Brakes

[Ralphcobra]

Well it took me a while to get everything going , but My 86 road racer is back in business. I want to recommend to everyone on this board to use Paul's brake setup. I bought the whole package from him and my brakes are now unbelievable. I have not changed anything that made as much difference as his setup does. I had to do a little creative work to get the center stainless brke line to bolt up to my stock steel line by remaking the mounting bracket, but everything else was just a bolt on deal.
This was one of the first major purchases that I made from Paul, but it was certainly worth it. NOw Paul, can you find me a 3.73....8.8. I have broke one in one of my cars and do not want to go to the expense of rebuild on a 7.5? Thanks, Ralph

[Speeder]

Ralph,
Could you please be more specific on this set up? I don't see where your thread started from. Is that SVOPaul you referred to? I need to do an upgrade to bigger rotors and brakes and need all the help I can get so I don't paint myself into a corner. I would like the option of retaining a 16" wheel for a street or rain set and probably go with 17" for the track. I recall that some of these kits push the SVO track width out even further (already wide). So with 17" wheels and I'm concerned about tire rub. Everyone tells me to use sn95 control arms but I want to keep the SVO ones. Also, is it true that the Cobra brakes are just as good as Baer, etc? Thanks a bunch,

[svobud]

He's talking about SVOPaul ( Paul Becker ). Paul is not only a Director of the SVOCA, but he's also a Vendor (owner of SVPU). www.svpu.com (he offers discounts to members)

SVPU/Paul is a dealer of Stillen Brakes (plus a bunch of other cool stuff). They offer both cross drilled and slotted versions of a DIRECT replacement upgrade Rotor/Pad set up for your SVO. They're the same size as factory (not sure if this is what Ralph has installed) but much higher quality.

Stillen offers kits for Cobra brakes set ups as well.

I have a set of Stillen Cross Drilled rotors/pads on my white car. The car is used as a street/track/autocross fun car...in other words, I drive it to just about anything and everything and enjoy the car doing so. I'm thinking I've had the brakes on there for about 2 1/2 years now (approx 12k miles or so)....that includes 2 autocrosses and 3 open track events.

Bottomline - LOVE em. The price, the quality, and the way they have held up from me pushin on the car for so long.

[SvoTy]

I have to second what Bud said. I have been through the stock stuff, the Auto Zone Hawk pads and nothing compares to the Stillen brakes.

Recomend it to anyone.

[Ralphcobra]

Brakes

Speeder: I was referring to the Stillen Brakes. You do not need to go to the sn-95 stuff because you have to change too many things . If you use the Stillen you can still use your 16 inch wheels or your 17 without worrying about width.
I bought the cross drilled rotors , the stainless steel caliper inserts, and the stainless brake lines and used my stock calipers up front with the stainless inserts. Master cylinder does not need to be changed, but I flushed the system and used the brake fluid that came with the kit. Ralph

[Speeder]

Thanks guys but I still need an upgrade. This thread will stir some commotion I'm sure.

I've been running SST bushings and lines for years with Hawke Pads and Willwood fluid, heat treated rotors and LOTS of brake cooling on stock calipers. This stock SVO set up works pretty well and was 7 years ahead of it's time, but it's a 16 year old design. Now days the competition runs dual piston aluminum calipers on wider thicker rotors. They probably gain 1.5 sec / lap.

The original iron calipers hold heat, allow uneven pad wear and are heavy. The small dia. rotors provide inadequate leverage and swept area. They are also too thin and warp which kicks the pads back causing a long pedal (only buy stock rotors with foundry marks from Canada or US).

For a few autocross runs the stock brakes are fine but if you're on the track up against the modern brakes, you'll either get outbraked or eventually run out of pedal.

The 5.0 boys claimed their stock set up was dangerous so they appealed to the rule writers to allow the upgrade. This was unfair to the SVOs because now our brakes are inferior yet there was no adjustment to the original race weights to the balance the various models.

So I'll be contacting Paul for his advice on how to upgrade without screwing up suspension geometry and tire clearance.