Time to replace brakes. Upgraded to Wilwood big brake from Allison

toddr124 said:
I know the right front caliper needs to be rebuilt or replaced (it will not bleed easily)
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Are you sure the flex line is OK? If you can't bleed it, it might not necessarily be the caliper. If the hose is collapsed internally, it will be hard to bleed and the caliper will stick.

I use OE brakes on sticky Yokohama A539 185/60/13s. The car stops quite well. If I ever finish my turbo build, I will keep the stock brakes.. I'm not going any faster, just getting there quicker :)
 
This might apply here. I sent a Fiat Spider hub and a Fiat 500 10" vented disc to Todd at TCE brakes. He made caliper brackets that mounts to the stock hub caliper mount. His bracket allows the mounting of Wilwood radial calipers. I got the idea from Steve B. From Mira.

The whole assembly just fits under a 14" turbo wheel with a 1/2 spacer.

I don't have any feedback yet as my friend bought the kit from me since he liked the kit so much.

Anyway send Todd a hub and disc and get an estimate.

In the past Todd made me a 4 wheel kit for my Scorpion. Car had great brakes. Unfortunately the discs were 11" from a European Fiat. This was pre Fiat 500.

Ralph
 
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myronx19 said:
Are you sure the flex line is OK? If you can't bleed it, it might not necessarily be the caliper. If the hose is collapsed internally, it will be hard to bleed and the caliper will stick.

I use OE brakes on sticky Yokohama A539 185/60/13s. The car stops quite well. If I ever finish my turbo build, I will keep the stock brakes.. I'm not going any faster, just getting there quicker :)
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I loosened the brake hose at the caliper and fluid came out with no problem. I did replace the hose about 6 years ago.
 
toddr124 said:
I loosened the brake hose at the caliper and fluid came out with no problem
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Strange! The only other thing it can be is a plugged bleeder (normally even a seized caliper will allow you to bleed it, not that it's a good thing!). I have that issue on my daily driver and can't bleed the brakes - I bought new bleeder screws.

Keep us posted!
 
myronx19 said:
Strange! The only other thing it can be is a plugged bleeder (normally even a seized caliper will allow you to bleed it, not that it's a good thing!). I have that issue on my daily driver and can't bleed the brakes - I bought new bleeder screws.

Keep us posted!
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Replaced the bleeder twice. Once with a speed bleeder once with an original bleeder. I think the flow is blocked somehow.
 
A bit off topic, but I've tried those "Speed Bleeders" before and wasn't too fond of them.

Back to your issue Todd. I wonder, if the hose is disconnected and the bleeder removed, can air pressure be sent either direction through the caliper? I'd have to think through the design of the caliper more to realize if that is even possible. But I'm thinking it might blow out any obstructions. Myron, now that you are a certified brake specialist, can that be done without complete disassembly of the caliper? I'm honestly not sure.
 
lanciahf said:
I sent a Fiat Spider hub and a Fia 500 10" vented disc to Todd at TCE brakes. He made a caliper bracket that mounts to the stock hub caliper mount.
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On the discussion of upgrades. There is another thread that talks about the idea of mounting New 500 rotors, calipers, and mounting brackets on the X. It has been done on a Scorpion (and possibly others?) without modification. They aren't the cheapest components to find, but less than aftermarket stuff. The difficulty was with the rears; mounting 500 rear calipers was being worked on - not certain how that ended up. Here is that thread:
https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/front-brake-option.32608/
 
lanciahf said:
In the past Todd made me a 4 wheel kit for my Scorpion. Car had great brakes. Unfortunately the discs were 11" from a European Fiat. This was pre Fiat 500.
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Ralph, I was looking at the TCE site you referenced. I see what I assume is your Scorpion brake kit listed (see link below). I'm curious what the 11" (284mm) rotors were that you used? And who is "DJ Richards" they refer to about the rotors?

I'm sure it would be easy for TCE to make the same kit for the 500's rotors, for use on the X. Especially considering you had them do a set for your 124 using those rotors. With the 124 having the same stock calipers as the X1/9, will your 124 TCE kit fit a X1/9 (but I'm pretty sure 124 brackets are different, so I don't think so)?

