E30 Zone

In theory, can pretty much any 4 pot caliper be made to fit an e30, by using custom brackets? Then you just need to find a suitably sized/offset etc disc to match?

In theory, i'd say yes
IMO it's easier with a radial mounted,as opposed to a lug mounted caliper
Having said that, I use a slightly modified lug mounted caliper

What caliper/disk combo did you have in mind, or what's your preferred disk diameter and width

I've already been through the Mintes brake disk specs several times to find what i required and may be able to offer information on some suitable Makes/models that could provide the disk your looking for, unless you plan on going for a 2pc disk and bell setup

on my e30 i used porshce 4 pot calipers of the rear of a 911 turbo, i then made custom brackets out off 12mm thick steel and used 310mm discs from rally design, they where about £52ea and have a friend machine some grooves in them. though this set up was poor due to the master cylinder, so i took the old one off and put a bias pedal box with twin master cylinders in its place. worked really well.

I am looking into it atm.. But some form of 4 pot caliper

How would you go about sorting discs etc? As you need to match offsets n stuff

Dont the Yanks go for RX7 calipers?

Yeah on 4 lug..

How would you go about modding a lug mounted caliper to fit?

Radial is easy, just make a bracket up

Maybe im being thick here but could you not use the 4 pots from an old Volvo?
Also ive heard that LDV vans use the old princess ones?

eko wrote:Maybe im being thick here but could you not use the 4 pots from an old Volvo?
Also ive heard that LDV vans use the old princess ones?

The LDV convoy's do use old cast iron 4 pots
They're pretty heavy TBH and there's not much of an increase in pad area
I don't think there'd be much difference in piston area either

This is one of the reasons why they were never much good on the old Fords(Princess 4 pots and the Ford M16 caliper piston sizes were about the same)

Jhonno wrote:Yeah on 4 lug..

How would you go about modding a lug mounted caliper to fit?

Radial is easy, just make a bracket up

Send up a caliper and the disk your using and i'll make up the template and brackets for you

sorry forget to say,for the offset i designed my own alloy bells to sit the disc where i wanted it. i still have a set of rx7 4 pots i was going to use but never did.

BadDave wrote:

Jhonno wrote:Yeah on 4 lug..

How would you go about modding a lug mounted caliper to fit?

Radial is easy, just make a bracket up

Send up a caliper and the disk your using and i'll make up the template and brackets for you

Could you do that for a lug mounted ones?

Just ive found some 4 pot lug mounted ones v v cheap..

Calipers ive found normally run a 316mm disc.. So what is my disc dia options?

Can i almost just choose a disc and then get the caliper mounted to suit?

(Sorry, never dealt much with non bolt on brake upgrades before, and obviously want it safe/be worth the ££!!)

I just use the calipers from an E38 728i with some 302mm Chrysler voyager disks


Little filing needed on the caliper


And made up these 15mm steel caliper brackets

With a cut out to clear the ABS sensor


I made the template for the caliper bracket from some 12mm MDF i had lying around

Thats quite handy actually as these calipers are the same as yours! Off an e38 728i.. How heavy are they compared to standard ones?

Also, I'm running M3 struts.. I take it i will need to do some measuring? Are there likely to be any disc options 310-325mm do you reckon?

These calipers are also fitted to the E31's and they ran with 324X30mm fronts.

I know you can get a 323mm disk off the shelf, but at £118+vat ea plus a pr of blank mounting bells at approx £55 ea+vat it start getting expensive


I'll have to check as to whether i can find a 1 pc disk with the correct offset and diameter you require

You'll need to be running a minimum of 17's to use that diameter of disks

Caliper weights are on my ETK,i'll have to reload it to find out
They don't apear to be on realoem for some reason

BadDave wrote:These calipers are also fitted to the E31's and they ran with 324X30mm fronts.

I know you can get a 323mm disk off the shelf, but at £118+vat ea plus a pr of blank mounting bells at approx £55 ea+vat it start getting expensive


I'll have to check as to whether i can find a 1 pc disk with the correct offset and diameter you require

You'll need to be running a minimum of 17's to use that diameter of disks

I thought they were different to the E31's.. Or is that just the mounting?

I'm not too fussed about disc dia, but that was kinda the range I was looking at.. If there is something that works better with smaller dia, I could go for it..

Hat and rotor is an option, but think I'd rather keep costs down for now.. Was looking at the rotors on raldes.co.uk earlier

God damn, really need to get this thing on the road so I stop spending monies on it

3.213kg...

