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TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Brake parts

In the interest of "doing things right" early on in this adventure of restoration (71 TR-6), I made a decision to completely replace the brake system, master cylinder, servo, pipes, wheel cylinders, etc., anywhere old fluid would have been. Keep the calipers, drums and so forth. That's still my plan, but I now have a question about replacing the front discs/rotors. TRF touts their slotted and spot drilled disc while LBC has drilled through (cross drilled) discs. Can anyone comment on the advantages of each of these vrs stock discs and whether there is any real added value and if so what's recommended. My objective is to have as dependable a braking system as I can acheive. TRF's current sale has these at about 30% less than LBC's. Thanks.
db
D R Baker

You will get differing opinions on the drilled rotors. Like you, I at one time considered getting them and embarked on a lot of research. Bottom line: they are more show than go (particularly on a road TR) AND can develop serious problems (cracking). You are better off with the solid discs and a premium (Mintex semi-metallic) pad material. All of this IMHO off course.

Rick O.
'72 TR6
Rick Orthen

DB,
If you want the most dependable braking system,
check the archives on brakes. Look for Toyota brake calipers and 240Z drums with sunbeam Alpine wheel cylinders.All these parts fit your TR6 and improve braking considerably.
Chris
Christopher Trace

Another non-believer of drilled discs chiming in and for all of the same reasons. Good solid disc if running the stock calipers or the "normal" Toyota calipers is the way to go as far as I am concerned.

Those Sunbeam Alpine cylinders are for the late 50's/very early 60's applications (Mk I/MkII designations I recall). They are also used on about every four wheel Morgan. Lucas/Girling part number is 64673804, try Sunbeam Spares in NY state(internet search for them), good prices and excellent service. Since this cylinder is made from the same casting as the TR cylinder, it is a true "direct fit" modification, absolutely no fiddling about is required.

The Toyota calipers are from 79-83 gasoline engined four wheel drive pickups and similar years for the Toyota four wheel drive 4Runners, I want to say the 4Runners used these through 84 or 85. These vehicles used solid discs that are the same thickness (for all intents and purposes) as the TR6. Instructions for this conversion used to be on the VTR site, but there aren't there now. Fortunately, there is always the Wayback Machine. Go to waybackmachine.org and have it search for the following URL:

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/brake-conversion.html

You can also use the later model four piston calipers from these same vehicles that used vented discs, but it is a little more work. In addition to the calipers, you will need discs from a 86 - 88 Toyota Cressida sedan (not wagon, they are different). The center hole has to be opened up for the TR6 hub and a little bit of relief is needed on the holes for bolting it up to the hub. Centering of caliper is more crucial going this route as there is not a lot of side clearance between the caliper and the rotor. Otherwise, the instructions are the same as that for the conversion from the VTR site.

As far as the Z-car rear drums go, it is getting real hard (at least it is in my neck of the woods) to find good used ones. New finned aluminum drums for those cars are pricey and must then be machined to fit the TR. I dare say that more "normal" British car parts sources might be able to fix you with a set of finned aluminum drums for the TR for about the same money as new Z-car drums. We had a friend bring some by the shop one night that he had picked up, the box was marked for the Z-cars, but when we compared it to a used Z-car drum that I had, it was obviously different. From this, I have concluded that even those marketed for the TR are nothing more than the Z-car drums that have received the necessary modifications for use on the TR.
SteveP

DB
The standard brakes are more than adequate for road use, the early UK cars with 150hp used the same setup with no problems.
Ron
R. Algie

"to have as dependable a braking system as I can acheive", then stock brakes will work fine.

I belive in make the braking system better if you can.
To many people worry about how much HP a car has, but not how well it can stop.

From talking to people, I think the Toyota system is the way to go.

Cross drill rotors are for show if the holes are drilled, but if they are casted into the rotors then they will last. Just look at today sport cars, like a Porsche, it comes with cross drilled rotors and I have seen many street cars on the track with out any problems. Chances are the ones you are looking at are drilled, not casted.

