Great info. Sounds like someone could make some money making that caliper bracket.

Question- when you make the bracket, is it a simple plate with holes in it? Or are there bends/welds? How thick is it? Just trying to get an idea of the difficulty here.

I can't wait to get some money coming in for some bilstein inserts. The s13 brakes also sound like a great idea. I hope there aren't any differences between the australian s13's and the american ones.

No prob Matt.
The brakes are based on the std 1200 hub. Just a minor bit of machining required for fittment. Outer diameter of the hub needs to be machined so that the s13 rotor sits over the top, unlike the std 1200 rotor which bolts on from behind. The snout of the hub also needs to be machined also to match the ID of the S13 rotor. couple of MM's tops.

As for the caliper, a mounting bracket needs to be made. The bracket is bolted to the 1200 orginal caliper mounting points and then the S13 caliper is bolted to the bracket. no slimming required. All components line up. All bolts can be reused, 1200 caliper bolts to mount the bracket to the struts and the S13 caliper bolts to mount the caliper to the bracket. Also re-use the S13 wheel studs [as they are longer] in the 1200 hubs.

This convesrsion could't be easier..

The same bracket applies to both versions of the S13 brakes offered from the factory.

cheers
benny

ben, thx for that coilover info!

but more info please re: s13 brakes on 1200 struts ...

custom hub necessary, fab new caliper mounts ... or ???

ratdat mentioned to me using primera front load rotors on drum brake struts with new caliper brackets, and that sounds promising as well

I am a big fan of the S13 brake conversion on the 1200 struts. Using the smaller of the two rotors offerred on the S13 [250mm and 280mm], most 13 inch wheels will still fit.

Also in Australia, thread tubes for coilover kits to suit the 1200 struts [45mm threaded tubes] are available.

.Noltec 2006 catalogue

The VW Golf [rabbit] shock insets look like the best candidate so far

ok, i asked around and apparently the golf mk1 insert will work as it's small enough to fit the 1200 strut tube. (i figured we were discussing mk3 like many 510 guys use. )

however, the mk1 insert is nearly 4" shorter, so either a spacer is used to take up the slop, or the tube itself will need to be shortened accordingly (which is probably best on a slammed car like that dark blue coupe with libres

advantages: keep lightweight 1200 strut/spindle/steering arm

disadvantage: stock front brakes; strut tube too small to easily fit coilovers

The reason people end up cranking up the rebound is it "feels" fast.........the car ends up with a real snappy turn in and also drifts really easily.There in is the exact problem , a overly stiff car will break loose a lot sooner. Run the car on the soft side and it builds mechanical grip , it won't have that instantainous feel but you'll be 3 or 4 mph faster in most corners. It's funny to read that article because A few years ago I'd been talking with my buddy steve about this subject on his GT6 and then a couple weeks later Kaz Kastner told him the same thing.

This months Sports Car (SCCA's magazine) has an article with some of the countries top autocrossers pretty much saying the same thing we are talking about and it is possible to tune your way to a slower time.

As for Bilsteins , the couple of Scandenavians I know who build Rally cars swear by them.

Anyway let us know how what you settle on as finding something for the stock strut would be cool

Tom

Here's a great article that backs up your comments about adjsutable shocks. The writer also reccomends bilsteins.

http://www.wincom.net/trog/autocross_secrets6.html

Well I'll give away a secret; I'm using the old Tokico green non adjustable inserts in the 280ZX struts and on the rear I use the really old non-gas bottom and twist to adjust the rebound Koni Shocks to make minor changes to the transeint handling..........that's it. Or for the rare rain race I disconnect the rear bar. Note that Tom Neeley, who builds National Winning tube frame GT cars for a living, for years ran a tub 510 with non adjustable shocks.He new what dampers and springs the car needed set-up wise and stuck to it.
If you read "inside Indy car Racing" there is 100 pages on how dampers work........then when you read Carrol Smith's "Tune to Win" (which is the bible of race car set up) when it comes to dampers he says "there is nothing you need to know because , Koni comes to every race" what he was getting at is, if race teams have a shock engineer they're more complicated then people think.

Double adjustables have a purpose but unless you are attempting to be a SCCA National Champ don't bother...................I encounter a lot of students at track days who've screwed up the handling with double adjustables. They've usaully got the rebound cranked up so their car is waaaaaay darty and the compression mismatched to the point of the car being really skatey over the bumps

So I would go with one of 2 options ;

1. call Koni send them the exsisting struts and they can make up a perfect fit.......probably pricey.

2. Go with KYB or Bilstein get them valved for the 1200 , all you need is something that you can stiffen up(overall) for a local autocross then run them back to full soft for street driving.

Tom

dbl post

What would be good shock/strut valving for a street/autox 1200?