Akina's build

[AKINA FC]

Well I am progressively getting things done over the winter. Finished building mounting brackets for the new seats. I had taken this pic before finishing the brackets -  scalloped the side plates, put a radius on the edges and painted them flat black. Overall they turned out pretty nice and feel awesome, I only got to drive it for a day before the cold hit but I am happy so far. I sit low enough now I can swing my head around with a helmet on and not touch anything other than the seat  the bottom of the back of the seat is on the floor, you have to install the brackets and then bolt the seat to the brackets on the sides - pain in the ass but worth it. I also installed my new wheel and quick release, all three of these I wish I had done sooner.


On the fuel system issues I went round in circles for quite a while and finally came up with a design I feel good about. I wanted to keep things as close to stock as I could due to the fact it raises less questions at tech and doesn't require re-certifying. I kept the stock tank, installed a walbro 255lph for a lift pump (already had them laying around) purchased a radium surge tank with pressure regulator and walbro 450lph e85 pump. Only one feed line to the engine - keeps heat under control but is still -10 so flow wont be a problem, fuel filter and surge tank are in the spare tire well next to the battery - still finishing the bulk head and seperator plate between the tank and the battery to keep it safe and per rules.


Removing all that stuff sure cleans up the bay a bunch, but this is just the beginning as there is quite a few changes to come.....

 

[cholmes]

I just noticed this thread, I know you've already bought the Radium surge tank, which looks like a very nice piece, just want to make others aware of the surge tank my company just started selling. Not as fancy looking as the Radium, but a lot cheaper and includes 1 or 2 Walbro pumps. Made in the USA. Not trying to thread jack, just want to make people aware:

http://www.robbmcperformance.com/products/powersurge.html

BTW, your car looks flat out amazing!

[AKINA FC]

Got a little more done. Seats, harnesses,  bulkhead and the rear portion of the fuel system is complete. Next in line new catch can, install ITB's, finish front brakes and potentially start building my new headers. I still have several other things planned beyond this but time is going to be the deciding factor as to how much of this I get done before the first round in march.

[largeorangefont]

Looking Excellent Erik!

What are you planning on doing for front brakes?

[AKINA FC]

Well at the moment I am in the planning/measuring/picking stage and don't know which way I want to go really.  I am going between 14" x 1.10 thick rotors/6 piston billet superlites with 13"x 1.10 rear rotors/4 piston billet superlites OR the more cost effective/makes sense route of 13" x 1.250 front rotors / 12" x 1.0 rear rotors with just upgrading the front calipers with 4 piston forged superlites/factory rear calipers. All rotors are going to be two piece units from full tilt boogie racing as wilwood costs a fortune piecing stuff together on there rotors. http://www.wilwood.com/Calipers/CaliperListLanding.aspx     Thoughts?

[Jordan Innovations]

I wish I had an FC to measure for my Wilwood stuff, that would be the most cost-effective way to get "the last brakes you'll ever need" - and I think you'd actually get to use them.  If you end up looking at Wilwood stuff to do yourself let me know, I can pass along W/D+fees which helps a lot.

[largeorangefont]

Bruce's (Full Tilt Boogie Racing) rotors are excellent. Let me say that I will buy your current Cobra rear bracket/rotor setup.

If you are not having rotor issues (cracking) now I would do the 13.06X1.25 fronts and 12X1 rears. They will keep unsprung weight down and rotors will be cheaper as you consume them. The Forged Superlite calipers swallow up a .8 inch thick brake pad as well, and the calipers are $145 shipped. It is really hard to argue with that.

I don't think you will see a performance gain with the 14inch/13inch setup, but it will look amazing.

I have been really surprised and impressed at the abuse the factory rear calipers have endured. I would like something with a thicker pad that lasts a little longer, but it is nice keeping everything simple.

I did swap my front pads recently and the pad taper with the Mandeville kit has been reduced to a tolerable level, so I did just put in new pads and will hold off on making a front brake decision until these current pads wear out in another couple months.

If I end up with Wilwoods on the front I will be going with the FastBrakes brackets and rotor hats to run the Forged Superlite caliper and 13X1.25 rotor. The whole front setup should be around $1200 with pads
I have been wanting to go to a Mustang Cobra rear rotor, that should be enough for my needs with stock calipers.