I think it is very important to get vented rotors, because of the increase cooling of the rotor. That my $0.02.
coop

Coop,
Thanks for your thoughts. Please explain what you mean by "vented" rotors? I've seen two designs other than solid stock rotors; one (from LBCARCOM) has a series of holes drilled through the rotor in a spiral pattern which is supposed to dissipate both heat and water more quickly than solid rotors. The other (from TRF and also Revington, I think) has grooves or slots in a similar spiral pattern with holes (or more accurately, dimples) either drilled or cast, but not all the way through the rotor. These were the alternatives to the stock rotor I have been considering, but given the discussion here, it would appear that my always scarce budget $'s are better applied elsewhere and stay stock for the time being.
db
Doug Baker

Doug--That's a wise decision that you can always revisit later; put your money on more significant upgrades. When someone mentions "vented rotors", I think of the sandwich kind that is on every modern car. The disc surfaces are solid but have open spaces casted into the middle (hard to describe). The dissipate heat from 4 surfaces rather than 2 on a solid disc. You can upgrade to these, but it requires some caliper shimming. I used to have the info on this mod.

Rick O.
'72 TR6
Rick Orthen

Rick, thanks for the explantion. I have seen the "sandwich" rotors, indeed have them on my Jeep, but have not seen such available for the TR-6 and I'm somewhat leary of doing much modification. Simple upgrades that are part for part replacements are great especially to take advantage of improved technology, but actually modifying the design may be a bit beyond my capabilities. I'll probably go with stock rotors for now and revisit down the road. Gotta buy the master cylinder and servo and that is not an expensive purchase.
db
Doug Baker

I hope this helps, go to this page
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/tr6/images/84a.gif
It's Rimmer Brothers web catalog.
Part #2 is a solid rotor
Part #26 is a cross drilled rotor
Part #29 is a vented rotor
coop

you can left click the the lower right and the page gets larger.
Coop

here is a very good page with Vented Slot rotors on it
http://www.powerslot.com/platm.html
coop

The vented rotors mentioned above are part of Rimmer's four piston caliper conversion kit. Dare we ask the price on that kit? It is 625 quid, w/o V.A.T, that is almost 1100 USD. Then you have to pay to ship over from the UK. I have bought stuff from Rimmer and Revington (stuff otherwise not available here) and can speak from experience that the shipping can get pricey. YOWWWWW!

Hence the merits of Toyota conversion. It's all stuff you can easily get on this side of the pond and it can be done for much less than 1100 USD. Worst case questimate would be to buy loaded rebuilt calipers outright, the Cressida discs and then have someone machine the disc to fit the TR hub. Loaded calipers outright about 250 to 300 USD, Cressida disc about 40 to 60 USD, machining about 40 to 50 USD. If you go solid disc and Toyota calipers, then you drop back to the 250 to 300. If you go junk yarding, used calipers are anywhere from 20 to 100 USD (depends on where, if they specialize, if they know what they have, if it is pull it yourself vs. they pull it, etc.), plus the cost of the rebuild parts and pads. All options that are well under 1100 USD.

I guess another option would be to go the SCCA Club Racing production racing legal alternate fitment route. Calipers come off a Series III E-Type/some XJ-6/some XJ-12 models and then XJ-6/XJ-12 discs. The up side is that it is pretty much a bolt on conversion, the down side is that it is pricier than the Toyota conversion, but still can be done for less than 1100 USD.
SteveP

The reason for the link to Rimmers was to show the different types of rotors
coop

TRF listed a conversion (upgrade) to vented (sandwich style) disks a few years ago. For those of you who have the volume 2 catalog it is in the last few pages of it(plate HJ).
The part number is "TRFCD206". It consists of 2 vented disks, spacers to bolt into the calipers, and longer caliper bolts, and pad retaining pins.
I looked for a current price, but the info said to inquire.
My 2002 price list shows it at 149.95 US.

NFI of course, but just another bit of info to consider.

