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SVTF Brakes on a SVTC

9

98SVTC

Hard-core CEG'er
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Dec 17, 2001
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Hong Kong Heights, Ca.
Okay, at the risk of getting into hot water, I still need info on installing the bigger SVTF brakes on my E0. I searched the archives and could only find this post:

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/s...ber=276380&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=all&vc=1

in which someone asked if it was possible to put SVTF brakes all the way around a Contique but no one answered that question opting to only talk about the fronts and the beginnings of what became that group buy upgrade kit. So it at least appeared that I could use SVTF front rotors, calipers and some spacers to replace my fronts but can the SVTF rear rotors, calipers, etc. replace my rears and will they all fit inside my EO wheels? I am hoping that they will all bolt on with their Focus brackets with maybe longer caliper bolts and some spacers. Is this an accurate assessment? It would be nice to not have to do any machining which was necessary with that kit which used the front rotor moved to the rear. So, will it all bolt up and work?
Karl
 
you need warmongers install kit, its in the group buy section right now. it moves your front rotors to the back and the fsvt's to the front using your stock calipers, so you dont have to go through the hell that is bleeding brakes.
 
redneckboarder said:
you need warmongers install kit, its in the group buy section right now. it moves your front rotors to the back and the fsvt's to the front using your stock calipers, so you dont have to go through the hell that is bleeding brakes.
Click to expand...
He just said that.
I think the fsvt rear rotors are the same size as the svt fronts (not 100% onthat), but I have no idea whether you can use the brackets and calipers. I suspect that wince warmonger went to the effort of making the kits in the first place it wont just be a straight bolt on otherwise he wouldhave not bothered, or copied them so that his just bolted up with out modification.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think Warmonger's kit came out so we could reuse our calipers and that isn't an issue with me since I'd use the bigger calipers, front and rear, from the SVTF - if they actually are bigger. I think I read that the SVTF fronts were the same size as the EO's but new brackets were needed to reuse the SVTC calipers. So, I'm hoping to skip having to use custom brackets by using the ones that come with the SVTF calipers which will already be a match for the SVTF rotors. And again, I want to do all four corners this way, not just the fronts. Hopefully this is clearer than my original post. I guess if the SVTF brakes won't work, I'll either forget about bigger brakes or go aftermarket as long as I can keep my EO wheels.
Thanks!
Karl
 
If you go to the group by thread you will find photos of my car with the Warmonger kit with E0 wheels. Yes, they fit. From what I can tell the E0 wheels are dimensionally identical to the E1 wheels except for the spokes.

The front Focus SVT rotors are 300mm in diameter. The front Contour SVT brakes are 278mm in diameter (often referred to as 28mm).

Alternatively, you can use the front Focus SVT calipers and rotors. They are nearly a bolt on. You must use the Focus caliper brackets, which come with the calipers if purchased new. To center the caliper, spacer washers must be used. I don't know if anyone has done that installation with E0 wheels, but since the dimensions are the same they should fit.

No one has tried to install the Focus rear rotors and calipers on a Contour. Most of the people on the group buy that are buying the rear only kit are doing that to add to their Focus SVT fronts. The Focus rear rotors from what I understand are solid rotors. The Warmonger rear kit uses the Contour SVT front rotors which are vented and are much better rotors.

There really is no need to use the Focus front calipers and rotors. The Warmonger kit works as well and is much less expensive.

I hope this helped clear up what you are trying to learn.
 
Thanks for the reply Jim. I guess all I was trying to do was to eliminate the fabrication aspect needed in order to get the front rotors to work on the rear which isn't to say that I wouldn't have that problem using SVTF rears. That's why I was wondering if anyone had done it before. Logically, if the fronts are interchangable (SVTF vs. SVTC), maybe the rears are too. The only thing I really didn't find out was if the SVTF rears were at least 278 mm, or bigger than the SVTC rears at any rate). Now, if they are, chances are that the caliper will be larger as well which will allow a bigger brake pad and what ever extra performance that brings with it. I realize that from a performance stand point, maybe I'm not buying much but there's still the asthetics to consider.
Karl
 
SVTF rear rotors are solid not vented and are 280mm. You will be better off using Warmongers brake kit that way you maintain the vented 280mm rotor.
 
