Brake Upgrade - Wilwood Calipers & EVO 4 Discs

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:45 am

Hi guys just wanted to let you know I just upgraded my brakes using 4pot wilwood calipers...

http://www.wilwood.com/Products/001-Cal ... /index.asp
Got the 120-6816 product but others may fit.

and EVO4 Discs.

It wasnt too difficult just needed a custom mounting bracket which I got a machine shop to make out of 3/8" steel for $40 for the pair. Another $40 in some automotive grade bolts, nuts and washers and thats it. Will take some pics later but they feel a heeeelll of a lot better than my stock 1pot GX calipers. I haven't even bled the brakes properly or bedded in the pads and already the difference is huge.

Wilwood calipers sell for about $330AU a pair on the net. I got some used but good discs from a friend but DBA also do the EVO 4 GSR discs ino the 4000 series for about $400AU a pair brand new. Available here but might be cheaper elsewhere? http://www.racebrakessydney.com.au
The discs are only about 300mm (about 20mm or .75" wider than GPX) but with the upgraded calipers are more than adequate for even my turbo car. No sense over killing in size cause size is weight also and thats unsprung weight.

They will fit on a 17" wheel quite comfortably and probably even a 16". I think that all in all the whole thing with pads and maybe even SS hose should come to about 1,000 AU with brand new parts.

If anyone is interested I can give you the general shape of the bracket to print out but I dont have the hole locations since I drilled them after.
When I'm in the mood I might also put up a how to on the whole thing.

Anyway I highly reccomend this upgrade to anyone. a lot cheaper ultimately than most big brake kits, loog good and these calipers are a lot lighter than even my 1pot brakes.

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:00 am

Some pics with the rims on. Pics dont really do justice since they look a lot better in person. And yes I know the rim is dirty

Hobbsie · Post by **Hobbsie** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:09 pm

cheap, looks good, and performs well.. awesome work

looks like your fto is shaping up to be one of the tuffest on the forums

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 3:51 pm

Thanks. When I get my 18z on and my D2 coilovers I'll take some pics

I might eventually upgrade to EVO8 discs since it would just mean a new bracket and discs but i think that would be mostly for looks to fill up the 18z more.

idawina · Post by **idawina** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:11 pm

a good place to get those brake calipers second hand is off speedway cars. almost all of the super sedan division use those wilwood 4 spot calipers. May be cheap from speedway supply store too, they get them driect from the usa so they may be cheaper?

spetz · Post by **spetz** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:50 am

For anyone wanting to do an even cheaper upgrade:

Evo 4 discs are 294mm
Evo 4 calipers are actually the same as an FTO

Supercheap sells DBA4000 EVO IV Discs for $350 a pair

So, them rotors + a bracket (that you paid $40 for the pair) and you have evo IV brakes on your FTO

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:40 am

True but trust me the real benefit is in the calipers so I think without changing them the upgrade would not be worth the money/hastle. Remember they are 4 pot (2 on each side) and a good bit lighter at that.

spetz · Post by **spetz** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:01 pm

The calipers might be better for feel etc but with them you'd need to change master cylinders etc
Where as I believe that with just larger rotors it will reduce brake fade

If you are changing calipers etc then may as well put some 330mm rotors

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:59 am

Didnt have to change my master cylinder. I think that would be necessary probably if you were going 6pot?

Yeah 330 would be good especially to look at but to be honest a disc that size would probably be overkill on a car that will never really see more than 230hp on a N/A or 275 on a t/c not to mention possibly rub even on some 17z. Thats 10mm bigger than comes on the EVO8. I think you would be better off sticking with 320 since it would be easier to get also.

Remember also with the current calipers we have since the pistons are only on one side it utilizes a kind of push and squeeze technique. In other words only one side is actually pushing the pad to the disc. The other side is getting squeezed by the effort but not directly. Therefore the 4pot having direct contat with both sides is a lot more effective at ultimately stopping the car.

