Jeff G 78

I'm still waiting on a hoist to free up before I can start bolting the new brake parts on my Z, but I did make the drill jig today. I started with a 12mm thick Mustang wheel spacer with a pilot. I then made a drawing to layout the holes needed. I transfered the drawing onto the spacer and I drilled three new 1/8" holes through the jig (spacer) so I'd have the correct 4x114.3mm holes. One hole is shared from the original 5 lug rotor. I then bolted the jig onto the Mustang rotor and simply drilled the three new 1/8" diameter holes in the rotors using the jig as a drill guide. With the jig unbolted from the rotors, I increased each rotor hole size in 3 more drill steps until I got them to 1/2" diameter. One more pass with the chamfer bit and they are ready to install. The Mustang uses larger holes, but there was no reason to make them that big for the M12 Z studs. I can now replace the rotors if needed without the need to do any further measuring. I can simply bolt the jig on and drill the new rotors to 4 lug from 5 lug.

In all honesty, they look as good as they did when new. 1970's gaps were never good and they varied a lot. Leave it and be proud of your work.

I personally don't like Hawk pads. They eat rotors. Raybestos ST-43 are well-liked for track use. I prefer Porterfield R4 (or R4-E in my case). The Porterfields have higher friction than the Raybestos ST-43, but both are good. I really like my SS hoses. Mine are Earl's and I might have gotten them from MSA years ago.

There are several reasons to use the S197 rear brakes. The rotors are larger diameter than the SVO rotors and they are vented. The calipers have larger pistons to give them more power. The big beef with the Maxima rears is that they don't offer as much stopping power as the stock drums. The S197 rears allow the addition of an adjustable proportioning valve. The Maxima rears cannot utilize an adjustable prop since the prop needs to be all the way open to get close to enough rear bias. The S197 rears are super common at every parts store and there are tons of pad choices. Even the stock pads for the GT500 are really good. Finally, there is a caliper bracket available for the S197 calipers but not the SVO calipers. The only very small downside is that they are 5 lug, but that isn't a problem at all. My plan is to make a simple drill jig so I can bolt the jig onto a new set of rotors and redrill them for 4 lug with a cordless drill. The drilling process should take less than 10 minutes with the jig.

I’m not sure yet. I’m waiting on a hoist to free up. Hopefully in the next few weeks.

I am gathering components to upgrade my brake system. I have the Z31 vented front rotors, Toyota 4X4 S12-W calipers, T3 spacers, Mustang GT rear vented rotors, Mustang GT rear calipers and Silvermine Stage 4 caliper brackets. I still need a Wilwood 1" master cylinder, front race pads, and the fasteners for the rear brackets. With any luck, I will start in a few weeks. I will also make a jig to re-drill the rear rotors for the 4x114.3 bolt circle. With a simple jig, I can easily replace the rotors with only a cordless drill and a few bits.

Will do. I'll take lots of pics and post everything up. I might try to fit the E brake either way and then ditch it if I go that way. I do like having an E brake but for a race car, weight is always the enemy. My car is a pig and it really needs to go on a massive diet. I think I could lose close to 200 lbs. between the bumpers, mastic, old wiring, and other useless components. I also plan to weigh each component in the front and back to finally put to rest the speculation on the weights of the vented setup. I'm sure it will all be heavier, but I've never found a good table that spells it all out.

I believe it does, but I will know more once I install it. I haven't decided yet if I will keep the E brake or remove the lever and cables to save weight.

I am just about to install the Mustang GT rear disc brake swap on my race car. It uses brackets from Silvermine and S197 Mustang GT vented discs and calipers. The rotors need to be drilled for 4 lug, but otherwise it’s similar to the Maxima or 240SX swaps. The difference is that the performance is supposedly much better than either of those options. Another swap that several friends are running is the front S30 caliper on the rear with second gen RX7 rotors. I’m not sure about the bracket. Of course Wilwood makes a rear setup as well and that’s very popular.

What is your planned usage of the car? The Maxima swap is fine if it's just a street car, but it doesn't offer any additional performance over drums. If you do need better performing brakes, there are better rear swaps.

