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Revisiting: Spot calipers as parking brake


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About 5 years ago, several members discussed using Wilwood mechanical spot calipers to serve as a parking brake on rear disc conversions. Does anyone have photos or other documentation of their setup?

 

I've read through pparaska's write up several times now (http://alteredz.com/brakemods.htm). That write-up was very helpful. I think that AZC must have changed the bracket design because there just isn't much material to bolt the additional bracket to on my kit.

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I've got Wilwood 120-2280 and 120-2281 calipers, which are set up for 0.81" rotors. That should be the correct fit for the AZC rear rotors (12.2" x 0.81").

 

I think they can be adjusted for different rotor thicknesses by adding/removing spacers in between the caliper halves.

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I talked to Dave at Arizona Z about using the spot calipers. He felt they had a tendency to drag, and if they jammed they could snap off their mounting ears and spin around and smash the actual brake caliper. He also said he may look into some form of a parking brake for his set-up. that was a few months ago, I know he is a very busy guy building some beautiful stuff but hopefully something can be made to work.

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The spot calipers certainly aren't perfect, but they'll appease the safety inspectors in my state. I figure that I'll be removing them before track days, etc. Heck, they might just go on once a year for inspection. I park the car in a garage on a flat surface, so I'm not worried about a parking brake for any reason but to satisfy the inspector.

 

Hopefully the members that have taken this approach are still around. Does anyone have a drawing or photos of their setup?

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Don't know if this would work or not but how about a drive shaft brake? Yeah it would take some fabbing but would be workable since the drive shaft would only have to be held (thightly) by some type of a 360 degree (or so) clamp, which could be actuated by the original brake handle. I've got the picture in my head but it's hard to explain.

 

One section is permanantly mounted "C" shaped the moveable part would be spring loaded cable actuated to grip the drive shaft. Provided the springs that hold the DS are stiff enough the DS wouldn't need any type material added to it or spline the DS and the "catch pad".

 

Or maybe I just don't know what I'm thinking. I have seen this done with disk brakes on a drive shaft though.

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I think I'm going to talk to my machinist about making a bracket and welding it to the "side" of the existing bracket. The resulting bracket would be flat and should line up well on the mounting "ears" of the spots. The spot calipers would mount at about 5:00 on the right side and 7:00 on the left.

 

I have no experience with technical drawings but I'll try draw what I've got in my head and post the results.

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