I have long assumed that the advantage of the front disc and rotor upgrades is
primarily their consistency, along with better pedal modulation and feel -
rather than much of a quantifiable decrease in braking distances. Especially
with skinny vintage tires, the limiting factor is usually the tire patch.
Most any system will work well enough to skid the tires, at least for the
first few stops. With proper ducting, brake fluids, etc. most original
systems will even do this well enough for a 30 minute race, assuming that you
are not talking about too many pounds and too many horses.
Along those lines it follows that the biggest decrease in braking distance
comes from getting the tire patches at the stern to do more work. That becomes
more problematic when you are not just doing straight line braking for a test,
i.e. when you are carrying some braking effort past your turn-in point.
That's the beauty of cockpit adjustable brake biasing, especially when you are
running rear drums that tend to lose effectiveness over the course of 30
minutes as the drum heats up and gets larger while the lining wears away and
gets smaller.
DT
David Talbott, President
Architectural Reproductions, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
Toll Free (888) 440-8007
www.archrepro.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Kantarjiev
To: tr6nut@verizon.net
Cc: fot@autox.team.net
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 5:42 PM
Subject: Re: [FOT] GT6 brake upgrade
> As for the caliper, the vented Toyota 4-Runner caliper
> should bolt up fine - don't know whether it'll fit your stock steel
> wheels though.
I don't *really* care about the stock steel wheels, though they're
an interesting data point (I have three different sets of aftermarket
wheels for the GT6+).
I'm not planning to go to vented rotors on this car, but other folks
might... but when I upgrade the 4A, I might go the vented route
just for grins.
Rumor has it that Ted Schumacher is selling the hard lines needed
for this Toyota caliper conversion. Ted, are you out there? Are
you selling them ... preferably with an AN-3 tube nut/flare? :-)
And, while I'm collecting thoughts about this conversion - John's web
page includes some brake distance tests with stock brakes, Toyota
fronts, and Toyota fronts + larger rear cylinders. I notice that the
decrease in distance is larger from the cylinder change than the
caliper change! Very interesting, that.
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