[AKINA FC]

I wish I had an FC to measure for my Wilwood stuff, that would be the most cost-effective way to get "the last brakes you'll ever need" - and I think you'd actually get to use them.  If you end up looking at Wilwood stuff to do yourself let me know, I can pass along W/D+fees which helps a lot.

Sent you a email Jeff. I really would like to go with the Aero6 calipers but I can't justify doubling the cost for minimal gain, hopefully you can help with this as I do love the brakes you put together.


Ash I don't have any cracking issues so thermal capacity is no a major issue right now, granted I am stepping up to a 315 front from a 295 so I will be adding more load. I do want the thicker pad as that helps in all aspects and changing to a larger rear rotor is the only way to go to a larger caliper to get more pad out back and if I do that the 14" becomes a necessity to help keep bias correct.  If i stay with a 4 piston - 1.38 x2 diameter and the stock rears I attain 68/32 bias running equal pad compounds front and rear - with a 6 piston - 1.62-1.12-1.12 and stock rears i achieve 73/27% bias, now this can be moved around with more aggresive compounds as you most liely know to get back to what I have now of 70/30% with 1.42 pistons in the stock mazda calipers running a .56 CF front pad with a .67 rear, easily done. I have been spending days debating on what and where to go with this, Jeff's pricing will be a deciding factor as to how baller I get with it haha.

If going with the 4 piston superlite and FTB rotors total cost would be 1k with lines, pads and materials so really cheap IMO

[largeorangefont]

If Jeff needs an FC to measure things on let me know. Depending on timing I may be able to donate my car.

Are you running equal pads now front and rear? I have not been able to, I got hopeless rear lockup when running DTC60s all around, even when I was on stock sized rotors. I am running DTC60 and DTC30 now, and it is pretty good, but still have a little too much rear bias I need to dial out with the prop valve.

When the car had a rotary in it I was able to run the same compound all around.

If you end up going 4 pot Superlite up front let me know. I may just take the plunge with you. Might be able to save a bit on the rotors by buying in quantity if he is charging you for a modified hat. Were you planning on having FTBR do the front hats and rotors for you and making the brackets yourself?

[Supe]

I have Superlite fronts and Dynalite rears, 12.76" rotor diameter.  If you go with a 12" rear rotor, you may have to get creative with caliper bracket placement.  The factory caliper mounting ears on the rear upright want to interfere with the ears of the new caliper.  You can see the misalignment in the top pic.  I shaved a bit off the caliper ears itself to make life easy. 

If you guys do find a good source for custom hats and a 324mm x 30mm outer, let me know, as I'd rather not have to order proprietary rotors forever. 

[AKINA FC]

If Jeff needs an FC to measure things on let me know. Depending on timing I may be able to donate my car.

Are you running equal pads now front and rear? I have not been able to, I got hopeless rear lockup when running DTC60s all around, even when I was on stock sized rotors. I am running DTC60 and DTC30 now, and it is pretty good, but still have a little too much rear bias I need to dial out with the prop valve.

When the car had a rotary in it I was able to run the same compound all around.

If you end up going 4 pot Superlite up front let me know. I may just take the plunge with you. Might be able to save a bit on the rotors by buying in quantity if he is charging you for a modified hat. Were you planning on having FTBR do the front hats and rotors for you and making the brackets yourself?

That would be nice if Jeff would make some brackets but as busy as he is I would be amazed if he had time for such a small project. In the end though I can make the brackets needed, so not the end of the world, his would be much nicer looking though.

I have been running currently carbotech's xp10 or 12 depending on track, so about the same as the DTC -30 and 60, but yes same compound all around.

I will make sure you know which way I am going, hopefully Jeff will hit me back soon so I can make a decision. The rotors from FTB are his off the shelf sn-95 rotors, so no custom hats needed. A person could either turn down the mazda hubs on the front, like I did, or just open up the hats on the rotors. FC - 3.06"  - mustang - 2.8" IIRC, not much to remove either way. His site shows 535.00 for a pair of complete rotors, very well priced IMO. The rears to use my brackets on stock mazda rear hubs would need hub centric spacers, which I think you said wasn't a big deal so that would work as well.

I have Superlite fronts and Dynalite rears, 12.76" rotor diameter.  If you go with a 12" rear rotor, you may have to get creative with caliper bracket placement.  The factory caliper mounting ears on the rear upright want to interfere with the ears of the new caliper.  You can see the misalignment in the top pic.  I shaved a bit off the caliper ears itself to make life easy. 