The only thing I can add to this is that the Master cylinder and the brake caliper pots are all calibrated together. Assuming you want the same pedal feel as a stock Contour SVT then you would not want to change that a whole lot. If nothing else it must all be in balance between front and rear. The Focus calipers use bigger pistons but use a bigger master cylinder. The difference isn't much but it's there.
Anyway, I like the pedal feel on the CSVT with all CSVT calipers and bigger rotors a bit better than I do the mixed caliper setup. I also like the stock braking balance. For what it is, the CSVT in stock form had excellent balance but they just needed a little more stopping power. The kit I made provides this and then some! It will quickly exceed the limits of stock tire traction and it is esthetically pleasing as well. The brakes look like what should have come on the car from day one. :cool:
 
Thanks again to everyone who replied. FWIW I put my name on the list in the interest check thread for both front and rear kits. I'll need to buy new SVTC front rotors to put on the rear as mine are warped. I just hope I don't have a hard time getting them to work back there. That's another reason I thought of using SVTF stuff as I had to buy new rotors all around anyway. As far as vented vs. solid, that's probably not much of a factor performance wise - like everyone says - the rears do a smaller percentage of the braking. Also I would think that the brake balance would be preserved by using all SVTF rotors/calipers. The only thing I'd be missing is the larger master cylinder.

Well, I guess this subject has been pretty much gone over and since no one has tried using SVTF rotors on the rear of a SVTC, I guess I'm liable to have fabrication issues no matter which way I go. :crazy: Unless I just leave it stock. :cool:
Karl
 
Warmonger recommends machining the rotors that end up on the rear to ease the installation. You can easily take them down to minimum thickness with no ill effects because the rears have less stress and the new rotors are much thicker than the old ones.

That said, I did not machine mine. I kept them at original thickness.
 
Big Jim said:
Warmonger recommends machining the rotors that end up on the rear to ease the installation. You can easily take them down to minimum thickness with no ill effects because the rears have less stress and the new rotors are much thicker than the old ones.

That said, I did not machine mine. I kept them at original thickness.
Click to expand...
What did you (not) do then? I gather that this has something to do with getting the calipers and brake pads to fit over the rotor. Oh, maybe you meant that your front rotors were worn down enough that you didn't have to machine them to get the calipers/brakepads to fit over them...? If I have new rotors, will that be a problem?
Karl
 
98SVTC said:
What did you (not) do then? I gather that this has something to do with getting the calipers and brake pads to fit over the rotor. Oh, maybe you meant that your front rotors were worn down enough that you didn't have to machine them to get the calipers/brakepads to fit over them...? If I have new rotors, will that be a problem?
Karl
Click to expand...

The big brake kit provides adapter brackets and spacers that move the factory brackets and calipers out to the new rotor diameter and centers the daliper over the rotor. On the rear brakes, the original caliper bracket, which is reused, must be widened to accept the thicker new rotor.

My rotors were nearly new. I opened up the fatory original brackets more than would have been needed if the rotors had been machined.

To the original question about using warped rotors, that shouldn't matter. You can easily take the new rear rotors down to minimum thickness (or beyond), so that you have less to remove from the bracket.

There is plenty of material on the bracket so strength is not compromised. The bracket looks like it is forged.
 
Thanks for the reply, Jim. I think this is one of those things that I'm going to have to *see* in order to understand what needs to be done. Fortunately the car will already be down for suspension replacement so I won't be in a big hurry in case I have problems with this brake installation.
Karl
 
OK, but let me try one more time.

The factory caliper bracket, which get reused, stradles the caliper when installed. The new rotor is enough thicker that the bracket will not fit over it. The throat of the bracket was be enlarged to allow it to fit over the thicker rotor.

There should be some instructions for the install somewhere in the threads that would give you a better view.
 
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