surprised at how well the old car worked on the track.  I thought it might handle poorly and was all set to be disappointed, but it worked quite well and was nice to drive.

Needed more power and limited slip diff, but for stock it was surprisingly good!

I agree about the fluid.  I have added braided lines on the front when I swapped the calipers out and the fluid was all replaced as part of doing that.

[hjtrbo]

If it were me, I'd install it dodgy as fark just for your track day then rip it all out when you're done. 

[El Andrew]

That would work well if you were using the same calipers daily as on the track and just had to swap the rotors and caliper brackets. Would actually be pretty quick

If you were changing calipers it would be a pain as you'd be bleeding your brake lines every time.

[xr6tForMe]

Turbo Territory brakes have been picked up in Melbourne, but not sure when they will be delivered to Sydney yet.

Given its brakes, any changes will only be done if I am completely happy that everything is completely trustworthy and safe. 

The stock brakes were all "correct" but they overheated and the seals burned.  Something that does not overheat would make it safer.

Next track day is supposed to be some time in May, so I have a bit of time till then to get brakes upgraded.

It would be good to at least get the ventilated Territory brakes installed on the back.

 

On 17/02/2024 at 7:39 AM, El Andrew said:

That would work well if you were using the same calipers daily as on the track and just had to swap the rotors and caliper brackets. Would actually be pretty quick
If you were changing calipers it would be a pain as you'd be bleeding your brake lines every time.

Would be pretty straightforward to change a disc and caliper bracket.  Changing the calipers too would be more painful, but not be impossible.

I suspect that the stock FG calipers (for a 28mm thick disc) would not fit over the 32mm thick Territory turbo disc, so just swapping a bracket and disc seems unlikely to work out.

It all depends what I find with the parts on hand.