Odd brake question, why or why not?

[Jimmi The Kid]

My friend who did a huge restoration on his 86, and he get the front brakes switch side by a mistake. So the brake caliper sits at the back and not in the front of the disc as usually. Like Ferrari and Porsche.

So this is posible, but will there be any gain doing that??? I think there much be a reason why the manufactors did what the did.

I'm doing a RX7 FC brake upgrade, with a Corolla AE101 22x255mm disc, or whatever I can find, so I have to make my own bracket anyway.

[fantapants]

i believe and could well be wrong, that it is to do with packaging only.

to get the caliper out of the way of things like stearing arms etc etc, they go opposite the side the stearing bits

[Ivan141]

Well you could end up bummed if you switch them over if they do not have bleed screws on both sides of the caliper :wink:
This is why most aftermarket calipers have bleed screws on both sides.
Other than that, I'm with fantapants.. packaging is probably the main reason why calipers are put where they are.

[Jimmi The Kid]

Ivan141 Wrote:Well you could end up bummed if you switch them over if they do not have bleed screws on both sides of the caliper :wink:
This is why most aftermarket calipers have bleed screws on both sides.
Other than that, I'm with fantapants.. packaging is probably the main reason why calipers are put where they are.

The bleed screw won't be a problem, just switch side. :wink:

But mayby your right, Ferrari just place them there because of the steering arm. The Landcruiser have the same setup, and it also have the steering arm in the other side.

I had hoped there was a gain, like better cooling of the disc or getting the weight closer to the center of the car.

[mc68]

When its unsprung mass, putting things towards the centre of the car makes no difference.

[Eric]

just dont put them on the top, or the bottom.

[Dino86]

Cooling performance will be influenced (at least on modern cars )
Also, the stress on the bearings/knuckles will be different I guess. Caliper on the front pushes down when braking, Caliper on the back side pulls up. Not sure about the effect For sure on racing cars it makes a difference.