Pretty much off the shelf Wilwood brake kit for a Mini Cooper bolted on a miata with minor shimming and hat centric rings made.

Been 9 years since I did it and nobody hase come out with a better production kit for a high hp miata yet. Better caliper that is stiffer and uses thicker longer wearing pads than anybody else that still cost the same. also has better clearance than the others to commonly used 15" wheels with no spacers required.

 

That's an interesting statement, can you expound on it?

What makes your setup better than, say, the V8 Roadsters kit that's also 11.75" with Dynapros and uses no rings or shims?

 

I know bbundy has a pretty solid description of what he did somewhere on the forum, its worth a look. Its something I've debated doing for a while.

 

Answered my own question by searching. Imagine that.

BBundy's is radial mount instead of lug, discussed here: https://www.miataturbo.net/race-prep...34/#post669401

Sorry for the derail.

 

V8 roadsters might have finnally copied it. I havent actually seen what they are selling as there pictures don't show what they describe.

Their older kits sucked. piston sizing was all screwed up and running vented rotors in the rear was compleatly unnecesary. They still used dynalite calipers and thin pads like everybody else.

Their hats do look nice probably lighter than wilwood version.

 

The V8R kit currently listed is a Dynapro lug mount.

 

Dynapro lug mount is inferior to the radial mount in a lot of ways. And not so much because of the mount orientation. Although I think the radial has significant advantages such as being able to run different rotor diameters with the same hardware however.

The lug mount version is constructed differently such that it is not as stiff. Its hardly different from a Dynalite and it's basically like the older Dynalite billet. It is also designed around a 12.4mm thick pad with backing plate. The radial version has larger cross bolts that are spread out more creating a stiffer caliper, it has a tighter radial clearance envelop so it fits better in 15” wheels with big rotors, Its built around a 15.2mm thick pad which by the time you account for backing plate thickness gives you ~25% more usable pad life to wear through.

I also wonder it V8R stuck with the odd piston sizes they were using when they were using the dynalights for rear calipers as well. The dynalite didn't offer sutable rear piston size really for the combo they came up with.

 

Last time I talked to Shandelle he was going to run the smaller 1.38" pistons in the front and the 1" powerlites in the rear.

I heard he was going with dynapro. Disappointed he did not go with the radial mounts. Must be related to using his current hat. I bet the radials need another offset that would require new hats.

 

Bob thanks for taking the time to measure all this stuff. I converted to a NB rack 2 years ago. I need to figure out what tie rods I have now. I thought the subframe was from a LE model. I will have to dig up the tie rod info.

Any plans to go to Thunderhill or Sonoma this year? I would love to get on track with you one of these days.

 

That doesn't make sense the rotor offset isn't related to the caliper mounting, its related to the hub and bearing. And you make the caliper mounting accommodate that.

 

Images for reference.

LE/R-package tie rod end versus standard.


NB vs. NA knuckle. I don't think this picture accurately illustrates the difference. The machining differences are more complicated to the point more sophisticated measurement tools are needed.


Tie rod end to brake rotor clearance with Mini cooper 11.75" Dynapro Radial brake kit.

 

Current plans are this one year dedicated to autocross in SSM. following year who knows but I'm thinking of going fully non street car with it and building a chassis with a proper cage and modifications well beyond SSM. I really like doing TT stuff but I find its too hard to do both I'm sort of a competitive type person.

 

Man that's gonna be though to determine what I got. Could you put a caliper on em and give me some numbers to work with?

As always Bob I find your posts very informative. Thanks!

 

It is if you want to use the mini radial bracket.

 

Subed
Thanks Bob for starting this thread.
Would you happened to have more pictures of your front brake set up?

 

I use to have a nice writeup on cardomain.com but its been years since I looked at it and the format is all jagged up.

http://www.cardomain.com/ridepost/12...da-miata-mx-5/

I notice the pictures are from july of 2005. Still works great.

Mini started using 14mm wheel bolts instead of 12mm at some point I think they enlarged the holes in the hat but kept them the same part number. I also have two peace rear rotors 11.44" diameter. Hat is from a Honda kit and the rotors I have custom made by Coleman Racing.

 

Yeah, but thats not a thing you do. You dont put the rotor in the wrong spot unless there's a more compelling reason than "its easier".

 

Thanks, that explains a lot on how you did this.

Has anyone compared the tie rods off RX7's to see how they compare to what we are trying to use here? I seen a Turbo II in the junk yard, but the high today is a whopping 10 degrees here, so maybe later...............

 

Thanks for the informative thread, gents. Hopefully, y'all can help me make the right decision here. I have a functionally lowered street NA with LE/R rod ends and standard uprights, control arms, subframe, etc. My plan, however, is to add Racelogic traction control. That requires functional ABS bits at all corners. I already have a pair of NB ABS uprights/hubs for the rear and could use them with NA ABS fronts. Or, I could go with the more prevalent NB ABS front stuff (and upper control arms). Question: Will the NB uprights work harmoniously with the LE/R rod ends plus *NA* subframe? Or, will the geometry adjustments compete with each other? I might get to the NB subframe later.

Thanks,

 

more stuff I found online:

https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...ability-69283/

Technical Articles (the bump steer stuff)

I also searched:
RX7 adjustable tie rod ends
and found some interesting stuff. Anybody tried these? Is it a possible solution?

here is a list of inner tie rod info:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...nertierods.png

-Jeff