Brake upgrade question chaps!!

[silverback mike]

Chaps.
I’m not after a 4 piston full willwood job - but the standard set up lacks a little. Would decent drilled / vented ebc discs and say green stuff or equivalent improve the feel slightly. I don’t really beast the living daylights out of the tvr on road or track so don’t think I need to spend heaps bit would like it a little better....views appreciated!!

[citizen smith]

Personally never had a problem with standard road use, no soft pedal and good feel. How old are your brakes - do they need a refurb. When was the brake fluid changed. Perhaps a 500 set up would be better.

[silverback mike]

Could do with a refresh I think. What’s a 500 set up?

[citizen smith]

Hi,


If you look into TVR PARTS LTD website, it will show you all the different components that are needed to upgrade your brakes (larger discs/callipers etc.) to the later larger spec. parts. They were fitted to 450 Chimaera/500 Griffiths from 1997 on. May also have been fitted to 400 Chimaera's

[skiver.]

Just completing this conversion on mine:

Used Fiesta St150 calipers off ebay
New Caliper seal kit
New Mintex MDC638 discs (2wd Ford Cosworth 283mm) these will need reducing to 278mm.
New Mintex pads

Supposedly a huge improvement on the original set-up for under £200; I'll post the results.

[silverback mike]

Excellent info skyver- are these for standard wheels ie smaller on the front?
Very interested in pics and fitting info 👍

[trev4]

I did the same upgrade as skiver and I am very pleased with the results.
I got my 283 disc's from mtec part number mtec203 and the disc didn't need reducing, we just needed a 1.5mm washer to center the calliper on the disc.keep away from the coloured pads otherwise you will be wasting your time.
Forgot to say the calipers were from a Fiesta st mk 6

Edited by trev4 on Monday 20th November 20:14

[ianwayne]

citizen smith said:

Hi,


If you look into TVR PARTS LTD website, it will show you all the different components that are needed to upgrade your brakes (larger discs/callipers etc.) to the later larger spec. parts. They were fitted to 450 Chimaera/500 Griffiths from 1997 on. May also have been fitted to 400 Chimaera's

I think all the 500s had the larger brakes. The 1995 Chimaera I had in 2001 certainly did.

My present Chimaera 400 (1996) has the larger brakes too, which I think were fitted from the start of the facelifts (i.e. front grill and bonnet) which mine has.

[skiver.]

silverback mike said:

Excellent info skyver- are these for standard wheels ie smaller on the front?
Very interested in pics and fitting info ??

Yes these are for the 15" fronts. I haven't fitted the discs yet so maybe they won't need reducing, as trev4 says.
Sorry no pics but plenty of info on youtube.

[QBee]

Pads - try Mintex 1144, Brembo, Ferodo DS2500, Hawk Street Racer, ie pads that are intended for both road and track.

[RobXjcoupe]

skiver. said:

silverback mike said:

Excellent info skyver- are these for standard wheels ie smaller on the front?
Very interested in pics and fitting info ??

Yes these are for the 15" fronts. I haven't fitted the discs yet so maybe they won't need reducing, as trev4 says.
Sorry no pics but plenty of info on youtube.

Did you buy the st150 front discs or the Sierra version?

[skiver.]

It's the Sierra ones you need.

[RobXjcoupe]

skiver. said:

It's the Sierra ones you need.

So use the Sierra front discs with a 1.5mm spacer behind it rather than the fiesta st150 discs?

[skiver.]

The spacers (washers) are for centering the caliper over the disc and fit between the caliper and caliper carrier on the two fixing bolts. If you use the St150 Fiesta discs you will need to fit 10mm wheel spacers to keep the proper offset as these discs are not as deep as the originals.
If you want to go with Fiesta discs you can have mine which came with the calipers.They are in good nick and are drilled and grooved.

[RobXjcoupe]

skiver. said:

The spacers (washers) are for centering the caliper over the disc and fit between the caliper and caliper carrier on the two fixing bolts. If you use the St150 Fiesta discs you will need to fit 10mm wheel spacers to keep the proper offset as these discs are not as deep as the originals.
If you want to go with Fiesta discs you can have mine which came with the calipers.They are in good nick and are drilled and grooved.

Sorry for missing something but if you bolt the st150 calipers and carriers on without any spacer and use the matching st150 front discs do they fit regardless of what ever wheels you have?

[skiver.]

As the offset on the St150 disc is not as deep (front to back) the disc will not pass through the caliper, as it (the disc) sits 10mm closer to the hub, if that makes sense. It needs to be brought forward with the 10mm spacer to centre it between the pads.Although it all fits perfectly on the Fiesta hub carrier it doesn't on the Chim. The spacer fits behind the disc.

Edited by skiver. on Tuesday 21st November 19:34

[phillpot]

So much confusion!

It's all to do with the height of the disc ................



generic picture take no notice of measurements

Edited by phillpot on Tuesday 21st November 19:39

[skiver.]

Eureka! One picture is worth a thousand words.

[silverback mike]

Soooo confused

[RobXjcoupe]

I had a look on mtec brakes and they show only 1.5mm difference in height of the st150 disc to the Sierra cosworth disc. Which is the amount of spacer you said to put behind the st150 carrier when bolting to your hub a Sierra disc.
But you said a fiesta disc needs 10mm to run true with the st caliper on the Sierra (tvr) hub.
I’m lost now lol.
I do remember way back upgrading rubbish mk3 Fiesta front brakes with Sierra cosworth discs and calipers and they ran perfectly centred between the caliper without spacers. I also have a mk5 Fiesta which has the same front hubs as a mk3 with st150 carriers, calipers and discs which was a straight forward swap. Hence why I am questioning and not making much sense probably :s
Obviously you tried just the complete standard fiesta st150 caliper and disc setup and it didn’t fit?