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MG MGB Technical - front brake upgrade

I'm about to replace the brake hoses with braided ones and also replace the front pads. I have been told it is a good idea to change to the v8 pads becasue they fit straight in. I have also noticed there are green stuff pads for sale which sound good according to their sales bumf.

Can anyone offer andive on this. Will the 'upgraded' pads alter the braking balance too much and so rear will also need upgrading.

I think i will also change the disks as the passenger side is warped slightly an they are so cheap new. Again can anyone offer advice?

and are all braded hoses alike or are some 'better' than others.

thanks in advance
M

M-
Not all brake hoses are equal. Some are internally reinforced to preclude internal collapse (invisible to the eye).

V8 brake pads have the advantage of greater surface area and thus take longer to overheat and produce brake fade. Ther Green Stuff pads are made of a more heat resistant material and are thus even better. However, if you intend to drive hard and fast for a prolonged period, you should upgrade the materials of your brake shoes to compliment those used in the fron brake pads. As for total braking power, that's really up to your tires, so the front/rear balance issue is really a matter of fade resistence.
Steve S.

How do the Green stuff pads do in normal driving that does not overheat the brakes? Some all-out racing pads that people have found *require* frequent hard braking because their compound doesn't grip well unless it is hot. In normal driving, they're more dangerous than stock pads. That is sometimes the downside of higher heat resistance.

BTW, are the Green Stuff pads available in the US? I've seen them advertised in British magazines and talked about here by our Brit friends, but I don't know that I've seen them advertised in the US.
Paul Noble

Paul,
There's a current thread on the midget/Sprite General board re: Green pads.
Joe Cook

Isnt there also an upgrade using just one Triumph 2.5 Dolomite caliper half per side(leaving the other caliper half stock) for the front brakes?
That, coupled with the larger wheel cylinder from the MGC is another upgrade.
Paul: I have seen the Green Pads for sale in CONUS recently...either Moss, Brit-tek or Proper MG. Dont remember which.(Big help, huh?)
Andrew Blackley

Paul: It was the Proper MG. Part #GBP2107G $69.95 per set.
Andrew Blackley

I upgraded to Greenstuffs, slotted rotors and Stainless Steel lines just recently and you just won't believe how nice having real brakes feel. Good stuff, my wife used the car and noticed the differance right away.
Luigi

Andrew,

You may be thinking of the upgrade to original V8-standard brakes. If you get a chance to look at Roger Williams'book 'How to give your MGB V8 Power' he discusses making enhanced calipers from the outside half of standard MGB calipers and the inside half of Triumph 2000 or 2500 calipers; these would be exactly as the MGB V8 brake calipers.

By the way, the Dolomite was never a 2.5 and was based on a different vehicle than the Triumph 2000/2500 cars but might use the same brake calipers. After all, the brakes for many Leyland cars came from the Girling Parts Bin, put together as they saw fit at the time.

However, please note that the MGB V8 calipers are designed to grip onto the thicker MBG V8 discs (rotors, I think in US terminology).

Roger also discusses the use of the smaller roadster rear brake slave cylinders for any V8 conversion.

Although my comments are from a V8 point of view they may have merit when considering any form of uprated MGB.

Regards

Peter
P L Hills

M, I fitted Mintex (British made and recognized as one of the premier brake pad manufactures) V 8 pads to my 74 BGT. These do have a larger swept area than the standard pads. I only had them on the car for about 100 miles and didn't notice any improvement in the braking so refitted the standard size Mintex pads.

If you want to try them I'll be pleased to sell them to you for a fraction of the new cost.

Contact me directly if you're interested.

Andy

Andy Preston

The high performance high coeffecient of friction pads usually seem to need a little extra pressure to warm them up and only then do they get stronger than conventional pads. It could be that with a larger pad - the v8 pad - and the same size cylinder that the pressure per square inch or cm is less for the same amount of foot pedal pressure and they require more foot pedal pressure to get them to the critical pressure where the cf increases above stock type pads.
I know in my truck that the hi perf street type pads don't feel any better or different until I really aggressively stop the car. Then the difference is really noticable. Older hi perf pads didn't stop as well as stock pads until you got them warmed up. One rainy day I recall my rear brakes were the only thing that stopped me in ordinary stop and go driving with racing style hi temp/hi performance pads. There are huge differences in pad characteristics today. The MGB by current standards has large brakes. Stock brakes with the "right" pads can be much better than they were originally.
Barry
Barry Parkinson

"these would be exactly as the MGB V8 brake calipers"

I doubt it. Original V8 calipers use handed pads - one for the inside and one for the outside. By this I mean that the shape of one is the mirror image of the other, not that two different pads are used. Neither is the same shape as the 4-cylinder pads.
Paul Hunt

The Mintex V8 pads do fit. I found however, that when I removed them, there was a groove at the bottom where the extra area was wasted because it did not contact the swept area of the rotor.

The Mintex pads throw a LOT of dust. A trip to the grocery store will negate the mornings wash. If you have wires, you will hate them. The increased area does reduce the PSI at the rotor and will made for less "Feel" or "Bite". No big deal.

The pads never faded during track days. I recently went to Hawk pads and experienced a failure; it could have been the fluid.

As for the braided lines, I will never use anything else in any of my cars when it comes time to replace.

Pete
Pete

Not all braided hoses are alike.

Some are not DOT (MOT) approved (in the U.S. = Dept Of Transportation).
The packaging should reveal whether if they meet these requirements.

Some race sanctioning organizations stipulate that braided brake hoses
be composed of teflon. Other organizations are looser on this spec.

It might be a good idea to drop in on a local vintage club race and snoop around
the paddock and ask each owner what sort of brake hose specifications are they
required to meet - what were their experiences, and where did they get theirs.

Some small shops can make custom braided brake hoses if given the correct
fittings (although this can be difficult for some shops) - but then also, you'll have
little guarantee of meeting DOT requirements or standards. Here, you, yourself,
will have to monitor the type and quality hoses and components being used.

The Goodrich (...or is it Goodridge?) hoses (ready made kit) seem to have a following
of fans here in the U.S. and seems to be the brand that is most recognizable for British cars.
I do not know if they are DOT or MOT approved but I am seriously considering getting
a set of them for my next major brake rebuild fiesta.

I have a set of Ferodo V8 pads on my B/GT. Lots of dust! They don't make big difference
in normal duty braking, but they do haul the car down when you really have to stomp on them.

While we're on the subject of brake upgrades - I recently got an email from Moss declaring
that they are in the process of engineering their own Big Brake Kit for the MGB - due soon
(no exact date given). Anything like this will almost certainly smoke your wallet but it might
be worth it to wait on any home brew plans to try to get your hands on a set of expensive,
and hard-to-get, 4-pot calipers and all of the rest of the odd bits required to make them work.
Daniel Wong

This thread was discussed between 14/08/2003 and 15/08/2003

MG MGB Technical index

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