Evening Ladies & Gents.

Finally got all the parts together to allow me to install the front calipers on the car V12, little bit more fine adjustment needed and it will be finito. I thought I would show you how it was all done incase you are running a powerful & heavy car (ultima/GT40..types) and need/want extra stopping power..... but don`t want to pay the quite stupid prices these things seem to sell for.

I`m running such mahoosive calipers because they were locost and I wanted to make them work, yes I`m sure I could of used ultra lites and had lower unsprung weight and yes I`m probably over braked etc but that`s not really the point of this little 'rant'...so with that in mind....here we go

Once upon a time....when I naively thought I could use Mercedes running gear and hubs, I managed to get hold of a very reasonally priced set of 8 piston Mercedes calipers (made by Brembo), from a SL55.




As the project moved on and the Mercedes running gear was binned in favour of a hybrid Mercedes/Ford set up I found myself with a set of discs/pads and calipers that I couldn`t use with ford 4 stud hubs....(5x112). I realised that Ford used this same stud pattern on the Granada (BINGO), Okay yes I had to get some custom mushrooms made for the hub but that was a small price to pay....cheap too (£50)...to avoid paying out for a complete new brake system and in theory it would work....in theory.

The mercedes caliper bracket had to go.....it wasn`t even close and dedicated brackets had to be made. The material for the job is our old friend 2024 aluminium (nice and strong).



I decided the calipers needed a good clean and a lick of paint, my friend has a parts washer (which made my life much less messy) and I decided to restore the Brembo`ness, making sure you use high temp paint....... What makes me smile is that I`m trying to make the brakes look like high performance Brembo upgrade (along similar lines as to the fake stick on Brembo cover you can get from Flea bay)....but ironically these are Brembo`s....well it makes me smile.



I have made sure the bolts were HT, 12.9 for the caliper/bracket (M12 x 100) and 10.9 (M10 x 60) spaced with washers where required.

So before it all comes off for a clean and polish (wheels also here is the dry install....enjoy.





If you fancy having a go and need any brackets machining, drop me a message and I`ll put you in touch with a very skilled chap, good job and very reasonably priced.

Looks good - I would be slightly concerned about the loadings on your adapter bracket though. There seems to be a large amount of leverage generated around the original mounting holes.

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Originally posted by SeaBass
Looks good - I would be slightly concerned about the loadings on your adapter bracket though. There seems to be a large amount of leverage generated around the original mounting holes.

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Looks good, and love your project.

I would beef up the bracket a little, and get load rated bolts to replace the allen bolts you have there. Also, rounding off the edges will reduce the potential for fracture. Notice none of the other suspension components have square edges.

Good luck. I would get some serious testing in before hitting the road or track though.

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Originally posted by MakeEverything
I would beef up the bracket a little, and get load rated bolts to replace the allen bolts you have there.

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Look awesome...but when you say budget..what was the rough cost.




I got these fitted on my car..325 mm disc and 4 pot monoblock stops a treat for less than 500

looks like you have a wheel bolt missing,
or is it just the way the picc is?

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Originally posted by steve m
looks like you have a wheel bolt missing,
or is it just the way the picc is?

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So If I understand correctly you have m12 bolts through a 25 mm thickness. So leaving at best 6 mm of ally on each side of the bolt to resist the load imposed by the calipers trying to rotate when applied? I don't think they will last a minute.

Cheers

Fred W B

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Originally posted by Fred W B
So If I understand correctly you have m12 bolts through a 25 mm thickness. So leaving at best 6 mm of ally on each side of the bolt to resist the load imposed by the calipers trying to rotate when applied? I don't think they will last a minute.

Cheers

Fred W B

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I don't like the lack of rads in these sketches. You might get away with it with steel but definitely not with ali.

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Originally posted by MikeRJ

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Originally posted by MakeEverything
I would beef up the bracket a little, and get load rated bolts to replace the allen bolts you have there.

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Agreed on the bracket, but what are" load rated bolts"? The bolts the OP is using are 10.9 and 12.9; if he needs higher tensile bolts than that then something is seriously wrong with the design.

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Originally posted by MakeEverything
I didnt see the HT bolts comment between the pictures, as they look like standard allen bolts as said in my original post.

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Originally posted by phelpsa
I don't like the lack of rads in these sketches. You might get away with it with steel but definitely not with ali.

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you're most lilkely to get cracks forming on the internal corners of the bracket. You can't really round them out as the material is already gone. I would make them from steel and at least put as large a rad as possible in there if you're making from Ali

This is meant to be be constructive, please don't take offence. I'm doint this exact same process with Rx7 twin turbo calipers and mx5 uprights.

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Originally posted by liam.mccaffrey
you're most lilkely to get cracks forming on the internal corners of the bracket. You can't really round them out as the material is already gone. I would make them from steel and at least put as large a rad as possible in there if you're making from Ali

This is meant to be be constructive, please don't take offence. I'm doint this exact same process with Rx7 twin turbo calipers and mx5 uprights.

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Originally posted by steve m
looks like you have a wheel bolt missing,
or is it just the way the picc is?

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If you worked on edge distances used in structural steel marking out, the centre of the holes are 1.5xhole dia to closest edge. Assuming 13mm and 11mm holes the relative sections would need to be increased from 30 to 39 and 25 to 33. Agree with large internal radii as well but I think the sections are the greater cause for concern.

the bolts are chrome...but the locker is black. so very hard to see.

heres a close up of my brackets..been on a year with no issues whatsoever