brake pads, old ones glued in?

[Ophitoxaemia]

i just put a set of porterfield R4 pads on my ITS 1973 240z. the old pads were sort of glued on with this purple stuff. what is it and do i need i on my new pads? the caliper was quite different than on my other cars. no shims or springs, just those bars held in with the hairpin clips.

thanks,

-james

[hmsports]

The purple stuff is probably anti-squeal spray. Don't use it on an ITS car. It's used on street cars to keep the brake pads from moving around during braking causing them to squeal.

As far as the caliper pins, that's all there is to them. I'm not sure the type of clips you have, but because of the need to often bleed your brakes - I do them usually once each race day between practice/qualifying and the race usually - make sure you use something that is easy to remove and reusable. I use this style:

I make sure to push the clip all the way in to the large loop. I don't like to rely on it holding on the little loop like they are designed (I hope that made sense).

As far as bleeding the front calipers... check out my post under the thread titled: Brake Bleeding - Do it yourself.

BTW - I tried some porterfield's last year and didn't care for them much. They were mushy and faded quickly. I've had pretty good luck with the Hawk pads over the last couple of years. The Performance Friction pads are about the best for the Z car but you can't get them any more.

[Ophitoxaemia]

porterfield makes a bunch of different pads. these came in the box of spares so that why i am using them. fortunately, the rotors look new.

ill check out the bleeding instructions. why so much bleeding required? is there something about the construction of the brake system?

thanks!

-james

[2ManyZs]

I used the R-4's on my 280 years ago and the biggest thing I found is they ate up rotors and didn't last very long. Not sure about the glue you are referring to, it could be it is some kind of heat barrier also.

All the Z racers in my area went to the Carbotech pads quite a few years ago and quit using the Porterfield altogether. The Carbotechs are much better in the long run, they lasted longer, and they were much easier on the rotors. I think the Spirit of DC 24 hour team was one of the first to try them. They must work pretty good considering their record in the 24 hours of Nelsons Ledges. Just be sure to bed them in as the instructions say and you should get decent results.

How much bleeding you do will depend on how hot you get the brakes. The unvented rotors don't dissipate the heat like a vented rotor and will boil the fluid easily. Be sure to get as much ducting to the rotor/caliper as possible. Anytime you finish a session with a mushy pedal, it's time to bleed again.

The inability to upgrade the brakes according to the rules is one of the reasons Z's are becoming less popular in ITS. Of course you can upgrade them, but then it's into EP and a more expensive class.

[Ophitoxaemia]

there were two vents per side in the front.. one of them pointed right at the caliper where the brake line enters. now i know why!

-james

[hmsports]

I build custom brake cooling shrouds for ITS Z cars if you want to cool them even better than just aiming the hoses at the caliper and rotor (this has a tendency to warp the rotors)

Brake Cooling Shrouds