Cheers,

Mark Riddle
Mark

Mark, I ordered TRFCD206 last year in order to get a set of good dimensions to work with and to figure out good application interchanges for four piston caliper with vented disc conversions. Turns out that Roadster kept the same part number and description but no longer supply what is illustrated. Order that number and you now get a pair of drilled and slotted solid discs, defintely not the same thing.
SteveP

Hi, guys
Did anyone try those Kevlar brake pads? Manufacturer claims better braking. But I've also heard they will wear out the rotor and drum fast.
any comments
Paddy
Paddy Kan

Just an FYI,

I shopped around earlier this year, and as far as I know, the best deal on a set of loaded calipers (or most anything else they carry) for a '71 TR6 is at Autozone. They are listed on Autozone.com for between $91-100 USD. (Morse or ARI re-manufactured). For the Toyota truck calipers, they list for $73-76 per pair.

I bought a set of the Morses (as well as rear wheel cylinders) for my '79 Spitfire for under $150, and I couldn't be happier with them. Granted, I don't do any on-track driving.

Now you Canucks may need to get creative (there is an Autozone in Buffalo, for instance) but if you save as much as some of my parents' friends do going to Canada for their meds, it may be worth it. Just call the station with your Visa card, and they will have anything you need at the store, usually within 3 days.

Great boards, folks..... even for a lowly Spitfire owner
T. M. Brex

Hey 'Spit' Brex. Wow, $100 for a pair of loaded calipers. Where were you with such great advice 2 years ago when I rebuilt mine?

Welcome!

Rick O.
'72 TR6
Rick Orthen

I was still searching for that little red creampuff (with zero rust and 36K on the clock), and the creampuff was in it's 20th year of hibernation in a garage somewhere near Lima, OH.

Creampuff and I just celebrated our 7th month together...

Thanks for the welcome. Hope this information about Autozone helps someone on this board. I've been reading this board since before I bought my Spit, and most of the information is really relevant to my car, too.
T. M. Brex

Brex, you either need a core or need to add in the core charge if you are buying exchange parts outright. I pulled up the Autozone site and looked and must say that the core charge on the Fenco units was rather low at 35 USD each. The core on the ARI units at 60 USD each was more in line with what I am used to seeing (typical range that I had seen before was 50 to 65). I am bit taken aback by the price. Those prices are are in line with what I am used to seeing for unloaded calipers. For loaded calipers I am used to seeing them about 20 USD each higher. If the Autozone units are loaded with decent pads, along with the rest of the hardware, that is pretty much THE deal. This would put a set of the Fenco units outright at about 150 USD. Add another 50 USD for a pair of the ARI units due to the higher core charge.

By taking a typical loaded caliper price, the core for the loaded caliper, throwing in a sales tax guesstimate and a fudge factor, then doubling everything, I came up with the 250 to 300 USD guestimate for a pair of outright Toyota calipers regardless of it being the narrow slot or the wide slot version mentioned above.
SteveP

Sorry, I assumed that the core charge was a given.

The calipers included everything, and were a golden thing of beauty to behold. To be honest, the castings looked brand new. The pins looked top shelf, and the whole thing was factory packed very well. I bolted them on, atttached the hoses and the new rear cylinders, bled the system, and was good to go. As far as the pads, mine seem to do the job quite well, have had minimal wear, and have made nothing even resembling a squeal. As far as everything else, no leaks and good braking.

Our tax rate here is 5.75.%, So here is the breakdown (from the receipt):
Calipers 89.99
Wheel cylinders 47.98
Shipping 4.10
Tax 11.74
Total 153.81 USD

(I turned in the old cores when I ordered everything, so the core charge of $36.00 was added then subtracted on the receipt)

I agree, it is hard to believe, but one of the few pleasant surprises I've ever had in an auto parts store. And if these pads go south in a year or two, I don't mind replacing them.

As always, your mileage (and exchange rate) may vary,

Terry
T.M. Brex

Now if they can just offer a similar deal on brake master cylinders . . .

Rick O.
Rick Orthen

This thread was discussed between 13/10/2004 and 20/10/2004

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