Brake upgrade

[richo]

Looking to buy brake upgrade for mk2 escort running Capri struts cheers richo 0466185278

[jpayne]

How much do you want to spend and or more importantly how quick do you want to stop.

Cheers

Justin

[ozstang65]

Spacer kit and vented disc would be more than adequate for general road use.

Race has lots of options available, depends how deep your pockets are.

[jpayne]

Richo
Should be able to get pretty good stopping power in a number of ways, but what you need to decide is how much track work vs how much road driving and what you are prepared to put up with in terms of noise, dust and pedal effort and cost, initial outlay and ongoing maintenance.
Ill start with the top end stuff, based on my experience
AP Racing CP500 family calipers and 310mm Disks AP disks (15 inch wheels minimum)
Custom mounting Brackets and hoses and top hat



As you can see these are very big calipers and large diameter discs, the ultimate in budget braking applications. these will be overkill on the street, squeal like a stuck pig and never get warm unless really pushed hard. They cost 2-3K depending on who you know, but on the track are the best I’ve used. pads cost about 300 bucks and disks a a similar amount. Haven’t had them long enough to ware them out yet. (not enough events to comment)
The second set is My old setup for the Mk1 brakes.
Modified Volvo Calipers, on BMW E30 disks and modified Hub.


This conversion requires the mounting lugs holes to be filed or machine slotted by about 2mm per lug to bolt up to the Escort Hub.
The BMW disk needs the mounting face modified to meet the PCD of the escort disc mounting hub (not the wheel PCD as it mounts on the other side of the hub) and of course new hoses to suit. The unique thing about the Volvo calipers is they are a split system caliper meaning they have two inlets from two hoses on the original car (volvo safety) this can be overcome by cross drilling the caliper or utilising a 'T' or 'Y' splitter in the brake lines.
The other needed modification involves centering the disk on the caliper and clearancing the disk from the steering arms. I had the hubs bearing setas modified to move the disk out 4mm, others machine the hub mounting face and or the disk mounting face to achieve this. but 4mm is about whats needed.
The Volvo setup would cost about 1k to start from scratch including caliper rebuild.
I initially used good road pads and braking was great then went to Ferodo DS3000 and Braking was excellent, but one set of pads has reduced the disks below minimum so budget about 600 for a season of racing (DS2500 may be kinder to dics and some say might work on the street cold (the standard pads would be ok for street, they didn’t fade on the track but once the Ferodos went in it was like comparing chalk and cheese)
The next option is a street oriented aftermarket caliper. On my daily I used willwood midilite calipers and 285mm disks. These disks came from a rover as they bolted straight on, which is always a lucky benefit. The calipers cost about 400 bucks the pads 150 and they will need a custom bracket, which will be circa 150-200 as they should be pretty simple.


These have transformed the car from Ok brakes to great brakes especially for the road. Have experienced no fade on any blast through the hills, though without master cylinder mods the pedal is a bit longer than standard but it is still quite positive with a 22mm master. For a road car these are a great investment but will eat 2K if you need or desire engineering. Willwood or their UK suppliers also have direct bolt on kits for the escorts.
Finally there is the existing kit beefed up to suit. spacer kits as mentioned allow a wider/thicker disk which helps dissipate heat better, and rebuilding the standard brake system and using good pads (as recommended or identified through personal experimentation) can yield good results, but depends on how hard you push it on the track, but could be a good compromise.
Irrespective of what setup you go for budget 2-300 for new brake lines. Less if you want to make them yourselves using earls etc but they wont be ADR approved (read illegal) these help provide a more positive pedal as they flex less under pressure, especially compared to 30-40 year old standard rubber ones.
I and many others also run a bias adjustable pedal box. Which allows finer tuning of bias front to rear, some are on the fly adjustable. These allow you to use the best master cylinder size for each end of the car. Budget circa 600 dollars for a new one. These can be a bit tricky to set up but once set or learnt are a worthwhile purchase. The better ones seem to utilise standard pedals rather than newly manufactured ones. The cheaper ones, with box section pedals have been accused of flexing. I have boxed in the back of my standard type pedals fro reduced bending.
Don’t underestimate flex in the system, the pedals as mentioned, the box itself, and the firewall are all notorious for bending. I have a brace bolted to the firewall and inner guard to help minimise flex here. Cheap to do but helps with pedal feel.
Also don’t forget good shock absorbers, alignment and Tyres, no point having best brakes if these parts stop the wheel from contacting the tarmac optimally.
I have not really mentioned the rear brakes so far. The escort is pretty light so big rear stoppers are probably not necessary. Many guys get away with good condition 9 inch drums. I have utilised a single piston sliding caliper with handbrake mechanism on Nissan disks which has been a good balance with the front


Hope this helps

Justin

[richo]

Thanks heaps guys for the info much appreciated cheers

[stuart]

great info

Do you know the the part number for the rover disc or model and year?

[jpayne]

yes I do mate but its not on an escort, used my road going AWD suzuki swift as an example of a road oriented aftermarket caliper application and use of another manufacturers part.

Justin

[gen mk 1rs2000]

Brilliant info justin

my thoughts are
if you have budget , cant beat volvo conversion with the right pads
if you go racing ... willwoods or ( alcon , i reckon better value for $$
if you want to help increase value of any escort , use AP /Lockheed !!
if you just won lotto then get custom made brembo titanium
or if you got lottsa unwanted cash
get some carbon ceramics off an old f1 car

[MK1_Oz]

lol I dont think an Escort could get carbon brakes hot enough to work properly but they sure would be a talking point!!!