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Thread: Vented Front Brakes - Miata

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  1. #1
    LS Swapper Josh's Avatar
    Join Date:  Mar 2013

    Location:  Illinois

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    Club(s):   (DMWC) (TXDMC) (DCUK) (DOI)

    Vented Front Brakes - Miata

    After my engine swap, I always found the brakes to be a little lacking. I began researching brake upgrades and found the DMCEU vented rotors which many of us know about and they are a decent setup. However, I do not like the idea of only being able to source your rotors from one place, and they are a bit pricey.

    Some other downfalls (I feel) of the stock setup are:
    -The hub and bearing needs to be removed to change the rotor
    -The rotor is only held in by 4 small bolts
    -The calipers are very old and hard to source (damaged my rear caliper last year and had a very hard time finding another)
    -Small and limited brake pad options

    So I did some research and found several candidates of cars to donate parts. I wanted a car with a similar setup (no fwd) with cheap and common parts. I ended up settling on the Mazda Miata.
    I had a Miata front subframe in my shed from another project, so that influenced my choice as well, lol.
    I ended up utilizing the rotors, calipers, and hubs.

    Some benefits of the Miata setup:
    -Vented rotors!
    -Inexpensive parts (Calipers, rotors, and hubs almost cost the same as a set of just delorean rotors)
    -Easy to source parts
    -Larger pads with MANY options
    -Floating Calipers
    -Conventional Rotor Mounting
    -Many options of upsized rotors and calipers if you move to a larger wheel.

    These parts did not just bolt on. I tried to do as little modifications as possible, but it was a little involved. I designed and had a new caliper bracket laser cut which simply bolts in place of the stock caliper bracket. The Miata hub bearing is a smaller inner diameter and a little longer than the stock delorean bearing. To make this work I had the spindle diameter machined down, and the hub spacer shortened. Once these three things were done, the parts simply bolted up.

    I hope you guys find this interesting/useful.
    I still need to plumb in the brakes (parts on order) and fit the dust caps so I can retain my speedometer.





    Last edited by Josh; 03-08-2017 at 01:54 AM.

    Supercharged 5.3L LS4 + Porsche 6spd
    [email protected]
    lsdelorean.com
    I am not affiliated with Delorean Midwest in anyway.

  2. #2
    Owner since 2007 Farrar's Avatar
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    Really cool! Shame no one else can do this mod without a machine shop and spare 36mm 12-pt. socket. ;-)

    Are you happy with the braking? Are you still using the stock master cylinder?
    3.0L, automatic, carbureted

  3. #3
    Member
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    ^ Agreed, It still goes with why you wanted more easily accessible parts. But to even get it on the car you need full machine work. lol Still pretty trick though.

    Will

  4. #4
    LS Swapper Josh's Avatar
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    Location:  Illinois

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    Club(s):   (DMWC) (TXDMC) (DCUK) (DOI)

    Master size doesn't need to change as the piston bore is sized similarly to stock.
    There is machining required but it is about 30 minutes worth, very minimal.

    There is another vented brake option out there without machining modifications so if a machine shop scares you away that certainly is the way to go. This opens up a lot more options in terms of brake pads and upsized rotors and calipers though. And of course off the shelf easily obtainable parts.

    I dont have any testing time, there is about 2 feet of snow right now and sub zero tempuratures...

    Supercharged 5.3L LS4 + Porsche 6spd
    [email protected]
    lsdelorean.com
    I am not affiliated with Delorean Midwest in anyway.

  5. #5
    Not a DeLorean Guru
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    Josh, can I have a hug?
    -Mike

    My engine twists my frame.

    1981 DeLorean, Carb LS4 swap completed
    1999 Corvette, cam/headers/intake manifold, 400 rwhp
    2005 Elise, stock
    2016 Chevy Cruze

  6. #6
    Guy with a DeLorean Mark D's Avatar
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    Great job on the front brake upgrade and thanks for sharing how you did it. I bet if you put a small kit together for the machined spindles, spacers, and custom caliper bracket you could recoup your initial cost with a few sales. Once you get a chance to get the car on the road you'll have to let us all know how the new setup performs.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Will F. View Post
    ^ Agreed, It still goes with why you wanted more easily accessible parts. But to even get it on the car you need full machine work. lol Still pretty trick though.

    Will
    Machining isn't on wear items..

  8. #8
    Guy with a DeLorean Mark D's Avatar
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    Wow that's excellent news to hear about the new hub that doesn't require spindle modifications. That will save a lot of cost and make the install simpler since it no longer involves removing the spindles and angle drive. Those large hub nuts can be difficult to remove and most people don't have a 1 1/4" (32mm) open ended wrench laying around to remove the angle drive nut.

    After some initial testing is done I'd be interested in installing this setup on my car.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Henrik's Avatar
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    I'm interested too. I am about to start a complete overhaul of my front suspension and have purchased:
    • DMCEU's SS LCA
    • DMCEU's polyurethane bushings
    • DriveStainless's adjustable ride height springs and adjustable dampening for the shocks
    • New balljoints, tie rod ends etc


    The only thing remaining on my list is to settle on which alternative to go with for the upgraded brakes so the above research provides an interesting alternative and comes at a good time. Keep me in the loop!
    VR6 engine (367 rwhp/377 ftlb); Type T4 turbo; A/R=0.70/0.68; Air-to-air intercooler, Megasquirt MS3 Pro, Manual tranny w/ HD output shaft; Remote mounted oil filter.
    Adjustable dampers and ride height springs from QA1/DriveStainless; SS triangulated LCA brackets, boxed in LCAs, PU bushings, ventilated front brake rotors - all from DMCEU; UCAs with -3 deg camber from Reid Performance; 15" rear rims x 4
    http://deloreanvr6conversion.blogspot.com

  10. #10
    Senior Member Henrik's Avatar
    Join Date:  Sep 2011

    Location:  Parker, TX

    Posts:    731

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    Club(s):   (SCDC) (DCUK)

    A question on the subject of DMCEU's vented rotors:

    Ed offers three Power Brake Kits - all with vented rotors for the front.

    Now, Brake Kits #2 and #3 clearly come with spacers for the stock calipers to accommodate the additional thickness of the vented rotors, but what about the calipers for Kit #1?: Has he designed and produced all new castings? I e-mailed him and asked if him:
    Hi Ed,
    A question regarding the calipers in your Power Brakes Kit 1: Are they:
    1) Stock calipers + spacers, or are they
    2) Wider (non-stock), calipers?


    He replied:
    " They are wider, so no adaptor kit."

    The way I interpret his reply is that he has come up with an entirely new design and casting for the calipers in Brake Kit #1. Quite impressive if that is the case. Am I interpreting this correctly?

    Thanks,

    Henrik
    VR6 engine (367 rwhp/377 ftlb); Type T4 turbo; A/R=0.70/0.68; Air-to-air intercooler, Megasquirt MS3 Pro, Manual tranny w/ HD output shaft; Remote mounted oil filter.
    Adjustable dampers and ride height springs from QA1/DriveStainless; SS triangulated LCA brackets, boxed in LCAs, PU bushings, ventilated front brake rotors - all from DMCEU; UCAs with -3 deg camber from Reid Performance; 15" rear rims x 4
    http://deloreanvr6conversion.blogspot.com

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