Compared to 4.270kg for the standard m3 caliper

i have a easy way, buy my 4pots lol
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

The E38 4-pots are different to the E31 4-pots (well at least the mounting holes are anyway)

James

iil325i wrote:i have a easy way, buy my 4pots lol
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

Well.. What caliper are they? discs are no good to me as i have m3 struts..

How much are you after?

Beemer Redeemer wrote:The E38 4-pots are different to the E31 4-pots (well at least the mounting holes are anyway)

James

Tis what i thought.. Evidently can still be utilised however..

Only thing im thinking is pads.. Can you get uprated ones

the 840 caliper will bolt on the M3 strut with no spacer. Straight fit. You can use a E46 M3 disk with a 12.5mm spacer UNDER the disk to correct the disk's wrong offset. Or make a disk with 12.5mm less offset with alli bell.
The biggest problem you will have is to find a set of rims with enough spoke clearance for the 2 "outside" pistons.
Also the 12.5mm spacer under the disk means 12.mm more track EACH side!

I know of a M3 using a kit from here
http://www.massivebrakes.com/kits/e30/n ... ll/318-325

Try findin the 840i calipers and cheap though..

I'd happily put a little more effort into fitting to save some ££

I mean ive found these e38 calipers for £75! So if it just requires a bracket cut, and a disc located then it sounds ok to me tbh..

Saw the massive brakes kit.. Was tempted

Jhonno wrote:Try findin the 840i calipers and cheap though..

I'd happily put a little more effort into fitting to save some ££

I mean ive found these e38 calipers for £75! So if it just requires a bracket cut, and a disc located then it sounds ok to me tbh..

Saw the massive brakes kit.. Was tempted

£75 caliper is cheap, but how much will the bracket cost to make?
Can end up false economy. What are your thoughts about rims? don't leave this till the last minute, you will be surprised how many rims don't fit.

Well going by Busters TT disc bracket thread, about £50-70 for the brackets..

If i can find a sensibly priced disc then it could be a cheap upgrade..

You got PM also

I have made a JIG to machine the Merc disk, if there's enough interest I can make a few. Just shipping is a problem. A set of Merc disks (Brembo) is £80 (without discount) but I am sure you get them cheaper elswhere.
Just a set of 735 calipers and your're done (some milling required as well to fit the bracket)

Jhonno wrote:..

Only thing im thinking is pads.. Can you get uprated ones

Pads for the E38 calipers are the same as those fitted to the R33 and R34 Skylines

Uprated pads are available from Mintex,Pagid,EBC and possibly Ferodo,carbon lorraine and Endless

Mintex part no is MDB 1752 for cross referance purposes

I've had a look through my brake book and the only 2 i can find with nearly the correct offset/width and diameter, are the Chrysler Voyager 302mm x 28mm (mitex p/no MDC 1554)

Offset and diameter are good but the centre bore is a bit on the big side
This is easily cured with a "friction fit" spigot ring

The only other one i can find is the Audi TT one which is ok diameter and offset wise, bit not perfect in disk thickness terms(only 25mm) but would be useable if needed

As UWE says, wheels are going to play an important part in the final decision

My wheels are 7"x16" and 7"x18" and both sets have a 40mm offset, ideally they'd be 42-45mm offset
I also need to use a 30mm wheel spacer in order for the wheels to clear the calipers

I thing Jag S-type 3.0 is also suitable.
the Merc disk is a very close fitment for the M3 strut. Just needs centre bore enlarged and PCD slotted from 112mm to 120mm. I have a drawing if anybody wants to machine some.

But just for clarification, I am not running 4 pots with these. I have one piston sliding calipers from E32 735i

Just checked the std M3 disk offset and it's 40mm
The Chrysler one is 39mm and Audi TT one is 34mm

I don't have the specs for the S type disk here

i want £300, you could have the discs redone to a 5 stud

BadDave wrote:I've had a look through my brake book and the only 2 i can find with nearly the correct offset/width and diameter, are the Chrysler Voyager 302mm x 28mm (mitex p/no MDC 1554)

Offset and diameter are good but the centre bore is a bit on the big side
This is easily cured with a "friction fit" spigot ring

The only other one i can find is the Audi TT one which is ok diameter and offset wise, bit not perfect in disk thickness terms(only 25mm) but would be useable if needed

As UWE says, wheels are going to play an important part in the final decision

My wheels are 7"x16" and 7"x18" and both sets have a 40mm offset, ideally they'd be 42-45mm offset
I also need to use a 30mm wheel spacer in order for the wheels to clear the calipers

Hmmm.. Cant really be running a 30mm spacer, my front wheels are et20 afaik and 8" wide..

iil325i wrote:i want £300, you could have the discs redone to a 5 stud

£300 for what exactly?