EBC Yellowstuff are copper-free linings. There is a reason that every good brake pad uses copper and it's because it is better. The reason for copper-free is because the great state of California, as always, is pushing to ban copper in brake linings. They claim that it is harming some sort of creature as they always do. Guess what, famers all over California and every other state spray copper on their fields and will continue to do so. I would ditch the yellowstuff pads and either go with Redstuff, Orangestuff, Bluestuff or RP-1 if you want to stick with EBC, or go with a one of the other pads I recommended. Go with either Motul 600, SRF, or Ate brake fluid. They are all good track fluids. Ate is the least expensive and has worked well for me. As for tires, I run 225/50R16" tires on my street Z and there are several things I dislike about them. They are the same diameter as stock, but because of the width and stock diameter, they rub front and rear. I had to do a lot of work to make them fit. I can also feel the rotating mass compared to smaller and lighter wheels/tires. The smaller tires accelerate better, stop better, fit better, and have shorter sidewalls for better handling on the track. They are too small for street use, but work great on track. There are tons of tires in that size as most BMW's and Miatas are on the same track tires.

Your problem is that you selected the wrong pads. Pads and fluid are the two most important components in a brake setup. I have raced my Z for years with no fade using stock front and rear hardware other than the pads, fluid and SS flex hoses. I use Ate Super Gold fluid and Porterfield R4-E pads (I endurance race and the R4-E is an endurance pads). I do run brake ducts, but only added them recently. I also have a 2.8L high compression engine, light flywheel and 195/60R14 Falken RT615K tires. That said, I am now in the middle of a major upgrade. I am switching to the vented front setup using Z31 rotors, S12-W calipers and T3 spacers. In the back, I am going to Mustang GT calipers and vented rotors using the Silvermine caliper brackets. The hydraulics will be handled by a Wilwood 1" bore MC and an adjustable prop valve. Pads will be Porterfield R4-E up front and stock GT500 rear pads which are track capable. I might or might not need to upgrade the rear pads to Porterfield. The new brakes will be paired with 15" Konig Rewind wheels and 225/45R15 Hankook RS4 tires. There are tons of great brake pads out there for track use. I like Porterfield, but Carbotech, Hawk, and others make good stuff as well. Spend 10 minutes on either Porterfield's website or Carbotech's website looking at their compound descriptions. Both go into great detail expailing the temperature ranges of each compound and their intended usage. If you are upgrading the fronts, you can either stick with the stock drums, or go with a disc swap. Keep in mind that most disc swaps, while easy to service, provide LESS stopping power than the drums. Most people stuggle to get enough rear stopping power. The adjustable prop valve will only reduce rear pressure and is no use with an undersized rear swap.

I don’t pretend to look anything like Christian Bale, but there is a photo of me getting ready to go on track that many have thought to be similar to his portrayal of Ken Miles ?

We finally saw the movie today in a private Ford Performance showing. I had heard good reviews from friends and I'll admit I was in a theater full of Ford employees so I was a bit biased, but the movie was beyond what I expected. It will appeal to pretty much anybody who sees it and the story holds up even if you are not a gearhead. I was surprised to see that it wasn't so much Ford V Ferrari, but rather a story about Shelby V Ford middle management. All I can say is some things never change...

Another thing that was available at Nissan was the fusible link covers. They were a few bucks at the dealer and about four times that on eBay. Pretty much every Z that has fusible links needs new ones after they all cracked from age.

That's what I run in my racecar. It has worked great.

My Top End Performance 18 lb. flywheel is on my racecar, so I can't say how it is on hills, but I have never had any issues with loading the car on a trailer or driving it around the pits at low speeds.

I believe mine is 18 lbs.

I run a TEP flywheel in my racecar. They took 10 lbs. off and it works great. They must have started lightening them again. For quite a while, they had to stop after the one guy who did their machin work died and apparently was the only one who knew the cut plans for all the various make and model flywheels they lightened.

Of course! I promise I won't spoil the ending either.

Hopefully it's good, but I just can't picture him as a convincing Carroll Shelby since he looks nothing like him. We are getting a private screening a few days before it comes out, so if it's crap, at least I won't waste any money.

No worries. I figured you must have just read the question wrong as I knew you wouldn't steer him wrong. I just wanted to get the right info out there.

No, but just call Livermore Performance Inc. They don't show a P/N for that application, but can supply anything you need. They are super easy to work with and a top notch company. I've bought Porterfield pads many times from them for my endurance racer Z and they are very helpful. http://www.livermoreperformance.com/

Trust me, the wheel does not move out. The rotor bolts to the back side of the hub rather than the front of the hub, so the spacer has zero effect on the hub face. It simply positions the rotor. There are about a thousand google images online showing the upgrade. EDIT: Here is a link to one of the many conversion kits. Scroll through the pics where you can clearly see where the spacer goes. https://www.silverminemotors.com/datsun/datsun-280z/brake-upgrades/front-big-brake-kit-stage-4