Bigger front brakes??

[azza1600]

Anyone know any front brake mods?? I would love to hear them

[avenga]

I have heard Princess brakes bolt up easily.

I use Volvo 4 pots in my race car. they bolt up fine. I can't remember exactly what model they were because I did it about 10 years ago.

Here are some pictures.

[azza1600]

Yer I have heard that about princess 4 pots, yours volvo ones look the part I bet it was a big improvement

I did muck around with some Hillman Superminx disks which were 10" from memory but no one was that interested in

helping me when I said it was for a Avenger, so I pretty much gave up

[avenga]

Yeah the Volvo 4 pots made a huge difference. I want to do the same on my '75 but they will need to be certed. I guess I will have to get my 5 speed certed so I might do it at the same time.

Can someone tell me if the brake booster is different on the later models? I know the master cylinder is different because it is dual circuit on the older Avengers like my race car but only single circuit on my Hillman Avenger. I was wondering if they changed the booster as well as the master cylinder. In my manual it does mention 2 different type of boosters but they don't say which models had the different one. I could go down and check what I have on the race car if nobody knows.

Would it be a good idea to use a late model booster and master cylinder if I convert my brakes? my current booster and master cylinder have been rebuilt lately.

[azza1600]

I have a Chrysler United kingdom manual, well its in 2 books its that big, and it says servo type up to series 6 has a type 28 which is 7"(178mm) and series 7 onwards it is a type 38 which is 8"(203mm) hope that helps

[avenga]

Thanks for that info, that is perfect because it confirms what I thought by looking at my 2 cars. I was pretty sure from looking at my 1975 Hillman Avenger and my 1980 Chrysler Avenger that they were different and the '80 does look bigger.

This is great news because since putting the dual carbs in I have noticed a drop in brake boosting especially at idle because it is only running off one manifold runner so the cam pulse effects how much vacuum you have for boosting the brakes.

Cool well I might replace my brakes with a type 38 booster, dual circuit master cylinder and Volvo calipers.

Does anyone have a spare type 38 and master cylinder they are willing to sell?

[azza1600]

Hey sweet, that what this forum is all about, I have a type 38 booster spare,you can have it if I can find it, an maybe master cylinder, I no that Cortina/escort masters fit as i had one on my 78 wagon

[oldschool]

Getting enough brake vacuum is a common problem with performance motors, so fitting a larger booster may not achieve much, as there still isn't enough vacuum to operate it properly. It's been mentioned in the oldschool forum that fitting a diesel alternator might be a solution, as they have a vacuum pump built in.

[avenga]

Yeah I have talked to some of my mates about the diesel style brakes. My mates use them in their 900HP 605ci Hemi Plymouth Roadrunner and 1100HP procharged 588ci Hemi Plymouth 'Cuda.

I don't think I need to go to that extreme, my race car stops really well with the Type 38 and Volvo brakes.

[azza1600]

My brothers Pacer had no power brakes and it pulled up so well u had to be carefull how hard you hit the pic's so I think it is how you set up you brakes ie master cylinder and wheel cylinder sizer's aye

[avenga]

The Valiant do have awesome brakes.

I upgraded my charger to slightly later VJ Valiant brakes. They use big single piston Girling Girlocks.

It is really over boosted and I need to be super careful when stomping on the brakes because they will lock up the moment you look on them. Once you are used to them they stop the car bloody quickly but you have to be so careful.

It is funny going from the Charger to the Avenger. The charger is feather light and the Avenger is really heavy.

[NZTiger]

A very simple upgrade is to fit M16 calipers from Escort/Cortina/Capri, they have bigger pistons, also fit the ford disc, its the same diameter but thicker. This is the std set up for the Sunbeam Lotus. These were fitted to GQ4713 when I bought it. The conversion was done by using Ford hubs which I discovered have slightly different wheel bearings needing a different spacer on the stub axle. If you keep the Avenger hubs then new mounting holes need drilling in the disc as the Ford holes do not match the Avenger. If you do use ford hubs the wheel studs have different threads so will need changing or you can use different front and rear wheel nuts.
I think you could do this conversion without certificating as it would need a very knowledgeable WOF checker to spot the difference.
I have now upgraded to vented disc from the 2.8i Capri. This needs a spacer kit for the caliper.
When using bigger front brake, use the Mk2 Estate master cylinder (tandem) as this is a bigger bore. You can identify the difference between them as the saloon has a yellow plastic band and the Estate is orange.

At the back, change to 9" drums from Mk4/5 Cortina, there's a bit of mucking around as the mounting holes need re-drilling so they sit at the right angle, the centre hole of the drum needs to be machined to fit the Avenger axle and the handbrake cables/attachment to drums needs a bit of sorting.
On GQ4713 I use 9" brake from earlier fords (Consul 315?) which have manual adjusters. Important in a race/rally car as with auto adjusters, if you pull on the handbrake on very hot brakes, you loose adjustment.

[sunbeam]

Bigger brakes are easy, ford capri Vented fit, volvo, and bmw. The mods is to redrill mounting holes to hubs. To space calipers use alloy machine plate, polish with 1200 wet and dry after making to gaurantee seal

[azza1600]

So after 2 years parked up I've started getting a few little things done so I can get back on the road! So going back to this post (can't believe its been nearly 6 years) I really want to upgrade front brakes! I like NZ Tigers post, sounds straight forward, I have seen on TM M16 calipers that can take the wider vented disks and disks, So if I kept Avenger hubs and got disks drilled would it be a "bolt on" setup? NZ Tiger?

[azza1600]

Well I scored some M16 calipers (local too!) and I have mocked them up on a spare strut I had, What a fit!! just need to sort some M12 1.25 bolts and change the thread to 7/16 other than brake pipe I will be ready to go, the M16 calipers make the Avenger calipers look like they came off a bicycle lol