[KTL]

Sherwood,

I agree that a whole lot of people don't need these modifications. I've gotten better with my abilities where I too don't necessarily absolutely need the brakes for my car to survive track duty. Agreed people who do nothing but drive on the street certainly are wasting their money on this stuff. But when it comes to driving the car hard on the track on a regular basis, I think there is something to be said about putting more into the brakes so they're not so heavily burdened by the work they're doing.

Adding cooling to my brakes via the IROC ducting, plus the front Brembos with the '86 951 rotors, has eliminated any potential for heat issues with my brakes such that I have no need to ensure bleeding my fluid before each event and my pads, rotors, & caliper seals last much much longer. My brake hardware lasts at least 2-3 times longer than a friend with a similarly equipped car (big weight loss/dieted, streetable '87 911) and similar skill level, using the stock brakes.

Nonetheless, there no way around the cost. It's not cheap, even doing it as cheap as I can think of:

Brake hardware:

>'86 951 front rotor- $90 ea
>Used basic front Brembos- $100-$150 per pair
>Rebuild above calipers- $100
>Caliper modification- $500 from VCI + $50 for spindle spacer widgets

Brake cooling:

>Front bumper- $450 MA Shaw IROC narrowbody bumper
>Brake cooling backing plates + wheel hub/rotor blockoff plates $150-$200
>Cooling hose, fittings, clamps- $100
>KTL custom made sloppy copies of SmartRacing A-arm PVC pipe manifolds- 2 in. scraps of PVC pipe + your time figgering out how to cut and fit these suckers

Not cheap if you're buying all things new except used calipers. Maybe save some bucks scoring things used like I did. Still, you're EASILY into it for a grand. Not cheap! Most people will say you can buy a lot of brake fluid, pads and a set of rotors for $1000! Very true. But over the long term, it'll pay off. I figure my brake modifications will pay for themselves in about 4 years with savings in annual consumables like pads, rotors and caliper rebuilds. I still bleed the fluid all the time because it's just good to do it and i'm anal like that.......