Review: Alpha Omega Racing 350mm Brembo Front Brake Adaptor Kit

[timmy_89]

I have decided to put together a quick review of my brake upgrade as I’ve received quite a lot of interest and have received many questions regarding them. So here it is, a quick overview of the kit, parts I chose and why, issues I came across when installing, and my final thoughts after getting the car on the track.

Company/Product:
Alpha Omega Racing / Evo 350mm Brembo front brake adaptor kit

Price:
$370 plus postage

Links:
http://www.alphaomegaracing.com
http://alphaomegaracing.com/p/50/c/73/Z33/ALPHA-OMEGA/Evo-350mm-Brembo-Brakes-Adapter-Kit-Version-2.html

Purpose:
The kit allows you to fit front Brembo calipers from an Evo 5-9 (all the same) with Evo X rotors (350mm) to your R32/R33/R34/S13 (5 stud)/S14/S15/Z32/Z33.

What’s included:
- Pair of CNC machined 7075 billet alloy caliper adaptors
- High tensile bolts and washers
- Installation instructions (with pictures)

What else you need:
- Mitsubishi Evo 5/6/7/8/9 Brembo front calipers and brake pads
- Mitsubishi Evo X front rotors (350x32mm)
- Custom brake lines

Alpha Omega Racing is able to provide all of the above parts as well as parts and services (labour) for rebuilding calipers and even fitting if you are not comfortable doing so yourself. I personally opted to source the parts myself but the convenience factor is there of getting everything you need in one spot if preferred.

The kit makes use of the Evo X 350mm rotors as opposed to the Evo 5/6/7/8/9 320mm rotors due to a couple of engineering issues, and of course better heat dispersion. Read more regarding the engineering issues on their page here:
http://alphaomegaracing.com/i/9/Evo-Brembo-Brakes-On-A-Nissan-Adapter-Designs.html

I personally purchased some calipers at a particularly cheap price which I found at the time, along with some Attkd 2 piece rotors. I also fitted these with some new Intima Type D pads. The car sees reasonably frequent track use so going for either RDA or DBA slotted rotors may be better suited for others.

I had some custom brake lines made up at a local business which are required due to the Brembo calipers having banjo fittings. I had read in a couple of places that stock Evo lines would fit but it was found that they are too short and would pull on full lock.

Test vehicle:
1998 Nissan Skyline R34 GTT – upgraded from stock calipers with DBA4000 T3 slotted rotors

Unboxing the kit:
The adaptor kit arrived super quickly and was packaged as well as you would expect this kind of part to be. The adaptors are super light being made from billet alloy and appeared to be of very good quality. They have Alpha Omega Racing etched on one side and ‘Made in Australia’ etched on the other. The kit included all bolts required with washers and an instruction booklet.

Installation:
Install was easy with the only issue I came across being that one of the bolts from the adaptor kit to the hub is slightly interfered with by where the factory brake line bracket is bolted to the hub (I believe this is not on all vehicles that the kit is designed for). The issue is outlined in the instructions provided with the kit, something I would have realised and known about had I looked at them prior to beginning the install (but hey, who ever reads instructions lol). Quick fix with an angle grinder and they bolted straight up with perfect alignment. The bracket is a non-structural component and is purely a mounting point for the stock brake line so there was no issue with removing it.

Initial impressions on the street:
A quick ‘spirited’ drive of the car after fitment and I found the braking to have more bite, as you would expect with the larger contact area of the pads. The brake pedal had a tiny bit more travel in it due to retaining the stock brake master cylinder. Alpha Omega Racing do recommend upgrading to a BM57 master cylinder, which I did purchase elsewhere but this turned out to be a faulty unit so I refitted the stock unit in order to get the car driving.

Impressions on the track:
About two weeks after fitment I attended a Wakefield Park track day to test out the new setup. I was definitely impressed and it took some getting used to being able to brake later at the kink/turn 2 especially. On the day I was able to knock 1 second off my previous PB and felt that I was still adapting to how well the brakes could pull the car up. The pedal feel was softer then before but not bad, it had more travel which some would prefer.

My next attendance at the track saw me cut another 0.7 seconds off my PB, meaning I had cut almost 2 seconds off my times previous to the brake upgrade. By this point I had gone from braking between the end of the wall and the kink with the stock setup to now braking after the kink.

Overall opinion:
The quality of the adaptor kit is top notch and the customer service provided by Wing at Alpha Omega Racing was great. The install/fitment was perfect and the only thing that could have improved on this would be for me to read the provided instructions as I already mentioned.

The flexibility to purchase the other parts is great as it allows for the money conscience buyer to source their parts or use already owned parts, or for the track conscious people out there to upgrade the setup even more. For the time conscious person, everything can be purchased from Alpha Omega Racing making it a quick process to get everything needed.

The upgrade over the standard setup is definitely noticeable in terms of braking ability and the larger discs help with heat distribution too. Retaining a stock rear brake setup (freshly machined rotors with Intima Type D pads) did mean the braking was notably more front bias, but the car did not feel greatly unsettled by this. Alpha Omega Racing is currently releasing a rear upgrade kit which will aide in returning a more balanced bias.

The recommendation to upgrade to the larger brake master cylinder would also improve pedal feel however I do not feel is ‘necessary’ in my car. This would probably be a different story in a Silvia or R33 GTS-t which both have a smaller unit.

