Brake upgrade question

[Wavey]

Can the monoblock Brembo brake calipers from a 2003 Carrera C4 be fitted to an '88 Carrera, using the original '88 rotors? I assume an adapter may be needed at the spindle.

Thanks, Dave

[Bill Verburg]

Yes, but it's all bling and no zing.(I think that is the correct modern phrase?)

It's not the best idea

[Wavey]

Could you elaborate, Bill?

[PorschePilot]

Did you see these calipers on eBay? There is a set listed.

[raceman]

The negatives on this setup,and that`s what you`ll be hearing about,are that the calipers have so much squeeze that they can overheat the rotors if you track the car.lf you just cruise around or have never felt brake fade with the stock set up then you`ll probably be fine.From an engineering standpoint it`s wrong because the 88 rotors weren`t designed to have monster 4 pots clamping them but in the real world many have done this and similar mods with little problem.l was told when in high school l put a V8 in my Datsun 510 that,well,first it couldn'`t be done,then that there would be brake problems,clutch problems,rear diff problems,blah blah blah.The car was fine,yes it was "unbalanced" but l drove it knowing that.You won`t find a race car with a set up like what you propose,but you don`t have a race car.lf you`ve got the available cash then there are more thorough conversions available and l have to say l`d recommend that route.These shadetree brake mods really get some of the pelicans going,you`ll find A LOT of threads if you do a search.

[Quicksilver]

The only purpose for brakes is to convert the car's momentum into heat and then transfer the heat into the air or radiate it before the various parts go over temperature. The only parts of the brake system that have trouble dealing with the heat are the brake rotors and the surface of the brake pads.
The first real weak link on an 88 is the rotors. They don't really have enough mass to act as a heatsink for the quantity of energy that you are going to create when you push that car really hard. If the rotors go over-temp they start to wear faster and you also get warping and cracking.
The calipers can be dealt with adequately by using upgraded brake pads. With good pads the rotors will fail first or if you see fade it will be primarily because the elevated rotor temp is allowing the pads to go over their design temp. A larger caliper can actually reduce brake capacity because it covers more of the rotor surface and reduces heat dissipation.

Question: Are you experiencing problems with your braking capacity? If not don't mess with it unless you have money and like colored calipers.
If you really need more brakes then you will want larger, thicker rotors. This will require different calipers. (Bring money!)

Look at Bill Verburg's website. He has lots of great stuff on what will fit in what but remember that increased rotor mass is required to really increase the brake system's capacity.

Wayne

[Wavey]

Wow, great responses, just what I was looking for. Guess I'll pass and just rebuild the OEMs. But for anyone else willing to do the rotors:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33563&item=2480320271&rd=1