Rear Disc Brake Conversion

[bwwooster]

I'd have thought this to be a pretty hot topic, but I looked through the dozen or so pages of topics in this area and there's nuttin' there, so has anyone done a rear disc conversion on an Elite or Eclat? I'm not looking at the revised Excel chassis. I really like the idea of keeping the inboard brakes and low unsprung weight at the wheels. The thing is, when I look at the diff/brake assembly, what I see is a really, really narrow live axle which is simply bolted into the chassis with the half shafts mounted where the wheels go on something like, well, an old Mustang, and converting Mustangs to rear disc brakes is a pretty common deal over here:

https://ssbc-usa.com/products/a112-1?rq=yr_1989~mk_ford~md_mustang~ha_gt

It's basically a matter of finding a rotor of the correct offset and thickness to go with a suitable caliper and fabricating a mounting plate. Since I'm also planning to use different front brakes, I know I'll have to play with master cylinder bore sizes and probably use a bias adjuster on the rear circuit, as I did when I built a Cobra replica. 

In addition to ease of adjustment, the big deal is that where I live (and drive) the parking brake M U S T hold the car on hills, of which we have many!

Thoughts or experiences?

 

Thanks!

 

John T, Pacifica, California

[Straker]

There are some posts and images from  showing a blue track day Eclat with a rear disc conversion.

the thread title is

Elite 504 Retirement Project

Rob

 

[eclat22]

[pbharcourt]

The diff is a shortened Ford Capri one I believe and there are rear disc conversions for Escort's and Capri's so it should be possible.

I thought about it myself but there are always so many other maintenance problems that take priority!

[eclat22]

The Diff is a hybrid that I built, it has the cast pig's head from a Ford atlas with the Lotus Salisbury 7ha reduced tubes and driveshafts from the standard Eclat S2 with a custom Gripper LSD. The disc conversion was originally on my standard diff. The brake discs aren't standard, I had to turn them down on the lathe to fit and re drill the mounting holes, the original calipers that I used were to powerful and had to be changed to a combination wilwood handbrake calipers

[Don.Hasi]

I would be interested too. The Esprit has discs, Jaguar had a setup and of course the spider chassi. I am fortunate until now that the drums still work. But after that, I would like to alter the setup.

[bwwooster]

Dan-- do you know specifically which discs and Willwood calipers you used? Turning the discs down and re-drilling the bolt holes shouldn't be a problem as I have a great machinist close by.

 

Thanks!

[Denis247]

On 05/10/2020 at 21:29, Don.Hasi said:

I would be interested too. The Esprit has discs, Jaguar had a setup and of course the spider chassi. I am fortunate until now that the drums still work. But after that, I would like to alter the setup.

Plenty of room.