When it comes down to it the biggest difference in stopping a car will almost always equate to piston surface area. Ultimately I dont think the effort is worth it if you're just upgrading discs but anyone is welcome to try and prove me wrong

SG · Post by SG » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:56 pm

braided steel brake lines gave me the biggest benifit that i could tell when i upgraded my brakes... but i also got mild slotted (same size) rotors and red stuff pads fitted to the front at the same time. But for feel the braided lines i reckon produced the biggest g's because you could push lightly down on the pedal all the way until the wheels locked up and you could get a good feel for the limit at where they'd lock up and keep it a big back from that spot... but thats low speed braking anyway... i'll be seeing how high speed braking goes this thursday when i go to barbagello raceways track night.

should be brake fade gallore

akuma3 · Post by **akuma3** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:23 pm

spetz wrote:The calipers might be better for feel etc but with them you'd need to change master cylinders etc
Where as I believe that with just larger rotors it will reduce brake fade

If you are changing calipers etc then may as well put some 330mm rotors

agree

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:51 pm

Hobbsie wrote:cheap, looks good, and performs well.. awesome work

looks like your fto is shaping up to be one of the tuffest on the forums

Dannyboyau still holding that title at the moment. But don't give up

Because at the Poms site, they have fair few turbo and supercharged FTO. Someone got to show them ehehehe

BTW redline have you change your master brake cylinder yet?

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:49 pm

FTO338 wrote:
Hobbsie wrote:cheap, looks good, and performs well.. awesome work

looks like your fto is shaping up to be one of the tuffest on the forums
Dannyboyau still holding that title at the moment. But don't give up Because at the Poms site, they have fair few turbo and supercharged FTO. Someone got to show them ehehehe

BTW redline have you change your master brake cylinder yet?

Yes Dannyboy FTO is certainly a lot faster than mine however he doesnt have the 6a12 engine in so technically is it still an FTO

As I mentioned earlier, I dont see a need to change my master cylinder as I have the brakes in and they're working great. Maybe if I went bigger?

Of course anyone doing the upgrade can put on any size discs they want with the right bracket, but obviously the bigger you go, the more it costs and heavier it is. So I went with a size that I thought was adequate, and it seems to be doing its job so far. Who knows I might upgrade later.

SG · Post by SG » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:29 pm

who was that member on here who sold their FTO that has quite a lot of mods on it? Full brakes/suspension/engine mount upgrades etc? and then someone nearby bought it and showed up on the forum. His was a pretty good FTO all-round... almost the same as mine except for wheels and rollbars

FTO only weighs 1200 kilos anyway, you shouldnt need to go too big compared to larger cars.. even evos weigh quite a bit more, and you end up with the same braking distance

you could probly out-brake a slightly older evo (5+) redlineGX just due to the weight difference

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:31 am

Thats my point exactly. Everyone os offering these huge 6pot 330mm upgrades that cost a ton of money not to mention as before would probably require upgrading your master cylinder when its just massive overkill and twice as expensive.

Liquidity · Post by **Liquidity** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:31 am

f**k me. the "to do list" is adding up already and i dont even have a damn fto yet.

Post by **BorepYano** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:50 pm

its better this way then the opposite trust me.

i bought my 94GR for $12.5k, thought it was a good deal, had a budget of 15K, and now i keep seeing much much nicers ones for sale here within that budget >.<

and if i knew what i should do to my FTO, especially how much they are going to cost (an arm and a leg), then i wouldn't have pissed the rest of my car budget away >.<

better to know upfront then to find out one day when u accidentally stumble across this site while trying to look for offset details.

TCGPX · Post by **TCGPX** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:44 pm

Liquidity wrote:f*** me. the "to do list" is adding up already and i dont even have a damn fto yet.

The to do list turns into an addiction. That's the problem. Especially with a site like this where you just keep seeing better n better FTO's. Everyone revvs one another up. No pun intended.

I'll just confess I'm a junkie and be done with it. I got a lotta catching up to do...

spetz · Post by **spetz** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:44 am

Since on the subject...

What about using 3000GT calipers?
Or even some other brand calipers like Holden, Nissan, Toyota?

Thinking that if going to change calipers may as well go well over 294mm rotors

And on that subject also, what is the largest rotor that could be fitted under 16" wheels? I realise caliper size is a key issue, but as a guideline

RedlineGX · Post by **RedlineGX** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:55 am

I think anything over 300mm will rub on a 16". I have on 17z now and although there is a good bit of room you'll be .5" closer to the rim at least. Also the wilwoods are obviously designed for use with big brake systems so they may actually be shaped less likely to rub than an oem japanese caliper.