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Front Brake Upgrade Kit SOLD
Fits 105 – 115 series ALFA Romeo Montreal’s, Spider’s and GTV’s. This is the kit pioneered by Larry Dickman Jr. Brake photographs are on a separate page.
Cost me $ 960 plus freight, selling for $ 690 including ground shipment in 48 lower states (USA). You'll save over $ 250 and a lot of work handling the detail and buying from several suppliers.
Disclaimer: Naturally, no one can take responsibility for modifications such as described on the following pages, except for you. Don’t proceed if you expect Wilwood, Coleman Machine, ALFA Romeo, ALFA Parts Exchange, ALFA clubs or any other individuals to assume any responsibility. You will notice that all suppliers noted in this paper have strong disclaimers attached to the sale of their products. I have listed several useful sources, use them at your our risk, always buy smart.
Overview: This document is based upon an “ALFA Romeo Association Tech Session / Presented by Larry Dickman Jr., ALFA Parts Exchange” paper. I used Larry’s guide to upgrade a 1971 Montreal and am providing information that I found useful. Larry developed this upgrade to fit within common 14” ALFA wheels and there are several routes one can follow to achieve the finished result. You can modify old 115 rotors creating iron hats and attach new rotors or you can have all new aluminum hats machined. I have selected the machine “New Aluminum Hats” route to detail.
I have provided a Bill of Material (BOM), rotor drawings, hat drawings and a source reference.
Brake knowledge: When I started my upgrade, I didn’t know what “hats” were and had not noticed that some race cars used two piece rotor / hat assemblies, I was a novice. Now I’m a novice with one experience. I also went the checkbook mechanic route, so I have not faced the difficulties directly. Below are several key words and phrases with which you will want to become familiar. Hat – Brake component that attaches the rotor to the hub. Most production cars have a one-piece rotor / hat combination, so called integral rotors. For this upgrade, you will make a separate hat and will attach it to the rotor using bolts and nuts. NAS shear bolt – A close tolerance and high strength bolt suitable for automotive brake applications. Use these to attach the rotor to the hat and the caliper to the spindle assembly. Jet nut – Lightweight-locking nuts commonly used on aircraft applications. These nuts have a slight deformation of the upper portion of the nut. Automotive uses are on three piece wheels and rotor to hat applications. Military spec (MS) 21042 are high strength nuts that should be safe for rotor to hat attachments. Unless you are knowledgeable about brakes, check out (library) or purchase one or more of the books listed in the reference section. The supplier section lists only a few of the many sources; the reference books have many more or search the Internet.
Cautions: Regular SAE bolts are not sufficient for this type of application. They are primarily for tension applications and you are interested in shear strength.
One can find socket head capscrews with very high strength ratings in a wide range of sizes with rolled threads, these too are for tension applications.
Both SAE bolts and capscrews have the loose tolerances for diameter and further the capscrews are threaded far onto to shank. Where the maximum shear force is applied (at the rotor and hat interface), you want a solid close fitting shank. Threads concentrate the force and are a “starting” point for failure. Use only all metal locknuts. Any nuts with a fiber or plastic (nylon) locking insert are not suitable for brake applications. Parts needed: I have created a Bill of Materials (BOM). This document is attached. You may prefer different calipers, brake pads or other rotors; the Bill of Material (BOM) lists the components I installed. Many of the ALFA’s covered by this upgrade will already have 115 series spindles installed. Check yours first before buying replacement parts. Comments about specific parts follow.
Rotors: Purchase vented rotors; use the drawing as a guide. Several options are available including gas vents, cross-drilling and curved vanes.
Hats: Larry offers instruction on modifying 115 Series integral rotor / hat parts, however I went with the option to have all new hat made from aluminum. Use the drawing as a guide.
Calipers: I went with the Wilwood Superlite IIA calipers. Rather than try to find another option that fits, I followed Larry’s recommendation. Clearances are tight around the rotor and hat so a small dimensional difference could cause interference. Wilwood calipers are well know and available at many racing shops.
Brake pads: I have used Carbon-Kevlar pads in the past and like the pedal feel and high friction, so I went this route again. Brake pads seem to be a very personal decision, there are many compounds available, enjoy the selection.
Notes on procedure:
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