The kit originally caught my eye because the Evo Brembo’s have larger pistons and more pad area, while being a cheaper option to the ‘factory GTR Brembo upgrade’. Suffice to say I am definitely happy with the upgrade and will be looking forward to getting my hands on the rear kit.

If anyone has any questions regarding the kit, its install, or any particulars about the performance on track, please feel free to ask me either in this thread or by sending me a PM. You can also read more into my car by checking out my build thread here:
http://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/421419-timmys-r34-gtt/

[GTR_JOEY]

good right up man!

[Jordy32]

Nice write up, this kit looks great

[PranK]

Love a good review! Thanks for the read!

Your brakes make my knees wobbly now, so sexy.

[timmy_89]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Like I said I have had a number of people asking me about the kit so figured I would do a proper review. If anyone wants to know ask me anything feel free to post in here or shoot me a PM

[R31Nismoid]

Great review Tim, excellent in fact.

And agreed - Just doing the fronts alters bias but not in a negative way. I had no issues with a big brake kit on my R33 with fronts only.

Also do you use a Master Cyclinder stopper? I found that made a noticeable difference to pedal feel - probably nothing in terms of actual performance - added confidence in the pedal itself is what I found there which helped in that regard.

[timmy_89]

Cheers. Yea the altered bias definitely did not impact on the car in a negative way, was just a noticeable change.

I have not fitted a BMC stopper yet as I intended to source one after replacing the BMC and since I had to chuck the stock one back on I haven't bothered as yet. I'm still trying to decide if I want to fit my BM57 sourced from Holford or not, will probably wait until I see how it all feels with the rear Brembo's fitted as well.

[scotty nm35]

Nice looking kit, were the bolts 12mm or 14 though?

Shame you didn't get the oem disks, the floating design of the evo10 disk is the reason I would upgrade, more so than the calliper.

[PranK]

Nice looking kit, were the bolts 12mm or 14 though?

Shame you didn't get the oem disks, the floating design of the evo10 disk is the reason I would upgrade, more so than the calliper.

What is the benefit of that? Cooling?

[Dale FZ1]

Apparently there is a factory option/upgrade pack for the Evo 10 that uses a 2 piece rotor. They will offer the usual benefits over a 1 piece including lighter weight for less unsprung. But don't expect they come cheap. The DBA 4000 should be plenty good enough for the intended use, and won't break the bank.

3 times the price for 2 piece DBA5000, or about 20% more for the 2 piece Chinese gear like Attkd etc.

The "floating" 2 piece design should decrease pad recession/knock off but have nothing to do with cooling.

[GTSBoy]

but have nothing to do with cooling.

There is one "cooling" aspect to the design. They transfer less heat from the brakes into the hubs/bearings, which can be important on race cars.

[timmy_89]

I have forgotten the bolt sizes Scotty, will get back to you as soon as I find out.

I wasn't actually aware of an OEM 2 piece for the Evo's but agree with Dale, I don't imagine they would come cheap.

Value for money I'm happy with the Attkd 2 piece rotors, and think they compliment the kit well

[scotty nm35]

I have had no issue with DBA 4000's, but most other rotors, one or two piece have warped on me or my customers, track or road. Once I changed the evo to the floating design, same as the R35 runs, all the brake vibration went away as it allows the rotor to heat and expand evenly on the hat using T slots.

Motorbikes have been using floating disks for years, but the noise was off putting having a rotor banging around on the buttons. These new designs use springs to centralise the disk on the hat and stop any noise from an unsupported disk.

I agree with GTSBoy, there would be less heat transferred to the hub and rim.

[ordinary]

Good read.

So when are you doing the rear Alpha Omega BBK using the Evo rear Calipers & a Nissan 370Z rotor?!?! :)

[timmy_89]

Will be very soon

[GeeDog]

What size rims do you have, and how much clearance between the caliper & rim barrel? The AO website says minimum 17", but I'd be surprised if they would fit - more likely 18" needed?

[GTR_JOEY]

What size rims do you have, and how much clearance between the caliper & rim barrel? The AO website says minimum 17", but I'd be surprised if they would fit - more likely 18" needed?

What size is a standard Evo wheel mate

[GeeDog]

What size is a standard Evo wheel mate

If I knew that I wouldn't have asked, would I - I don't have an Evo, don't want an Evo and I doubt that all Evos have the same size stock wheels anyway. Who says that the stock Evo wheels are the minimum size that will fit? What I do have is an R33 and a set of Evo Brembos, and I thought I'd get a helpful answer - didn't count on the peanut gallery itching to boost their post-count.

Did it give you a warm fuzzy feeling to post that smart-arse comment? Was my question directed at you? Got anything better to do with your time than post useless replies? Do you actually have anything useful to add, or is that all you've got?

Edited August 18, 2015 by GeeDog

[GTR_JOEY]

I do actually feel a bit better

You will need decent offset to ensure the wheel clears the caliper

[GeeDog]

I do actually feel a bit better

You will need decent offset to ensure the wheel clears the caliper

That still doesn't answer what I asked, and offset alone doesn't mean the wheel will clear the caliper - spoke design & shape has a lot to do with it. My question was about clearance between the caliper & the barrel of the rim, nothing to do with offset. Have you used this kit?