So I'm chatting with this mechanical engineer/fabricator guy that come in and hangs out at the bike shop I work at. He machined my SVT front motor mount so it would fit my early 95 model, and he starts asking me about Contours. He's into Merkur's and he mentions that they have a 4x108 bolt pattern, just like us. That gets me thinking.
You can increase braking power by going to a larger diameter rotor. This works by increasing torque - larger roter=longer lever arm with which to work with. That the concept behind the larger SVT brakes. Larger rotors also have more mass which is good for heat absorbsion (but bad for unsprung weight, another issue altogether) which can help keep brake fade away. The larger rotors can be used by any non-SVT with the addition of different caliper mounting brackets. These brackets relocate the caliper further outboard from the spindle. The AEM big brake kit for Honda/Acura works on the same principal. It uses a big rotor with the stock caliper and new mounting brakets, and it's been proven to work very effectivly, and CHEAPLY.
So, long story short, does anyone know if there are any larger 4x108 rotors out there in the Ford/Mercur parts bin that might work on our cars? If there are, my friend would help me design a new bracket that would locate the caliper the right disance away to make it work. It's not as cool as a BAER or Willwood set-up, but it would be cheap and effective. So hows about it?
