Potential rear brake upgrade and it’s cheap too!

[white95]

This was brought to my attention in one of the Road Race/Autocross Facebook groups and I take no credit for this! Thank @Mustang5L5 !!

Ever wonder what the “38” meant on top of our rear calipers? It’s the piston size, 38mm. The 93-97 Taurus and 93-00 Continental use a caliper with a 43mm piston.

So, who cares?

Well, consider this:

The larger the pistons are, and the greater the area over which they come in contact with the brake pads, the more clamping force they have on the rotor. Think of how many GT and V6 guys swap their front calipers out for PBR calipers from a new edge. It’s for the extra clamping power while using the stock sized rotors.

Still not seeing the light? How many of us have upgraded our front brakes beyond the realm of 13” Cobra brakes? This has created a very forward brake bias and the rear brakes become useless. That can either be addressed with an adjustable proportioning valve or more clamping force in the rear.

Here are a few pictures to prove this will work:



This guy fits in the Mustang caliper bracket...



...uses the stock size mustang pads...





...and the e-brake cable connects in the stock place. Well, the original author admitted to having the caliper on the wrong side during mock up BUT you get the idea.



@RockAuto even offers Powerstop versions in red powder coat finish! Which is exactly what I’m going to order.

 

[96blak54]

Excellent write up! Great information! Digging up a set now!

 

[DKblue98GT]

Good find! Thats pretty cool.

 

[07GtS197]

Great idea!

Now what Id like to see is a 13” rotor with stock s197 front calipers to fit a 17” rim. I think the FTR brackets are great but they require an 18” rim and the pad sweep area is too small for that rotor imo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ttocs]

does the taurus use teh same MC?

 

[JerZeyStangz]

does the taurus use teh same MC?

I would like to know as well. I am using the brembo/ATS/C7 calipers for the front

 

[white95]

does the taurus use teh same MC?

Dunno bro.. I’ll look through rockautos list and see.

 

[white95]

I would like to know as well. I am using the brembo/ATS/C7 calipers for the front

Yo, haven’t seen you around for awhile!

 

[ttocs]

also with a larger piston it would give a larger area for the pad to cover, and would give better clamping force when moved but if the master cylinder is the same wouldn't it not go out as far with the same pedal stroke? That is why I asked about the mc.

 

[95opal]

also with a larger piston it would give a larger area for the pad to cover, and would give better clamping force when moved but if the master cylinder is the same wouldn't it not go out as far with the same pedal stroke? That is why I asked about the mc.

All the info you need to properly size your master cylinder can be found here.

https://www.joesracing.com/master-cylinder-math/

 

[JerZeyStangz]

Yo, haven’t seen you around for awhile!

I am always lurking, I may not post much but tapatalk keeps me updated on the best threads in my email.

Update: I looked at the bore size on the 93-97 Taurus and 93-00 Continental. The bore size is 1.00 inch for the master cylinder.

 

[PinkieT]

Will this work for Cobra rear brakes? Pads are different, IIRC.

 

[OLD H2S]

Here is a pic of my Cobra PBR set up front and rear, 13". rotors and 18" wheels for autocross.
I am running S197 on the fronts now for the street with a hydro valve for parking with PBRs on the rear.
Not much difference in stopping power at this level from PBRs, Brembos, S197s that I can tell..
The car weighs 3480 and once you get enough clamping beyond stock there is not much difference in big brake kits when you are in overkill for this car, so IMHO the best bang for the buck is going to be PBRs on the front and the 43mm Ford Taurus on the back.
The big brake kits add a stupid amount of unsprung weight to the already crappy Fairmont suspension. And your math for the day is.. for every 1 pound of unsprung weight you add it is the same as adding 3 times as much sprung weight. The big brake kits do not tell you the TOTAL KIT weights...ever, they use bafflegab like- We don't know what parts you'r going to use to determine the penalty you'r going to suffer in adding 88 pounds to the front end with the Brembo kit. 88X3= 264
Been there, done it, got lots of parts for sale.
Some Times My Stupidly Is Meant To Be A Warning To You.

