S12w Calipers on 280z info

[grantf]

Are you upgrading for safety? Stock brakes work better than upgraded brakes improperly installed. I thought about this upgrade but instead I choose to refurbish my stock brakes properly they work fine.

Edited March 13, 2012 by grantf

[tymarbry]

I am upgrading for safety I just dont want to spend tons of money on things that should be fairly priced in my opinion.

The S12W calipers should be the most expensive part considering it is the most time consuming to create and lasts forever as long as its maintained. But a blank of aluminium shouldnt be over $100 unless its huge and/or includes free shipping IMO.

Time to source out a press to borrow and aluminium blanks to make my own I guess

[Jeff G 78]

I am upgrading for safety I just dont want to spend tons of money on things that should be fairly priced in my opinion.

The S12W calipers should be the most expensive part considering it is the most time consuming to create and lasts forever as long as its maintained. But a blank of aluminium shouldnt be over $100 unless its huge and/or includes free shipping IMO.

Time to source out a press to borrow and aluminium blanks to make my own I guess

The calipers were made by the hundreds of thousands while the spacers are machined one at a time. It's really rather simple manufacturing economics.

As for upgrading, unless you have huge power and are road racing the car, the stock brakes work just fine. I put 1400 miles on my 260 in one endurance race last year and the brakes were plenty strong with little fade and minor wear. The only upgrades were to the pads, hoses and fluid. The rotors are at least 20 years old as are the calipers. I merely rebuilt the original calipers with a $7 seal kit.

[LeonV]

The calipers were made by the hundreds of thousands while the spacers are machined one at a time. It's really rather simple manufacturing economics.

As for upgrading, unless you have huge power and are road racing the car, the stock brakes work just fine. I put 1400 miles on my 260 in one endurance race last year and the brakes were plenty strong with little fade and minor wear. The only upgrades were to the pads, hoses and fluid. The rotors are at least 20 years old as are the calipers. I merely rebuilt the original calipers with a $7 seal kit.

Thank you, Jeff! You've saved me from typing this.

Stock brakes are just fine, people love to get caught up in "upgrades". I will even venture to say that you'll be worse off with the 4X4 calipers than stock because of added cost, unsprung weight and they may not perform much different than stock. People will say, "it feels so much better" but I haven't seen any supporting data. A bigger caliper will give you more pad surface area, which will tend to have less fade than stock, but this is not noticeable until you hit the track. In Jeff's case, and in the case of many ITS Z-racers, stock has been adequate even out on the racetrack.

[TomoHawk]

If you really want to look into expensive upgrades, try the Hawk performance or racing pads for your calipers. The performance pads are about $100 and the racing pads are DOUBLE.

On top of that, most people are also upgrading the brake master cylinder, which adds another $50 or so.

I agree with what Leon said that some people say it's "better" but some empirical results would help, say, braking distances from 60 MPH. Can you really say you have "Better braking" unless you've actually mashed the brakes hard on a few times on the highway or even on city streets? Real testing or comparison isn't done on a casual tour of a scenic road while listening to the radio.

Plus, your tires, and the road itself, also affect the way your braking results.

Edited March 13, 2012 by TomoHawk

[tymarbry]

Well Im just going to buy S12+8 Calipers and get rid of these. thank you all

Does anyone need some S12W calipers?

[TomoHawk]

Is there a service manual somewhere online for the brakes on the 1979 toyota pickup?   It would be nice to have a reference to explain what all those springs & clips are, and how to put them on correctly, so you can replace tha pads.