Real Fiero Tech

I think I read this somewhere before, but I want to make sure before I buy anything and get stuck with it. Is it true that the 88 calipers are idential in size and mounting front and rear, except the rear has the ebrake parts? I am thinking about running 4 front calipers on my Formula, and running a hydraulic ebrake setup that drifters use... No, I'm not using it for drifting, but it will eliminate the stupid ebrake cable setup that GM wound through everything. Thanks everyone.

Justin W

Oh, or, does anyone have any other ideas as far as running different cables, maybe one to each wheel instead of the 1 into 2 with the adjuster thing in it?

Yes, front and rears are the same.

Should you run this hydraulic e-brake, you must show pictures. That's an interesting idea....

in all honesty, one locked wheel should do the trick.

By hydraulic e-brake do you mean simply a continuous duty line lock or a separate lever & master cylinder?

Seperate handle and a master cyl for a motorcycle brake setup. I have seen this setup in a drag civic so I know how to set up the handle/master stuff, just not sure where to "T" into for the lines.

Justin W

So you're running a separate caliper too? That seems kind of redundant..

Edit: Oh wait, you mentioned "T"ing into the existing line, so it sounds like a standard hydraulic e-brake setup...
So couldn't you just T in wherever was convenient? You'd still need a check valve too, otherwise when you activated the e-brake it would just back up into the main master cylinder reservoir wouldn't it?

but if you used a check valve, you would need a way to disable it during normal driving as well, because one pump on the brakes and the rears would lock up.... now if you were to use a line lock type idea, you could stomp the brake hard and lock it down.... that might be something to look into....

we have a jeep at work with no e-brake and a broken flywheel... we use a brake pedal depressor from an alignment machine to hold it in place.... never had a problem with it rolling away yet, its been sitting like that, on a hill since x-mas....

Yes, the front calipers will bolt on to all four corners. For the hydraulic handbrake, you plumb the master cylinder for the handbrake in series with the rear brake line. I did this on my rally car.

In series?

If you just T the line to the new MC, then all the pressure from the old MC will just blow out the reservoir of the new one...

Or did you mean the output from the old MC goes to the reservoir connection on the new MC and the output from the new MC goes to the rear brakes?

The Dark Side of Will wrote:Or did you mean the output from the old MC goes to the reservoir connection on the new MC and the output from the new MC goes to the rear brakes?

Yes.

Doug, do you have a supply or link for the master cylinder needed? Also, i'm assuming their cannot be a master mounted to the handbrake since there needs to be an inlet and outlet? Thanks,

Justin W

EMX5636 wrote:Doug, do you have a supply or link for the master cylinder needed? Also, i'm assuming their cannot be a master mounted to the handbrake since there needs to be an inlet and outlet? Thanks,

Justin W

I used one of these: http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/produc ... oduct=3502 Pegasus also has the hardware to adapt inlet and outlet. If you didn't want to spend $80 on a new one, you could tap the inlet of any small master cylinder. The Fiero clutch master cyl would probably be perfect.

If I get ambitious tomorrow I'll get some pics of how I have mine setup.

With that said, why are you trying to get rid of the mechanical handbrake?

The main reason I want to get rid of it is because when I pull the cradle, the cables are the biggest PITA out of everything. Also, I have a full set of C5 aluminum calipers and there is no mechanical ebrake, so if I did decide to swap to those calipers later, I wouldn't have to do anything else.

Some pics would be great if you could.....

Speaking of which Doug..... not to get too far off topic. but do you make any mail order assemble yourself cages? I'm starting to look around for a decent 4-6 pt cage and I was wondering what'd you think it'd cost as a "weld together" kit. You can PM me the info. thanks,

EMX5636 wrote:The main reason I want to get rid of it is because when I pull the cradle, the cables are the biggest PITA out of everything. Also, I have a full set of C5 aluminum calipers and there is no mechanical ebrake, so if I did decide to swap to those calipers later, I wouldn't have to do anything else.

Some pics would be great if you could.....

Full set of C5 fronts?
The C5 rears don't have a mechanical brake. The C5 p-brake is a drum-in-hat arrangement that has a small drum brake inside the hat section of the rear rotor. If you're going all the way to C5 brakes, then you might be able to get that working with a backing plate that would bolt to the Fiero knuckle.

I did this on both my 87 and 88. Pedal feel is 10x better than stock. The rear calipers have to be adjusted properly to work and the e-brake just plain sucks and always gets mis-adjusted. I love not having it anymore.

Rare.... you did what? the c5 setup like mentioned above or just 4 fiero front calipers? Thanks, sorry for the confusion....

Justin W

EMX5636 wrote:Rare.... you did what? the c5 setup like mentioned above or just 4 fiero front calipers? Thanks, sorry for the confusion....

Justin W

I have 4 front calipers on my 87 and my 88. On my 88 I have 12" C4 vented/cross drilled rotors. No e-brake on either. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Later,
Amir

Here's how I have the handbrake set up in the rally car. These are build photos from 2000. That's a second gen RX-7 handbrake with the rear mount bent down 90 degrees so it bolts to the side of the tunnel. It's connected by a pushrod to the Girling part at the link above which is mounted next to the seat.

The brake line runs down the center tunnel, across into the master cylinder, out of the master cylinder and back across, and out the cabin behind the co-driver where it mates up with the stock line.

This setup isn't ideal for a street car, but it should give you some idea of how it's done.

EMX5636 wrote:Speaking of which Doug..... not to get too far off topic. but do you make any mail order assemble yourself cages? I'm starting to look around for a decent 4-6 pt cage and I was wondering what'd you think it'd cost as a "weld together" kit.

Yes.

$2k for an IT legal kit. Pics on my web site. Other designs can be done as well for similar price. This price is a lot higher than other available cages, but it's also a lot better.