Upgrading spitfire brakes

[Keith65]

Hi I am new to this forum. I have a 1972 mark IV spitfire and i was woundering if anyone has uprated their braking system and if so what is the converstion for a spitfire. cheers Keith  

[Alex]

Welcome to the forum!
Easiest and most value for money is fit Mintex 1144 brake pads.
The difference is very effective and more than adequate.

[Nobbie]

Why do you want to update the brakes? A good start is just to thoroughly service the brake system and get everything it top condition and see how they are then. On old cars a lot of bits may well be past their best such as flexible hoses, or the fluid may be old and need changing. The only upgrade I did was to get braided hoses and the system works very nicely.

Found this thread below which may give food for thought

Sorry , link no longer available

Probably plenty of other threads on this if you use the search function.

[Keith65]

Thanks for your comments, i rebuild the whole car about 4 years ago with new calipers, cylinders and hoses but not sure what make of pads or shoes i fitted. its just i am putting in a 1500cc engine and gearbox out of dolly and was just thinking i might need to uprate the brakes a bit or fit a servo.  

[Nobbie]

Mines a Mk IV with a 1500 Dolly engine in it and it doesn't make much difference unless you expect to be driving it a lot harder once the 1500 is in, although to be honest, I find the 1500 much more of a cruiser because of the torque available and it doesn't rev as well as the 1300 because of the long stroke.

Maybe the pad upgrade is worthwhile, I've never tried them, but have heard that some pad upgrades only work when driving the car hard so they get upto temperature. Maybe the Mintex mentioned above don't have this drawback?

[JohnD]

All that a servo does is increase the pressure on the brake pads for the pressure applied on the pedal by the driver.
Excellent, if you have arthritis!   But once the addedd pressure applied by the servo ssystem is exceeded,only more pedal pressure will increase the pad pressure.
A servo will not - cannot - improve the car's braking ability.

And a properly set up braking system in a Triumph of any age will be able to lock up the wheels at almost any speed.  Which brings in the overall determinator of 'braking ability' the tyres.
Old, hard tyres can't stop you well.  If they are more than seven years old they should be binned - the material is worn out, even if the tread is not.

And then, your driving style.    Are you the last of the late brakers?    Braking hard for every corner, because your foot goes down as soon as possible? And do you see brake fade?
If so then you may need a 'harder' brake material, in fact one that works in a higher temperature range than normal.
For instance Mintex.  Standard 1144 will work from cold, even on a freezing day.  1155 is a "fast road" brake pad, that works when hotter without fading, up to 600C and 1166 is their out-n-out race material that only works at all between 200-400C.  See: http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/mintex-pad-compounds     Other manufactures have similar ranges - I just think Mintex are best!

John

[Nick Jones]

Quoted from JohnD

All that a servo does is increase the pressure on the brake pads for the pressure applied on the pedal by the driver.
Excellent, if you have arthritis!   But once the addedd pressure applied by the servo ssystem is exceeded,only more pedal pressure will increase the pad pressure.
A servo will not - cannot - improve the car's braking ability.

John

This is quite true of course - however what we maybe overlook is that a servo does make the brakes feel like they work better - ie more stop for less pedal effort, which is quite often what is really meant by the question.

This is a real issue today as modern cars all have highly assisted brakes and stepping into an unservo'd classic with the sudden marked increase in pedal force needed does come as a bit of a shock to the uninitiated (and going back the other way too!).

My response to the OP would be similar to those already made.  The standard fit Spitfire brakes are perfectly adequate when working properly.  So if you have concerns, first go right through them and make sure they are working properly - all slave syclinders and caliper pistons moving as they should, friction surfaces in to good condition and so on.

Beyond that, one significant difference today compared to when the cars were made are the brake pads.  And many of the brake pads sold for the Spitfires today are not really right for them and add to the pedal pressures needed.  To overcome this I'd add my vote to those for the Mintex 1144 pads.  There are probably others out there, but these are the ones I've used and it was almost like fitting a brake servo - the difference in initial bite and reduction in pedal effort was that big.

Nick

[ferny]

I'm running with over twice the horsepower of a standard Herald. My brakes discs are Maxtorq (worn .6mm since 2008 and I do a lot of miles) and currently using asbestos pads - normally I use 1144. The only time I've encountered brake fade is when on a track and after they cooled down they performed better...

Use good fluid as well. I always used Halfords and found after a few weeks of use I didn't like the feel of my brakes. I've swapped to Pagid branded stuff and it's taken 18 months for me to start to notice it deteriorating.

Unless you're driving like a twat, flooring it between each bend and massively exceeding the speed limits on a public road in this country then your pads shouldn't fade, no matter what horsepower you're running. Using it on track is a different matter entirely.