Brakes

[124JOE]

hey matt that sounds like a great dream for me
but my stock set up is fine IMHO or at least my foot

[spiderrey]

The stock set up is fine for most driving situations. I have a built up 2 liter and was on a run with a buch of other Fiats when my brakes went away. They over heated, we were running down a windy canyon road and i was pushing the car hard. i had to back off till we got to straight highway where the brakes cooled off and came back. Could have used better brakes then. Then again most spiders wont get driven that hard.

[wmausbach]

A simple trick is removing the dust shields as it improves the cooling. Almost all the modern cars do not use them, I think it goes back to the days when gravel strrets were common.
Wayne

[maytag]

I went to the tarox site and couldnt find any info on the setup.

You will have to email them, i bought last year 285mm discs with 6 pot callipers, its all available. It appears the fire breathing fiats website is no longer available which had lots of info and photos on this set up. Make sure you ask about the custom brackets they sent to Australia.

I contacted Tarox last week, and this is the reply I just received back from them:

The supply of the kit to two customer is Australia was a bit of a saga so I think it is worthy to give you some background information
Being a company based in Italy we engineered a few kits for Fiat 124 spider . When we sold the two kits to Australia we discovered that the model sold there was manufactured in 1981, imported from USA to OZ and had a Fiat "improvement" with larger discs and larger calipers . In the hindsight we should have checked before but hindsight is a perfect science. A Fiat 124 with that specs was only meant for North American market so we could not find a car to alter the bracket. Luckily enough, one of the aussie customers was technically minded and managed to help us to draw a new bracket so we could help him out. Still the experience left us watchful about that model and although we have a fully working e-commerce enabled US website (http://www.tarox.com) we decided not to include that application in the "cherry picked" ones.
Now the kit was offered for sale to the Australian customers at Euro 1350 including FedEx transport and include:

Two 284mm vented single piece discs

Two B280-6 piston calipers

One set of pads

Two braided hoses

Two fitting brackets

and I am prepared to offer the same deal to you.

If you are happy about the price - strong Euro does not help - and want to go ahead I need you to check the mounting point of your calipers; as you may understand we do not want to do the same mistake twice.

Please advise if you need any further information .

Price being what it is (1350 Euros is something close to $1800!), I'm still interested.
But what I cannot tell from either the description nor the photos is wether these rotors are vented in the traditional sense? or just grooved? I mean, does it have vents between the friction surfaces? or did they just groove it and call that vented?

[124JOE]

it looks to me to not have vents
unless they figure the long slots are the vent
but dont seem likely

[maytag]

Tarox has responded. They are indeed vented.



(here's the image originally linked. I hope weekend warrior doesn't mind?)

[narfire]

I believe fire breathing was Joe Clemente and I'm guessing his brother is Geo Clemente, owner operator of Clemente 4play autosport.
http://clementeeuropeanmotorsautosport.com/
His website says he deals with torox brakes. I've delt with him in the past when building my car and he has helped Father G get his car sorted, very knowlagable about Italian cars.

Chris

[manoa matt]

The Vick's auto big brake kit is about the same as the Tarox kit but uses Wilwood calipers. The discs are vented but not slotted, however they should not be hard to find in drilled/slotted. And less than 1/2 the price of the Tarox kit.

[maytag]

The Vick's auto big brake kit is about the same as the Tarox kit but uses Wilwood calipers. The discs are vented but not slotted, however they should not be hard to find in drilled/slotted. And less than 1/2 the price of the Tarox kit.

Actually, Vick's has it available in drilled / slotted as well.
http://www.vickauto.com/newstore/index. ... ts_id=3513

[124JOE]

thanks for the info

[boogiedude]

Vicks uses a 4 piston caliper, the tarox is 6 if I've read everything correctly. And jeez 1800 is incredibly stiff... You could spend a good deal less transferring a system off of a bmw or merc that has 4/6 pot calipers and then having a bracket machined for you.

[Daniel]

Hal and someone else modified Honda brakes for there Spiders that has to be a less expensive route
then these kits but i realize the 4 and 6 piston calibers are better performance it just seems like
over kill on a 2000 lb car .

[weekend warrior]

Why are you guys always looking for the cheapest option? What price do you put on the best brakes, it could literally be life or death? It's not what they are worth, what's your value? It might be controversial but I put the best available on my spider, new bearings, bushes, springs, brakes, lines, master, konis, rims and Michelin sports. Why would you want to be laying in a casualty ward telling a nurse about your cheap brakes??

[124ADDHE]

The stock brake stop the car just fine! What, you have a gang of fat chicks in your car Weekend Warrior ?

The stock brakes easily lock the wheels up (im boosterless, thats how i know), the only real benefit that people can derive from upgraded brakes is more heat dissapation ability, this can be done with better pads (maintain friction to much high temperatures than stock semi-metalics), venting (CSA) and more careful driving.I know it was years ago but in the old road and track test agains the 914, MGB, tr6, (all light sportscars) the old fiat was second to only the 914 and it was close, think how far tire technology has come since the 70's, Ill be the fiat can stop much faster with modern tires than back then

Go ahead and buy them but dont think you are much safer unless you are carrying loads beyond the fiats design (gang of fat chicks), the stockers with good pads will be more than reliable enough.

[narfire]

I've noticed an improvement just by going to braided lines and sloted front rotors.
If you are racing, I'd be going to aftermarkets.