 

[JerZeyStangz]

@OLD H2S Someone on SVT Performance weighed the Brembo (ATS/C7) calipers vs the stock twin piston cobra calipers and found out they weighed roughly the same using a standard 13" cobra rotor. If everything checks out I will go with the 43mm Taurus/continental rear calipers and mustang brackets.

 

[95opal]

Here is a pic of my Cobra PBR set up front and rear, 13". rotors and 18" wheels for autocross.
I am running S197 on the fronts now for the street with a hydro valve for parking with PBRs on the rear.
Not much difference in stopping power at this level from PBRs, Brembos, S197s that I can tell..
The car weighs 3480 and once you get enough clamping beyond stock there is not much difference in big brake kits when you are in overkill for this car, so IMHO the best bang for the buck is going to be PBRs on the front and the 43mm Ford Taurus on the back.
The big brake kits add a stupid amount of unsprung weight to the already crappy Fairmont suspension. And your math for the day is.. for every 1 pound of unsprung weight you add it is the same as adding 3 times as much sprung weight. The big brake kits do not tell you the TOTAL KIT weights...ever, they use bafflegab like- We don't know what parts you'r going to use to determine the penalty you'r going to suffer in adding 88 pounds to the front end with the Brembo kit. 88X3= 264
Been there, done it, got lots of parts for sale.
Some Times My Stupidly Is Meant To Be A Warning To You.

Cobra caliper weights 8 lbs
Wilwood 6 pots 4.4lbs

I think you are off about weights on brake kits

 

[OLD H2S]

I talking total kit weights..including rotors, custom brackets...
I got a Ford Brembo Shelby GT500 kit for sale at 88 pounds, yours for 850.00, cheap.

 

[OLD H2S]

This is a brake for a GT500 that weighs 4500 pounds, the rotors alone are 30 pounds each. I am limited to 150 on the front straight at Summit Point, I have not made it that fast YET.. but I am getting close in the 140's and it is the mass of the rotor that keeps the system from cooking to death.
Nobody wants the kit when the shipping cost is figured out.

This is stock Ford, look at how tight the fit is with this caliper.

 

[JerZeyStangz]

Yeah that looks really close. I weighed my calipers since they are not on the car yet and it came out to 10-11lbs roughly.

 

[OLD H2S]

This is turn 11 coming on to the front straight with the PBR set up in the rain. With Conti rain tires I was the leader that day and got my ass kicked the next day when it was dry..
That is a kit of a GT40 I am leading, he had Avon slicks, not the right choice.
That car is right hand drive and the shifter was on the right side in the door???

 

[95opal]

Here is a pic of my Cobra PBR set up front and rear, 13". rotors and 18" wheels for autocross.
I am running S197 on the fronts now for the street with a hydro valve for parking with PBRs on the rear.
Not much difference in stopping power at this level from PBRs, Brembos, S197s that I can tell..
The car weighs 3480 and once you get enough clamping beyond stock there is not much difference in big brake kits when you are in overkill for this car, so IMHO the best bang for the buck is going to be PBRs on the front and the 43mm Ford Taurus on the back.
The big brake kits add a stupid amount of unsprung weight to the already crappy Fairmont suspension. And your math for the day is.. for every 1 pound of unsprung weight you add it is the same as adding 3 times as much sprung weight. The big brake kits do not tell you the TOTAL KIT weights...ever, they use bafflegab like- We don't know what parts you'r going to use to determine the penalty you'r going to suffer in adding 88 pounds to the front end with the Brembo kit. 88X3= 264
Been there, done it, got lots of parts for sale.
Some Times My Stupidly Is Meant To Be A Warning To You.

Lets see a 14" wilwood hat and rotor weight19.9lbs 6 pot caliper 4.4lbs now the moumting brackets are two small pieces of aluminum that i dont have the weight for but id be shocked if they weigh more than 1.5 lbs. So maybe 30lbs per wheel. If im not seeing all this weight your trowing out there.