If you guys do find a good source for custom hats and a 324mm x 30mm outer, let me know, as I'd rather not have to order proprietary rotors forever. 

Yeah getting creative is to say the least haha. I can't find a single or dual piston caliper from wilwood that will work with a .71 thick rotor (factory mustang) so using the dynalites are out of the question for me at least with this setup. Getting front and rear rotors set up how you want shouldn't be a issue, what rotors are you using currently? Here is a pic of the rear brackets I made for the 11.76 cobra rotors. A larger rotor would be cake to make a bracket for.

[Supe]

 324mm x 30mm from Revolution Brake.  I'm running Wilwood pedals with dual masters, 13/16 front and 7/8 rear (I think). 

[largeorangefont]

That would be nice if Jeff would make some brackets but as busy as he is I would be amazed if he had time for such a small project. In the end though I can make the brackets needed, so not the end of the world, his would be much nicer looking though.

I have been running currently carbotech's xp10 or 12 depending on track, so about the same as the DTC -30 and 60, but yes same compound all around.

I will make sure you know which way I am going, hopefully Jeff will hit me back soon so I can make a decision. The rotors from FTB are his off the shelf sn-95 rotors, so no custom hats needed. A person could either turn down the mazda hubs on the front, like I did, or just open up the hats on the rotors. FC - 3.06"  - mustang - 2.8" IIRC, not much to remove either way. His site shows 535.00 for a pair of complete rotors, very well priced IMO. The rears to use my brackets on stock mazda rear hubs would need hub centric spacers, which I think you said wasn't a big deal so that would work as well.

Thanks!

That is a great price for those rotors. I forgot they do their annual Christmas sale. That actually makes a lot of sense to just go Cobra rotors all around and in a pinch you could run single piece rotors if you had to. The Cobra front rotors are only an inch thick, but that should not be a huge issue. I would just machine my hubs to fit the Cobra rotor. The FastBrakes kit for the FC uses the 1.25 inch rotor rings.

For the rear I was just going to call Bruce and have him do a 2 piece rear Cobra rotor with the Rx7 hub bore in the hat.. That has been my plan for that all along.

Also, if you don't have a good tool for compressing the front brake caliper pistons, the FTBR tool is awesome for $15.

[AKINA FC]

That would be nice if Jeff would make some brackets but as busy as he is I would be amazed if he had time for such a small project. In the end though I can make the brackets needed, so not the end of the world, his would be much nicer looking though.

I have been running currently carbotech's xp10 or 12 depending on track, so about the same as the DTC -30 and 60, but yes same compound all around.

I will make sure you know which way I am going, hopefully Jeff will hit me back soon so I can make a decision. The rotors from FTB are his off the shelf sn-95 rotors, so no custom hats needed. A person could either turn down the mazda hubs on the front, like I did, or just open up the hats on the rotors. FC - 3.06"  - mustang - 2.8" IIRC, not much to remove either way. His site shows 535.00 for a pair of complete rotors, very well priced IMO. The rears to use my brackets on stock mazda rear hubs would need hub centric spacers, which I think you said wasn't a big deal so that would work as well.

Thanks!

That is a great price for those rotors. I forgot they do their annual Christmas sale. That actually makes a lot of sense to just go Cobra rotors all around and in a pinch you could run single piece rotors if you had to. The Cobra front rotors are only an inch thick, but that should not be a huge issue. I would just machine my hubs to fit the Cobra rotor. The FastBrakes kit for the FC uses the 1.25 inch rotor rings.

For the rear I was just going to call Bruce and have him do a 2 piece rear Cobra rotor with the Rx7 hub bore in the hat.. That has been my plan for that all along.

Also, if you don't have a good tool for compressing the front brake caliper pistons, the FTBR tool is awesome for $15.

Yup you hit it on the head. Factory stock Cobra R front replacements are 13x1.25 which is why I use them. If FTB's rotors are not 1.25 I need to find a different unit but I think they are per the website. Having the aluminum hubs on the rear rotors opened up a little only takes a moment on the lath. But I think thats gonna be my plan is just going with the FTB two piece units all around and the willwood 4 piston fronts.

I made my own tool but his is priced right!

[AKINA FC]

324mm x 30mm from Revolution Brake.  I'm running Wilwood pedals with dual masters, 13/16 front and 7/8 rear (I think).

What are the dimensions on your rear rotors/thickness? Dual masters would be nice, got any pics?