JustinOlson Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Which brake kit do you guys prefer? I'm looking at upgrading my front brakes to a 12.2" X 1.25" vented setup. What model wilwood caliper does the Arizona Z car brake kit use? I like the helicoil inserts in the JSK rotor hats. The prices are very similar and I was curious what you guys thought was the superior kit? http://www.autobrakeworks.com/datsun.htm http://www.arizonazcar.com/brake.html Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 They are really the same basic thing. As Juan says on the JSK website, they mark up the price on the calipers and you can put the kit together cheaper than you can buy it from him. You can choose from any of the narrow mount Wilwood calipers for the JSK kit. I purchased buy have not yet used Superlite II's in the front and narrow mount Dynalites in the back. When I bought my kit he wasn't yet installing helicoils, so mine will use bolts with nuts. I don't know which is ultimately stronger, but I think I'd tend to prefer bolts and nuts. The one thing I can say against Juan is that he kinda disappeared there for a couple years. Dave has been in business for a long time and has a solid rep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 I have the JSK front brake kit. The quality is good and he ships right away. All said and done you can save a little money piecing the kit together yourself, but not more than $50 or so. The main reason I went with the JSK stuff is because I didnt like the red anodizing on the AZC kits. Dave wouldnt make them in a different color for me - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 I have the JSK front brake kit. The quality is good and he ships right away. All said and done you can save a little money piecing the kit together yourself, but not more than $50 or so. The main reason I went with the JSK stuff is because I didnt like the red anodizing on the AZC kits. Dave wouldnt make them in a different color for me - Greg - its not that dave would not make them in any other color, its that his run of hats came in red because of that is what the machinist had at the time. i primered mine and will paint later to the color that i want. no biggie. i think that all of his stuff comes in red. except for the 300 z stuff which is antifreeze green. the 240,260,280 is all red. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 its not that dave would not make them in any other color, its that his run of hats came in red because of that is what the machinist had at the time. i primered mine and will paint later to the color that i want. no biggie. i think that all of his stuff comes in red. except for the 300 z stuff which is antifreeze green. the 240,260,280 is all red. Yeah I know -- I was just busting his chops really. I figured why pay for red anodizing. Right now I like the bare aluminum look What can I say.. I got a thing against red! - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynez06 Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 with both kits do you need to change the master? or can you use the stock master on a 77 280z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 i was thinking about bare alum but did not want to deal with the constant maintainance of polising them since mine will be very visible. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted April 25, 2007 Author Share Posted April 25, 2007 Since both kits use essentially the same calipers, I'd say follow Arizona Z car brakes advice and install a 280zx master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 The Wilwood 4 piston calipers have a massive bore to push with a teeny 7/8" MC. - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Actually that depends on what size pistons you get. With the largest 1 3/4" pistons, I agree. But they also have 1 1/2" and 1 3/8" pistons as well, and with those a 7/8" master might be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted April 25, 2007 Author Share Posted April 25, 2007 So if I go the JSK route, which calipers should I buy? Model? Piston size? Are there any better calipers then the wilwoods that use the same 3.5" bolt space? I'm planning on going to a double master cylinder setup for the brakes. Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Arizona Z Car. Dave has 20 plus years of doing Z brakes. Why not go with a complete package that is more tightly engineered. He now offers 12.2 HD rotor castings for the fronts. ($100 upgrade). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar240z Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 wilwood has some 6 pistons that use the 3.5" bolt spacing. ive seen them on ebay a few times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Arizona Z Car. Dave has 20 plus years of doing Z brakes. Why not go with a complete package that is more tightly engineered. He now offers 12.2 HD rotor castings for the fronts. ($100 upgrade). To me this is like saying "Why not go with a crate motor that is already built? Edelbrock has been building crate motors from the carb to the oil pan for 50 years." It's not that crate motors are bad, but you can change it up a little bit here and a little bit there and make a better package for your specific application if you know what you're buying. I bought the cast rear calipers for my car. They were $5 more expensive and a special order, but I called Wilwood and they told me the cast calipers were actually more rigid than the forged calipers. I also got bridge bolts in the rear calipers. Piston sizes can be adjusted to suit. Pad types as well. Does Dave give you a choice of what pads you'll get, or does he just send out street pads? Maybe Dave can give you all of these options too, I honestly don't know. The point is that a prepackaged deal isn't necessarily the best way to go, it just keeps you from having to make choices. And for what it is worth, HD rotors are just heavier and have more cooling vanes. I'd stay away from HD rotors until I found that I was overheating the ultralight rotors. Additional rotating unsprung weight should be avoided... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 i think the pad that are in daves set are the wilwood pads ( i think). clifton has been romping around in his car for several years and has yet to replace the pads and he autox's his car as well. jon has a point though of a prepackaged deal may not be the best for everyone. i bought the big brakes from dave just because i like to support the local guys. i may have gone over kill but what the hell. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Actually that depends on what size pistons you get. With the largest 1 3/4" pistons, I agree. But they also have 1 1/2" and 1 3/8" pistons as well, and with those a 7/8" master might be fine. True, that. I should have added that Dave's kit comes with the 1.75" bore, and JSK recommends the same caliper. Actually, I would have tried the .81" thick rotors in the front if anybody made the appropriate hat and dogbone for them. You could save at least 5 lb per corner (rotating!). But the 1.25" thick rotors sure do look impressive! - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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