Front brake upgrade

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carpmart
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 97
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:00 pm
Location: Bedfordshire J12 M1

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:05 pm

Hi Chaps!

I have been a ford man for years so am used to the M16 replacement with princess 4 pot upgrade :D is there a common easy upgrade to the calipers on the front of my 1986 325i?

Whats the best source for caliper re-build kits if I stay with the standard calipers? do you know the price?

Assuming there is an upgrade, is it worth the upgrade in terms of additional stopping power?
fuzzy
He who sleeps with "Gingers"
Posts: 14351
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: melbourne Australia

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:21 pm

im sure the caliper repair kits were about £35 ish from bmw per pair of calipers.i find the standard sized discs are up to my hard driving,although i upgraded to EBC drilled and grooved discs with matching EBC redstuff ceramic pads,just keep biting no matter how hard i abuse them.what sort of use and power are you planning?
fuzzy
He who sleeps with "Gingers"
Posts: 14351
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: melbourne Australia

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:23 pm

you can also buy new calipers from ECP from about £47+vat :wink:
carpmart
E30 Zone Newbie
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Posts: 97
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:00 pm
Location: Bedfordshire J12 M1

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:10 pm

Thanks for the reply fuzzy!

Who are ECP and how do I get hold of them?

This car is just my thrasher as I can't face using my kit car through anotehr winter so that is now tucked away for the winter. The e30 will just be stripped at present to get the weight down a bit. I will overhaul the brakes and polly bush all round. I have a 40mm lowering kit and some new dampers to go on. Thats probably it till next summer when I plan to bolt on a blower and get a bit more from it in time for next winter!

I notice you have gone the cossie route with yours! I am a real blue oval man myself and have a pinto turbo in my kit car with a full cossie low compression bottom end running low boost most of the time but I do have spells when I run up to 13psi. I get a nice consistent 150ish bhp at the wheels running 8psi which makes it pretty bullet proof. All run using twin dellorto 45's and a stage 3 head as well. In a car weighing 560 kgs it has 'adequate' performance! :)

I think the e30 is as close as you can get to the Mk1 Mk2 escort experience which I would love but they are just too bloody expensive now. I also have an e39 528i which I have owned for 6 years and have done 125k miles on top of the 60k it already had on it. It is a brilliant car!

Would like to know about your cossie conversion as I have a 205 block and cossie head as well as a 2wd manifold and lots of other bits so may consider doing something along the same lines!
Chris-W
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Location: South Cheshire

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:11 pm

carpmart wrote:Thanks for the reply fuzzy!

Who are ECP and how do I get hold of them?
www.eurocarparts.com
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carpmart
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 97
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:00 pm
Location: Bedfordshire J12 M1

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:13 pm

carpmart wrote:
Thanks for the reply fuzzy!

Who are ECP and how do I get hold of them?


www.eurocarparts.com
Nice one Chris! :thumb:
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pnd
E30 Zone Squatter
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Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:00 pm

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:06 pm

EBC pads seem to squeal for some reason. Zimmerman discs are good. But for big power the whole system would need upgrading.
Theo
Old Skooler
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Location: Kent

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:10 pm

A set of ATE powerdiscs, a good performance pad (Ferodo, Mintex etc), and some ATE racing fluid is a good setup for the E30, worked well for me round the Ring.
carpmart
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 97
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:00 pm
Location: Bedfordshire J12 M1

Post Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:37 pm

A set of ATE powerdiscs, a good performance pad (Ferodo, Mintex etc), and some ATE racing fluid is a good setup for the E30, worked well for me round the Ring.
Thanks, was planning on Ferodo 2500's and I always use Dot 5.1 fluid in all my 'performance' cars!