Stagea brake upgrade options?

[RB26VL]

hey guys i thought this was an interesting factor for anyone with a stag because the brakes r bloody shite for a turbo nissan, and considering the weight is alot more than the r33 skyline rb25s they should not have put non-turbo brakes on it :bs!:

so...

i reckon the best and easiest upgrade would be the r33 brembo front and rear calipers, but i wonder if the rear calipers will fit on the stagea diff, cause i know the 260rs use a gtr diff also.

i wanted to use nissan parts so its easier for getting it legal etc

anyone got any thoughts on the matter?

thanks

Brad

[tigerleo62]

Yeah the brakes - not the most awe inspiring are they? Press the pedal then a momentary pause as you feel the full weight of the car running on behind you, then the brakes seem to kick in... 'spongy' comes to mind...

Enhanced Nissan brake mod details would be good and well worth it IMHO. Once you get the ride sorted out, it would be well worth the cost to feel as if it is all going to stop without hesitation when you really need it...

[SafT]

we've run 32 gts4 and 34 gtt brakes on one of ours, both had no issues.

[Maxx]

the R33 GTR brakes is normally over priced IMO.

better get some R34 GTT front (310mm) and skyline 2 pot rear

and the rest invest on some aftermarket rotor and pads

safT: wonder will the 16" still fit after convert to GTT brake?

[Gary1]

A set of 33 Brembo's will set you back about $1000. I have 33Gtst to go on mine with the upgraded rotors and pads. Then it should stop well.

Maxx has the right idea.

Cheers

Gary

[PranK]

yeah I wont be spending 'brembo money' on an upgrade, hell my car is only going to be a streeter, so i'll be going the R33/4 Gts/t brake upgrade, just the 4 pots, should be a simple conversion and well worth the money.

Christian

[Gary1]

Have had a quick measure, they 'should' bolt straight on.

Will be doing the conversion over the chrissy break.

Cheers

Gary

[PranK]

awesome, take heaps of piccies for us!

[RB26VL]

just a question for u guys....

what size rotors can i run with the r32 gtr calipers??? i was hoping to get 330mm ones so i can use them when i upgrade to r33 gtr brembos.

what size rotors are 32 gtr? 33gtst? 33gtr???

also are r32 gtr and r33 gts-t calipers exactly the same????

thanks

Brad

[Maxx]

R32 GTR = 297mm

same as R33 Gts-t

R34 Gtt is 310mm

33, 34 GTR is 324mm

u can get a caliper extension kit for R32GTR/r33gts-t, by using their moded supra rotor and go up to 330mm

[Terminal]

i'll be looking for stagea brake upgrades in a few weeks. i'll be getting new wheels and suspesion this weekend or after the nats

[Burns]

As we all know the brakes on the RS4 Stagea are kind of small. The rear disk and caliper look about the same size as the rear brakes on my sisters laser infact the pad area and caliper piston capacity looks smaller than the front brake on my dirt bike and the front look about the same as the rear brakes on my R33 GTSt.

As has been mentioned in pervious posts that most Skyline family brakes or aftermarket kits should fit on without to much drama. What about the effect on the ABS and the master cylinder size?

Does any one know what the master cylinder size is on the Stagea vs R33 /4 GTSt and GTR and the caliper piston sizes?

Nissan would have matched the master cylinder size to the caliper piston size to give the desired pedal feel and due to the smaller calipers and therefore caliper piston area the master cylinder on the Stagea would be smaller than on a Skyline.

I am a little concerned that if upgrading to R33/4 GTSt, GTR etc calipers and disk you could almost be doubling the caliper piston area. This would mean that the small standard Stagea master cylinder would have to be compressed twice as far as it would in a Skyline with the larger sized master cylinder therefore giving a rather spongy pedal.

[Sydneykid]

Warning... hang on, the following is a little complex ....

The Stagea front and rear calipers are pretty much the same as the non M Spec R32 GTST. The R32 GTST M Spec callipers are the same as the R32GTR callipers. Except the fronts have longer ears to move the front callipers further out, this clears the drive shafts/cv's and give a larger diamter disc for more stopping leverage. But the pistons etc are the same.

I have driven a non M Spec R32 GTST that had the M Spec callipers fitted, but still using the non M Spec master cylinder. The pedal feel was pretty much the same as my M Spec, in fact maybe even a little firmer.

Let me say straight up I am not a hydraulics engineer. The logic is, there are 4 small pistons compared to one large piston and that large piston has to move twice as far (sliding calliper). So the calculation would be pretty simple, compare the area of the 2 small pistons with the area of the 1 large piston.

Let's do the numbers, using my guess of the piston diameters....

Sliding calliper, 1 X 70 mm piston is 38.5 sq cm

4 Spot Calliper, 2 X 50 mm pistons are 39.3 sq cm

It would appear to me that the the small difference in area is unlikely to affect the pedal movement to piston movement ratio. Hence the "feel" would be very similar.

The next step would be to accurately measure the piston diameters and do the calculations properly. But knowing Nissan's love for using the same parts (over and over, from model to model) I would be surprised if the master cylinder bore diameters are much diiferent.

Hope that made some sense:cheers:

PS; our Stagea already has the brake shudders (warped disks), so I am going to try a set of DBA slotted disks and some Bendix Ultimate pads. If that doesn't improve the braking performance enough, then I will look around for a cheap set of R33GTR callipers (ones in need of rebuild would be good). First job is to check the DBA catalogue for the appropriate size rotors for the Stagea.

[Gary1]

Hey sk if you need a set of 32 GTR brakes can get you a set of 4 calipers for $300 + freight. A mate of mine has got heaps last time i spoke to him.

Let me know.

Cheers

Gary

And I am about to do that exact conversion next week when the cv boots arrive.

[Sydneykid]

Hey sk if you need a set of 32 GTR brakes can get you a set of 4 calipers for $300 + freight.  A mate of mine has got heaps last time i spoke to him.

Let me know.

Cheers

Gary

And I am about to do that exact conversion next week when the cv boots arrive.

That's appealing, I will put a hold on the DBA discs. Then I might wait and see how you get on.

[jake32]

just for the record ..the brembo setup on my 260 is nothing short of brilliant.

i have r32gtr driver atm ...stagea would outbrake it by a the proverbial mile ... no comparison really

if you really want to pull up a stagea i suggest you copy this autech /brembo setup

my0.02 worth

[Sydneykid]

Strange huh? We have 2 X R32GTR race cars, one with Brembos and one without and they both stop the same. The tyres always let go first, they are the weakest link.

PS; it is worth mentioning that they are both maintained as you would expect a race car to be. The rotors are perfect, the fluid is renewed every meeting and the pads are high coeficient of friction Hawk Carbotics. As soon as the maintenance drops off, the braking quality dissappears. It seems to be more important than the brand of calliper.

[jake32]

i have 3 gtr`s atm ... stagea will outbrake them all including one with braided lines and fancy coloured pads

not sure if its just brembos but disc/pads(genuine)and calipers are superior combination to any gtr i have driven

sk or any stagea owner thinking about upgrade can drive mine and find out for themselves...

you should be surprised

[Burns]

I thought the 260 brakes where the same as R34 GTR

[Burns]

I will have a play around and do a through comparison between my R33GTSt and the Stagea over the weekend and get some measurement.

SK you explanation makes sense now that I think about it more. All Falcons from the base small 2 pot front and 1 pot rear up to the big 4 pot and 2 pot Brembos on the GT’s use the same booster and master cylinder.

I think with a heavier car like the Stagea the brakes are more likely to be the week link rather than the tyres.