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Mk1 Escort Brake Upgrade


Scortedvan

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Hi all,

Sorry to ask yet more questions! I am currently adressing one or two things on my car whilst waiting for mapping, and im now looking at the brakes. I have 9”drums on the rear which ive rebuilt and will be stying as they are, and solid 240mm discs with m16 calipers on the front. I also have 13”x 5.5 wheels which i want to keep on really. Im also using a pedal box with no servo. 

With the pinto engine fitted ~140bhp, i didn't have any issues with brakes, but I would like to increase the performance (Or get your opinions on wether its necessary) due to the fact the car now has an st170 engine. 

In terms of usage, i wont be going near any tracks with the car, and to be honest I really dont drive particularly hard in at all.

Does anyone have any suggestions for sensible front brake upgrades, though aesthetically pleasing stuff like AP upgrades are well over what i need! I looked at the 4 pot princess calipers and vented discs which i though might fit the bill, not sure if this would be adviseable or if anyone can suggest a supplier, or an alternative?

Thanks again for any help you can offer,

kind regards

Joe

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Sounds like they are working and performing just fine so why spend unnecessary cash? If anything fit spacers and vented discs-I really don't think you'll notice much difference if spending modest amounts-and if I was planning on spending on braking I would go AP's all day-not only are they aesthetically pleasing they actually do make a difference from what I've heard. When I built my mk1 I wanted all the bells and whistles-got a bias box with Wilwood 4 pots/fully braided lines etc. and they never gave me any confidence-the pedal was shite hard and I wished i'd left the standard m16's and servo which felt lovely-but you learn the hard way and some people seem to get used to it-I couldn't stand them.

 

If it's not broke etc...

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2 hours ago, mpdevelopments.uk said:

Like these e33fa3d1b848000478366777114b66e2.jpg

Good brakes but outrageously heavy - like 50% heavier than M16's! Unlikely 'new' as they were last available in the 70's? so likely refurbished but all the Princes calipers i've seen have an external pipe to hydraulically link both sides and those don't but do seem to have 3 bleed nipples each?

If your brakes are working ok maybe look at different pad materials - can be a relatively cheap upgrade on a road car.

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Thanks all for the input, food for thought. I have to agree though, being as I have no issues with the brakes fitted... and seeing as this will still just be a sedately driven road car.... then I think as Katana suggests I’ll try some different pad compounds, just for piece of mind :) I can always address this once Ive used it a bit.

Thanks for the advice all!

 

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I must add the calipers are for a friend's project. and at £130 a pair. They are a good upgrade. Cant see the point in spending £500 £600 on a set of AP just for the name. And I have fitted a few sets to cars in the past. Yes they are heavy but depends on the usage of the car in question.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

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You're not really paying for the name alone tho-why do you think a lot of the rally and race teams use AP's? Because they work well. There's been posts before about fitting 4 pots but it turns out the actual pad areas are virtually the same as m16's-so not really any better-just heavier? The amount of money I spent pissing about with my setup years ago I could have just bought a pair of AP's and been done with it. On my next mk1 i'm doing it's gonna be a standard twincam setup with m16's and a servo with 8 inch drums and i know it will work lovely no need for anything fancy Ford did all the hard work for you. 👍

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10 hours ago, katana said:

Good brakes but outrageously heavy - like 50% heavier than M16's! Unlikely 'new' as they were last available in the 70's? so likely refurbished but all the Princes calipers i've seen have an external pipe to hydraulically link both sides and those don't but do seem to have 3 bleed nipples each?

If your brakes are working ok maybe look at different pad materials - can be a relatively cheap upgrade on a road car.

They are only 700 grams heavier per calliper so its not as great as internet chatter suggests (3.8kgs vs 4.50kgs). I think you may find they are new replica units like the M6 ones that have been available some time. Demand for the originals must have fuel them to make these as well as the M16s which is really good. I would be interested to know if they trimmed a bit of fat off these so as to bring the weight a bit closer to the M16 ones.

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