Upgrading brakes Options

[partwerks]

I was wondering if I could just upgrade the front brakes, and leave the back ones the way they are, or would that make things not work correctly?
Have some Carrera rotors available, but know I would need a bigger caliper than what I currently have.
I think the bolt spacing center to center on the front calipers was 3.5", and the back, 3". My front rotors at this point are 15/16" wide, and the back are 3/4" wide. I currently have torsion bars. Not sure what size.
I have some bigger torsion bars available.
The unmounted A arms are suited for a swaybar, and look to have brass bushings?
Are the brass bushings on the end suitable for just driving on the street, or would it be best to leave the rubber ones I have?

[Superhawk996]

There is too much going on in this post to respond with an intelligent answer.

Let me ask a question. Why do you believe you need any of these “upgrades”?

Auto crossing ? Going racing? Big six conversion? 5 lug conversion?

If I understand your post, you are only intending street use in which case, many of these upgrades come with some pretty extensive trade offs in terms of safety (improper brake balance & degraded pedal feel), unnecessary added weight, and poor handling (adding bigger anti roll bar to the front), and degraded ride (non-rubber bushings).

There will be significant suspension tuning to be done to return the car to a decent handling balance that out performs the factory tuning. Are you prepared to take that on?

[bdstone914]

The bearing brackets are on backwards.

[mepstein]

Read Eric’s classic thread first - http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=105728

[davep]

You have not explained your current suspension & brake configuration fully. I see the front has Coil-over struts, aftermarket sway bar and A calipers. The A caliper leads me to think you already have 911 front suspension. To go to thicker rotors you could just use wide-A calipers to accommodate the thickness. Do you still have front torsion bars or are you planning to replace the coil-overs with new torsion bars?
The rear calipers you make no mention of, so we have no idea of your current brake balance. If you use stock 914/4 rear calipers, then your balance is already compromised.
Thicker rotors will provide more heat capacity and fade resistance, but comes with several penalties as well. The additional weight of caliper, rotor, wider rims and wider tires has at least 3 effects: it is unsprung weight which has negative consequences for handling, the rotor and wheel acts as a flywheel with significant inertial effects resulting in reduced acceleration, reduced braking (if only a rotor change) and increased heat energy in the rotor.
The big thing is, what are you trying to accomplish?

[Shivers]

If you are not happy with the braking or handling then it is your car. But from the pics I have seen, it looks like it would be a lot of fun to drive.

[infraredcalvin]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

You look to have a decent setup as it sits. You need to fully understand what you already have, and as others have stated, what you’re trying to achieve, because swapping some of those parts might be considered a performance downgrade. Btw those brass bushings are poly bronze bushings from Elephant Racing, I have these on my 930, there are pluses and minuses to installing those.

Another observation, it appears your brake line is being sandwiched between the coil and the stop, please make sure that’s addressed before you lower the car.

[SirAndy]

Another observation, it appears your brake line is being sandwiched between the coil and the stop, please make sure that’s addressed before you lower the car.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon8.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif)

[partwerks]

You have not explained your current suspension & brake configuration fully. I see the front has Coil-over struts, aftermarket sway bar and A calipers. The A caliper leads me to think you already have 911 front suspension. To go to thicker rotors you could just use wide-A calipers to accommodate the thickness. Do you still have front torsion bars or are you planning to replace the coil-overs with new torsion bars?
The rear calipers you make no mention of, so we have no idea of your current brake balance. If you use stock 914/4 rear calipers, then your balance is already compromised.
Thicker rotors will provide more heat capacity and fade resistance, but comes with several penalties as well. The additional weight of caliper, rotor, wider rims and wider tires has at least 3 effects: it is unsprung weight which has negative consequences for handling, the rotor and wheel acts as a flywheel with significant inertial effects resulting in reduced acceleration, reduced braking (if only a rotor change) and increased heat energy in the rotor.
The big thing is, what are you trying to accomplish?

I was just seeing if it was even necessary to do any changes.
It had been converted to a 5 lug when I got it back in 2006.
Will be putting on a rear factory sway bar though.
Have the Chevrolet ls3 with hot cam.

[partwerks]

The bearing brackets are on backwards.

They were on that way when I got them from the storage stash.

[infraredcalvin]

The bearing brackets are on backwards.

They were on that way when I got them from the storage stash.

Thes come with a race that gets JB welded to the a arm. The inner brass bushing and outer brass bushing slide easily on and off the race. These are probably just wired like that to hold them in place for storage/transport.

