Brakes

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2007 Walter Mitty

Brakes

To properly stop a much faster TR6, a good set of brakes became top priority.  Both the front and rear braking systems have been improved with modern, safe components.  The modifications are listed below:

Front Brakes

The front calipers on the TR6 are decent, two puck units.  However, the pads are small and in order to get the original calipers back to operating status they would have needed a complete overhaul.  So, why spend the money with something that is 30+ years old?  Instead, four puck aluminium Wilwood racing calipers are used, mounted on custom brackets.  The brake pads are Wilwood; they make an excellent brake pad matched to these calipers. 

The rotors are stock units.  They are cheap to buy and are easy to replace.  In other words no modifications are required.  The only change here was to remove the dust shield to allow more cooling.  Overall they work very well with no brake fade.

Rear Brakes

I don't like drum brakes.  In my book they are passé.  No modern sports car uses drums, and I was not about to use them on the TR6. 

So, my TR6 has Nissan Z-car rear disc brakes.  They were installed on custom made adaptors and by using those adaptors they bolt right in.  Hand brakes are fully functional and required very little modifications so much that the original handbrake cables are still used.  I am fully aware the front brakes to the majority of the work, but with a proper set of brakes in the rear the braking characteristics of this TR6 are much superior than the 'stock' units.

The rotors and brake pads are also Nissan.  The rotors are non-vented and mount perfectly to the bolt pattern - no modifications are required.

Booster and Master Cylinder

With the use of modern braking systems came the need to also upgrade the brake booster and master cylinder.  I did not want to spend the extra money on marginal 'original' stuff.  So, with some special adaptors the TR6 now uses a Corvette master cylinder and booster. 

With this setup, it is absolutely essential to use a proportioning valve.  A Wilwood proportioning valve has been installed.  With the aid of the proportioning valve it has been possible to dial in a very good balance with fore/aft braking pressure.  Again, for optimal braking balance the proportioning valve is a must. 

Brake Lines

There was no way I would use the original brake lines.  So, new stainless steel lines were hand bent and installed.  Modern flare fittings are used throughout and each caliper is connected with Teflon lined, stainless steel braded lines.  These were not cheap, since they had to be custom made but it gives a very solid feel to the brake pedal.

Final Comments

Some folks will argue this is all overkill.  I don't think so.  As stated before this car shows the use of modern components and when you upgrade the engine the brakes must be upgraded in an equal fashion.

The final result is a system the gives very solid stopping power.  It took a little time to 'dial in' the right proportioning valve setting.  But, once dialed in it gives a very solid, confident feeling that the car will stop as good as it accelerates.

 

 
 
 

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