S550 4 Pistons on S197 Car

[o2sys]

Wow are those real gt40 rims?

 

[fast Ed]

Would you feel comfortable putting a spacer under the caliper?

Some of the SN95 CMC racers were using small hardened washers as spacers between the caliper anchor and spindle with the PBR "Cobra" calipers originally made for 13" rotors, when putting them with 12" rotors sourced another application to fit the series rules.



I should have time this weekend to take apart the fronts on my 07 to give this a go.


cheers
Ed

 

[v6tungsten]

Wow are those real gt40 rims?

Yep, real Ford GT 18x9's

 

[BleedinBlue]

Yeah...I think I'll stick with my plan for 4 piston Brembos. This seems like a whole lot of headache for just a little savings and then questionable wheel fitment thereafter.

 

[o2sys]

Yeah...I think I'll stick with my plan for 4 piston Brembos. This seems like a whole lot of headache for just a little savings and then questionable wheel fitment thereafter.

My thoughts exactly. Plus doesn't look as pretty as the BREMBOs lol.

 

[leviathon]

Shimming a caliper is done all the time. I actually have an Alcon 4 piston caliper retrofitted to the front of my mustang with a custom bracket and use spacers to center the rotor to the caliper.

Sure, as long as the spacer fit correctly. I actually think wilwood calipers get shimmed all the time.

I'll let experts chime in though as I have no experience with shimming a caliper.

 

[v6tungsten]

My thoughts exactly. Plus doesn't look as pretty as the BREMBOs lol.

Brembo are painted, 2015 just paint yourself any color you want.

 

[Chiron]

So what's the word on this? Anyone figure out the magical combination of parts to make it happen?

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

So what's the word on this? Anyone figure out the magical combination of parts to make it happen?

I just bought the s550 brakes for $30,000 and they threw the car in for free! DO IT!!!

 

[Boaisy]

I just bought the s550 brakes for $30,000 and they threw the car in for free! DO IT!!!

I would ask how the brakes were, but you probably didn't even let the brake fluid warm up.

 

[fast Ed]

So what's the word on this? Anyone figure out the magical combination of parts to make it happen?

I've still got the pieces for one side here at the dealership, just haven't had a chance in the last few weeks to give it a go on my 07. Hopefully this weekend I can.


cheers
Ed

 

[NickD87]

ed bring them fri we can do a nascar style pit change with 30 people jacking up a car in the parking lot lol

 

[fast Ed]

I have the parts loaded as of a few minutes ago in the trunk of the Turbo Coupe, and do have some tools in the car ... my aluminium floor jack came out of the trunk after the Carlisle trip though.

 

[Mounty09]

Any update on this?

 

[Onelildude]

Anything new happened with this?

 

[fast Ed]

So I finally had the chance today to give this a try on my 07, apologies to the people who were awaiting more info. No, it is not a direct bolt-on. But yes, it could be made to work with not much fuss I think. The main issue as has been mentioned, is that the spacing inside to outside is not quite correct when putting these calipers over the S197 rotors. I didn't even try the S550 rotors because of the large difference in hat offset as previously noted.

So when I first tried the caliper on, and tried to slip the pads in, the outside was definitely tighter than the inside, so the caliper needs to move outboard slightly.



Then I tried it again with some generic 9/16" ID washers that I had grabbed out of the bulk hardware bin at work, seemed to put it in almost exactly the right spot.



Note that I did not try this with the backing shims that come with the OEM pads, just slipped the pads themselves roughly in to place.

Other fit issue is that the flex hose banjo block on the 13-14 GT-500 hose will have to be trimmed a bit, and / or the the caliper modded, for the hose to be able to sit flat on the casting.





Side view in place:



Washers that ware tried, sorry I didn't have a measuring caliper nearby to get an exact dimension.



As they sit on the caliper, they happened to fit perfectly in the machined recesses of the mounting bosses.



What they look like without the washers:



I then tried bolting my 18 x 9.5" Steeda wheel back on, they clear the Brembos with this much room:



When I snugged it down, the wheel would not spin. So there was some contact against the caliper casting. Unfortunately I couldn't put my hands on some of the thin wheel spacers that I thought were kicking around the shop, but by my estimation it would need maybe an 1/8" to 3/16" spacer to clear safely with that particular wheel anyway.

Bottom line, if these calipers do stay reasonably priced as they are now, for some people looking at doing a big brake upgrade this is an alternative to the Brembos to save some $$. My suggestion for someone trying do accomplish this, would be to get all the pieces together then take some more precise measurements to get properly sized washers or machined spacers made up. Other than that, just keep an eye out for a deal on a good used set of Brembos ...

cheers
Ed

 

[fast Ed]

And also just realized while going back through this thread, that even though they were stacked up less than 10 feet away, I gave absolutely no thought to trying my 18x10" SVE Drift wheels over the S550 caliper ... D'OH!! Maybe if I'm feeling ambitious one night this week I'll jack it up and bolt the caliper on again to test-fit the wheel to see if it would clear without a spacer.

 

[chair]

Definitely awesome! Thanks for the info, probably going to go this route for now.

 

[NickD87]

Ed so this is what you were doing instead of coming to Andrews BBQ
So 15min in dremel work, machined spacers(may as well do it right) and they work?
Were you able to see what the pad contact was like or if there were any other functional issues that would discourage these for use on track vs the4 pistons
I am in love with the look of these!

 

[fast Ed]

For track use personally I would prefer the Brembos, staggered piston sizes on them help the pad wear, and you know the bore sizes match up with the S197 master (GT-500 used the same master cyl as a GT and V6). Pad contact should be fine if you choose to go with these, the caliper is sitting in the right spot over the rotor.


cheers
Ed