[infraredcalvin]

You have not explained your current suspension & brake configuration fully. I see the front has Coil-over struts, aftermarket sway bar and A calipers. The A caliper leads me to think you already have 911 front suspension. To go to thicker rotors you could just use wide-A calipers to accommodate the thickness. Do you still have front torsion bars or are you planning to replace the coil-overs with new torsion bars?
The rear calipers you make no mention of, so we have no idea of your current brake balance. If you use stock 914/4 rear calipers, then your balance is already compromised.
Thicker rotors will provide more heat capacity and fade resistance, but comes with several penalties as well. The additional weight of caliper, rotor, wider rims and wider tires has at least 3 effects: it is unsprung weight which has negative consequences for handling, the rotor and wheel acts as a flywheel with significant inertial effects resulting in reduced acceleration, reduced braking (if only a rotor change) and increased heat energy in the rotor.
The big thing is, what are you trying to accomplish?

I was just seeing if it was even necessary to do any changes.
It had been converted to a 5 lug when I got it back in 2006.
Will be putting on a rear factory sway bar though.
Have the Chevrolet ls3 with hot cam.

BTW, this appears to be an “M” caliper, not an “A” If that’s the case, the wide “A” you have in the parts box would be an upgrade.

[partwerks]

The bearing brackets are on backwards.

They were on that way when I got them from the storage stash.

Thes come with a race that gets JB welded to the a arm. The inner brass bushing and outer brass bushing slide easily on and off the race. These are probably just wired like that to hold them in place for storage/transport.

Yes. Probably wired on so they didn't loose track of them, and just slapped them on in no particular order.

[mepstein]

You have not explained your current suspension & brake configuration fully. I see the front has Coil-over struts, aftermarket sway bar and A calipers. The A caliper leads me to think you already have 911 front suspension. To go to thicker rotors you could just use wide-A calipers to accommodate the thickness. Do you still have front torsion bars or are you planning to replace the coil-overs with new torsion bars?
The rear calipers you make no mention of, so we have no idea of your current brake balance. If you use stock 914/4 rear calipers, then your balance is already compromised.
Thicker rotors will provide more heat capacity and fade resistance, but comes with several penalties as well. The additional weight of caliper, rotor, wider rims and wider tires has at least 3 effects: it is unsprung weight which has negative consequences for handling, the rotor and wheel acts as a flywheel with significant inertial effects resulting in reduced acceleration, reduced braking (if only a rotor change) and increased heat energy in the rotor.
The big thing is, what are you trying to accomplish?

I was just seeing if it was even necessary to do any changes.
It had been converted to a 5 lug when I got it back in 2006.
Will be putting on a rear factory sway bar though.
Have the Chevrolet ls3 with hot cam.

BTW, this appears to be an “M” caliper, not an “A” If that’s the case, the wide “A” you have in the parts box would be an upgrade.

If it's an M (3" spacing) then to install wide A's, you need 3 1/2" struts.

[infraredcalvin]

You have not explained your current suspension & brake configuration fully. I see the front has Coil-over struts, aftermarket sway bar and A calipers. The A caliper leads me to think you already have 911 front suspension. To go to thicker rotors you could just use wide-A calipers to accommodate the thickness. Do you still have front torsion bars or are you planning to replace the coil-overs with new torsion bars?
The rear calipers you make no mention of, so we have no idea of your current brake balance. If you use stock 914/4 rear calipers, then your balance is already compromised.
Thicker rotors will provide more heat capacity and fade resistance, but comes with several penalties as well. The additional weight of caliper, rotor, wider rims and wider tires has at least 3 effects: it is unsprung weight which has negative consequences for handling, the rotor and wheel acts as a flywheel with significant inertial effects resulting in reduced acceleration, reduced braking (if only a rotor change) and increased heat energy in the rotor.
The big thing is, what are you trying to accomplish?

I was just seeing if it was even necessary to do any changes.
It had been converted to a 5 lug when I got it back in 2006.
Will be putting on a rear factory sway bar though.
Have the Chevrolet ls3 with hot cam.

BTW, this appears to be an “M” caliper, not an “A” If that’s the case, the wide “A” you have in the parts box would be an upgrade.

If it's an M (3" spacing) then to install wide A's, you need 3 1/2" struts.

Ugh, I just noticed, those are rear brakes…. They still appear to be Ms…

This is getting confusing, sorry about that… best to clearly post what you have currently brake wise, then let’s discuss…