308 aftermarket parking brake available?

I doubt seriously that this is a Wilwood fabricated kit. Wilwood's primary market is Sprint cars and Stock cars such as Late Models, etc. They used to supply some Nascar teams before Brembo and AP became the rage there. Most likely someone (talented and crafty) put this kit together using readily available race parts. The calipers are obviously Wilwood, the rotors are probably Coleman, the bias valve is Tilton, the rotor hats may be custom Colemans or one off parts made by a machine shop using a CNC machine or they very well could be the QV London parts Chris mentioned above. The caliper mounts are most likely custom made as QV London uses 355 calipers in their kit. All looks to be quality stuff. Before mounting I would take measurements of the rotors including the bolt circle where they mount to the hats to enable you to order replacements when the time comes.

Either way, it's a good looking kit and should work well for little money compared to the Brembo option. If the hats and mounts are custom it would cost about $800-$900 to have them made alone.

John

 

Greg, old buddy,

I'm from the government and here to help you.

I see a lot of rust on those big front discs. As a persoanl favor, i might be willing to take those off your hands - just to help you out.

How thick and what diameter are they again??

Do you know what size the f/r pads are, or what reference auto to call out for the pads?

What caliper piston sizes do you have F/R, How about rear disc diameter and thickness.

I gotsta know.
chris

 

Greg,
First time you step on the brake pedal that rust is history.

John

 

Agreed, but may as well use some brake cleaner first to wipe away the main surface crap.

 

LOL!

Dude leave your Ferraris out in the rain, as I do.......they'll rust up like that every evening!

 

Ditto the one here is left in the rain until we get the garage done in 2006. Still, once he installs the brakes he really should clean them before use.

 

Greg,

Back from tree trimming.

I was sitting here reading trough all this you started with great interest, including the talk about PB calipers that pull in the wrong direction and line- lock valves, and have what may be a useable idea for the parking brakes.

How about buying a set of small hydraulic calipers(Willwood lists some very small units in their catalog) and connect a small master cylinder(Girling or Tilton clutch MC? [available from Pegasus racing]) to the parking brake lever? Then just run hydraulic brake pipe and brake hoses to the caliper?

Wil

 

Well, it would be a third hydrualic system (anything made after the 60s has a dual master cylinder), so the odds of a problem are pretty low. As I said earlier, when I do mine, I'm simply going to put the extra master cylinder in the rear brake line. Clean and simple.

But back to mechanical - the pull direction on any mechanical caliper I've ever seen is easily reversed. So just find a caliper you like and it can most likely be made to work.

 

Mike,

From my limited experience, the 308 calipers pull transversely not fore or aft, so what one needs is a way to get around the corner. perhaps with a belcrank??

hth,
chris

 

It depends on the caliper in question. Usually the arm on the caliper can be repositioned or redesigned to change the motion direction to something usable without adding extra parts. If there is just no way to alter the caliper, adding a bellcrank, pulley, or going to a custom cable design will also work. . I like to keep wear items like cables stock if possible so I would change the cable design as the last resort.

Mark

 

Greg,

After talking to you by phone today I had a thought. How about activating a line lock valve with the parking brake lever? It has several advantages. While depressing the brake pedal with your foot you can pull up on the brake lever and activate the line lock. This keeps the stock lever functional, keeps hydraulic pipes and a valve out of the cock-pit, reduces the increased unsprung weight at the rear wheel and does away with the need for machining the extra set of caliper mounting ears.

I'm glad I got involved in this discussion. My original solution was much more complicated. I think I'm going with the idea I just described.

Wil

 

Greg & Will,

If you are going to install a line lock and a cockpit adjustable proportioning valve, here is your chance to do it all at once - just don't confuse the two new goodies ;-)

hth,
chris

 

Greg,

I think you could route the rear hydraulic line into the cab, install a proportioning valve and a line lock, (after it), then run the line back out to the rear brakes.

Outta work,

chris

 

Chris,

You are right.

Greg,

A so called proportining valve usually mounts in the rear brake line only and you basically adjust it for more or less rear braking. That is why I like the racing set-up with twin master cylinders and a balance bar - much more adjustability. With enough screwing around you can usually make the adjustable proportioning valves work though.

You can't connect anything between the front and rear brakes or you will defeat the purpose of the dual master cylinder which splits front and rear hydraulic systems.

Wil

 

Greg,

the prop valve limits pressure to the rear circuit. It does not do so in a linear fashion. The pressure coming from the MC never changes, you cannot "increase" rear braking with a prop valve. You can only reduce the rear pressure and therefore rear brake torque. For example, a race driver will start with the rear brakes at 0 turns or clicks on the prop valve when he has a full fuel load behind him, so he has the full rear pressure and the car balance is whatever the mechanical components give. As the fuel load goes down he may add more turns or clicks to the prop valve to reduce the rear braking so that the rears dont lock up as the tail gets lighter. The proportioning in most racing cars comes from adjustment of the dual MC pedal assembly, and only from an in line unit when it is not possible to use a dual MC assembly. One point being that you ned to start with the right mechanical components to balance the brake torque at full load, which your system has too much rear caliper piston area for currently.

Like I said before, go to the Stoptech website and read the white paper about prop valves in the tech section. It is the easiest to understand description of their function. You NEED to understand the basics of these things before you start putting together your system.

Hope it helps

-Eric