Here is the link: http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/lancia-scorpion/kits-44/
 
D.J Richards runs the site www.lancisti.net, he used to have an online store that sold performance drilled vented rotors for Fiat/Lancia. I think the rotors were from a late model Fiat Coupe 20v from the 90s. Remember this was before the Fiat 500 was available in the states.

if the x1/9 uses the same caliper brackets as a 124 then it might work. Just to be sure I would send him a X 1/9 hub and a 500 disk to be sure.

Nice thing about Todd is that he matches the calipers with the brake master cylinder size.
IMG_20180812_140224509.jpg IMG_20180812_140230941.jpg IMG_20180812_140639673.jpg IMG_20180812_140646172.jpg IMG_20180812_140651570.jpg IMG_20180812_144155515.jpg IMG_20180812_140235941_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg IMG_20180812_140242483.jpg
 
Ralph, do the rear calipers have any type of parking brake feature with your Wilwood applications?
 
There are mechanical parking brake retrofits available for street rods. The Wilwood MC4, for example. Might be an option for using calipers w/o an integrated parking brake.
 
Finally got to drive the car today with this upgrade. Best brakes ever on an X1/9. Lots of feel and they stop the car better than EBC green ever did. The kit came with everything I needed to install the calipers except a 1/4 inch open end wrench to bleep the brakes. I did not own a SAE open wrench set. I do now. Installation went very well. I did need to bleep the calipers multiple times to get all the air out. I am running 15inch wheels so they fit with no problem.
I normally try to list a problem or 2 with any installation, but the 2 worst problems were 1/4 bleed screw and multiple bleeding attempts. I would highly recommend this upgrade.
 
Todd, was that the procedural bleeding of brake fluid or the DIY bleeding of knuckles?

Just for the record, which kit did you get?
 
carl said:
Todd, was that the procedural bleeding of brake fluid or the DIY bleeding of knuckles?

Just for the record, which kit did you get?
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https://allisonsautomotive.com/coll...9_big_brake_kit_with_dl10_pads_-_front_brakes
I used these calipers and they included the upgraded pads. I bleed the brakes with this:
https://www.amazon.com/Motive-Produ...argid=aud-466360936450:pla-571251780138&psc=1
I won this this bleeder at the open house at IAP one year. I did buy the correct cap for the X1/9 off ebay. The 3 attempts I tried to build the connector from parts all ended up leaking. The problem bleeding had to do with the dual bleeding nipples on the calipers. I end up having to do each side 4 times.
 
dragonsgate said:
As some of you might know my car is electric with a series wound DC motor.
That means I have no compression like an ICE and no regen like an Ac motor to help slow me down so the only thing between me and God is the brakes.

When I first did my car I had 1134 pounds of Led acid batteries stuffed in it.
The curb weight was 3100 pounds plus me and a passenger making the total weight around 3500 pounds.

I have whittled the curb down to 2500 pounds and can now get the tires so screech in a hard stop.
.
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Side note: any plans for finding an AC motor new or used? Also are you still running lead acid? With years of searching behind you i am sure a strong AC motor would have surfaced as well as finding some deals for the Li batteries. Whether or not the wallet timing aligned is another story.
 
Thanks Todd, looks like a modern version of the WHOA brakes, I'll have to test brake your car one of these days.
In my case I'd have to add the price of new wheels and tires....yikes!
 
Those look similar to the setup I made for my Scorpion, except I used 11” Lancia Delta rotors. Required a 15” wheel for clearance. The spacer was for the wheels and wasn’t required for the brake conversion.

74C14468-2529-4514-A6DD-3F7D35365E88.jpeg



toddr124 said:
https://allisonsautomotive.com/coll...9_big_brake_kit_with_dl10_pads_-_front_brakes
I used these calipers and they included.
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carl said:
Thanks Todd, looks like a modern version of the WHOA brakes, I'll have to test brake your car one of these days.
In my case I'd have to add the price of new wheels and tires....yikes!
Click to expand...
 
I think I had my brother fab them on his mill. It’s been a dozen or so years. They were similar to the ones you see in the Woa or Allison kits.

Dr.Jeff said:
Mark, did you make the caliper mounting brackets from scratch, or did you find something existing that could be made to work?
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