Making Caliper Brackets - How To?

[darrinspencer]

I am looking at a front brake upgrade with 360x32mm disc and 4 pot brembo calipers from a big yank car. These calipers can be had for approx $600del a pair.

I have found VE HSV 365mm commadore discs can be made to fit fairly easy. Need to change the hub diamater from 67.4mm to 68mm, change the stud pattern from 5x120 to 5x114.3 and machine the disc diameter from 365mm to 360mm to suit the calipers. I could probably leave them at 365mm. The VE hat height is 54mm and skyline 53.75mm. The VE disc thickness 32mm as well.

So looking at those numbers, I think it should not be too hard to make these to fit.

Unless I have missed something?

Now need to mount the calipers. I can draw up the brackets in cad to give to a machinest I have access to.

What material can/should they be made from

Mild steel? Weight a problem?

Alloy? Grade? Steel insets?

I have seen pic's of brackets/dogbones.

Has anyone got some as any example

Pic attached of the front and rear calipers

[GTR1993]

mild steel will be fine, if you want alloy 7075 is a good grade, usually chosen for its high strength and fatigue resistance. Can usually be found cheaply in small sizes like you would need.

[Scooby]

hard to tell from the pic but those calipers look smaller than the F40/50 type you'd need to use 360mm discs. what diameter are the discs on the donor car?

[darrinspencer]

hard to tell from the pic but those calipers look smaller than the F40/50 type you'd need to use 360mm discs. what diameter are the discs on the donor car?

The donor car uses 360x32mm disc and 115x5 pcd, but the hat height is approx 70mm and the hub size is approx 72mm so would need to reduce this to 68mm which is too much effort

That is why I was looking at the VE disc because nearly all the dimensions are the same.

Just had a look at my R34 gtr wheels currently using 310mm r34GTT calipers and there is only 27mm clear. depending on the brembo size, the might not fit

May have to go to 19's

[Roy]

They are lug mount calipers so cant be F40-50s. Be careful trying to adapt lug mount calipers, can be done but is tricky and you can quickly find your self running our of meat in the bracket which makes them to thin and most likely to fatigue.

LOL, having bought and played and sold a fair few brake setups....what you are about to do is going to be more expensive then just buying a new off the shelf kit or a good condition used kit made for your car

[darrinspencer]

They are lug mount calipers so cant be F40-50s. Be careful trying to adapt lug mount calipers, can be done but is tricky and you can quickly find your self running our of meat in the bracket which makes them to thin and most likely to fatigue.

LOL, having bought and played and sold a fair few brake setups....what you are about to do is going to be more expensive then just buying a new off the shelf kit or a good condition used kit made for your car

I have not priced the VE disc's yet and I am sure I will be shocked by the price. I assume these will be big $. Any idea of cost's?

The brackets I can get made for free, thanks to brisabne city council workshops and both my father in law and little brother inlaw are both fitter and turners.

Calipers, if in good nic are approx $600, custom brake hoses say $200, Pads?

My current r34 brakes need new disc's $500 and pads $200 and I would like to get braided lines $200 while I am at it. So if I offset those costs plus the sale of the R34 gear $300 (approx $1200 there), it MIGHT not be that bad to upgrade.The price of the disc's will kill it

Any new bolt on kit starts at $2200+ for cheap chinese kits and quickly go up from there fo brand name gear.

I would think this setup I am looking at would be of higher quality than the chinese stuff?

If these will not fit under my 18" wheels I might not bother.

Please don't take this as me being a smart arse, or I know better. I don't. This is why I have asked these questions to confirm what I am in for.

Does anyone have any pic's of these brackets on a car?

I had a quick look last night at my car. Do the brackets generally mount to the front or the back of the stub axle?

Looks like they will need to mounted to the back and be threaded as you would have to bolt thru the stub into the bracket. Is this right?

If mounted to the rear, there will hopefully be enough meat in the bracket. I was thinking 12mm steel plate?

[darrinspencer]

Just had a price on the VE rotors

DBA series 5000, only ones in stock $695 each

[Beer Baron]

the money in big brake kits is often in the rotors and hats and hardware. so getting cheap calipers but finding you still need expensive rotors and compromised mounting you'll end up spending near as much money but at the end you still have those cheap callipers.

lug mount is not the way to go unless they bolt straight on. either find some suitable radial mount calipers or tread the proven paths. yes they cost a little more but brakes aren't cheap. many have tried to come up with budget big upgrades. tried and failed!

[femno]

Damn. This thread is good for me as Im having all sorts of trouble finding alcon 315 rear disc hats, so I figured to use an AP 330mm disc and make a a caliper bracket...but now I read this probably wont work!!

Bloody brakes!! Theyre a pain in the ass! If you dont spend 10 grand on a kit that is.