being vein, and not liking the gap between the brake disk and the inside of the alloy wheel, i invested in some brand new Cosworth Escort caliper brackets from ebay.

hopfully i can use the existing calipers - although probably not...

ill take some pictures when its done - i know its overkill, but i like my car to look good as well as stopping well - i cant stand those chavs with massive wheels and brakes that look like CDs!

mark knows what im talking about when it comes to too much empty space inside the wheel...

Nowt wrong with the idea - but if your improving the effectiveness of the front brakes then do something to increase the effectiveness of the rear brakes as well.

If you don't you will have longer stopping distances

Not having the correct back to front braking force ratio, will make the car unstable on braking, and could be dangerous.
Hence we have the ballance bar to be able to adjust the ratio.
Dont just slap them on without getting the ballance correctly adjusted.

I ended us having 2 SVA re-tests due to the back to front ballance. As I had too much braking on the rear.
(Std 240mm Sierra front discs, and Sierra Rear Discs. Should have been 260mm on the front, as the 240mm front discs are for use with drum rear brakes).
Its now all sorted with 260mm's on the front and its hugely better.

Be SAFE... not dead!

mine will be 278mm on the front and 253mm on the rear.

it only becomes dangerous when you have too much braking at the rear and the car switches ends because of this.

i might be nieave, but there is only so much braking that can be done by the back before the weight is shifted forwards and reducing the effect of the rear brakes.

[Edited on 26/10/07 by saigonij]

ive used seirra 4X4 cosworth rear brakes on my car they are a vented 20mm by 274mm ive not yet got the front brake but ive been looking at a 330mmcompbrake motorsport only £650 for a full kit (www.compbrake.co.uk )
ive fited the gold pedal box from luego as it has a brake ballance bar so i can ajust the presher to the front and rear ive all so fitted a line lock in the cotpit so i can ajust or lock the front wheels if needed

Be aware.....using large brakes on this type of car can have a disadvantage, in that it's difficult to warm them up - especially during normal road use. The reason being that there is very little weight in these cars and the brakes don't have so much work to do.
I have sierra standard vents on the front of mine, and am considering changing to solid discs....the pedal feels quite dead most of the time. Plus there is a weight saving using smaller discs.

Big brakes do look nice however, but be careful you don't compromise the driving experience.

Rich.

i've got the xr4x4 253mm solids at the rear and 240mm vented at the front, and i can't work out how you get the rears to lock first! i've got a bias valve fitted but if anything i want much more rear bias!

why would you want the rears to lock first? surely on the road that spells disaster -> the back locking and loosing control.

i think its the other way round - you want your front locking before your rears, else you will spin in to a ditch.

no, you're quite right, but ideally you'ld want to be as close to neutral as possible, but a little to the front. I've got a bias valve fitted and can't get the rears to lock in any position, suggesting the rear could do more work before the fronts lock, and stop you quicker. I might try a different set of pads, see they are more grippy, then if that causes teh rears to lock first, play with the bias till it's just to the front again.

Did that make sense?

[Edited on 28/10/07 by Grimsdale]

yea! that made sense...

have you gotten all the air out the rear circuit? its a real pig with those calipers. you need to take them off and jiggle the caliper about to get all the air out.

yeah, it's possible. I bled it fully in the summer, and did find a few small bubbles, but didn't do any wiggling! as the fronts/rear are different circuits, does that mean pressure would be lower in the circuit with air in? I'd always assumed that the pressure would be uniform in all circuits?

[Edited on 28/10/07 by Grimsdale]

yea, i guess more than likely.

sierra calipers are quite tricky to bleed cause air can get trapped in them - hence the wiggling!