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.
|
