Putting the brakes on this project

Yeah, yeah, I’m still trying to wind the brakes up on this car but it’s fighting me the whole way.

The fronts installed great, in fact, they went on so easily, I’m thinking there might be a problem with them so I’ll be revisiting those as soon as I get the rears sorted out.

I thought my issues stopped with the caliper mounts not being spaced properly. I had this plan to get a thick walled tube, 1” OD DOM with .250 walls and a 1/2” ID, and cut pieces off of that and shaved them to size for spacers. It’s more work but its gotta look better that stacked washers. Another reason for going this direction is to save myself the future headache when I remove the caliper for God knows what, and I lose one of the washers.

I wanted to avoid creating another project, which seems to be the norm on this car, so I had declared I would stack washers and move on.

I couldn’t do it.

After stacking thick and thin washers and still being off by less than a ten thousandth, I went back on my word and pulled out my laptop, fired up the 3D cad program and went about copying the factory mount as my baseline.

I assumed that the mounts were identical from side to side. I see no identifying marks on them denoting left or right. My minds eye sees a big ass bin with these mounts piled in it and the packaging people just grab as many as each system needs and puts them in the delivery box. That should mean they’re uniform, right?

Wrote the dimensions down and then input the info into the cad program.

I worked with a rerun of Eureka playing across my TV screen and the mount took shape in it’s CGI form. All of this work so I can make a prototype on a 3D printer. It’s cheaper than making a a CNC version out of aluminum and then find out I suck and made the mount wrong. It’s better to suck in plastic.

The 3D printer worked through the night while I slept. Somethings that’s not advised as people believe that the printer nozzle could overheat and set the printer on fire so what i did was set up a space heater in front of the printer to help keep the printer bed hot so the plastic filament will stick to it. The heater had its timer set. Now that is a device I can see catching fire.

I thought this was a one and done. I’ve been known to be wrong.

I built the mount using the left side as the model and I was within the .005” tolerance and then I used the plastic mount on the right to show how cool I am and show off that one side fits all.

Of course it’s wrong.

I used the same washer stack on the right that was on the left and that spacing was different than the stand alone mount. Hmmm.

Grabbed both mounts and measured them. Yup, they’re not the same but they’re not extremely off.

After thinking about it, I decide that it’s probably the seating of the axle bearing on the axle. There’s no positive stop for how far the bearing should be pressed on so I figure there’s a bit of a fudge factor involved. It’s not so bad that it will affect the axles and differential but it’ll definitely affect how the rotor centers up in the caliper.

I take my measurements and get the computer out again.

It’s an easy fix. I can edit my drawing so it’s a simple operation to make a discrete left and right, on the computer anyway, the printer will still take 5 and 1/2 hours per mount to make.

Lets try fitting the new ones, shall we?

Build the left side again and the clearances have changed. WTH????

Why? What the hockey puck?

OMG, I have been having a serious case of tunnel vision. After so many attempts trying to get rotors from Baer with the proper lug bolt pattern, I am just over the moon when they finally get me the correct ones and they slide over the studs and seat down over the center of the axle flange. Now, after creating another project and deciding to get custom mounts built, I finally notice, and only after these don’t seem right, that I discover that things are not right. The rotors are not sitting solidly onto the axle flange.

Go back to compare the old and the new and guess what? The old rotor never fit properly!!!! How the Hell did I not see that?!?!?!?

The areas of concern are the center section of the axle flange. The chingus that sticks out of the center of the rotor and wheel. The piece has not been machined all of the way down to the face of the flange, there is a ring down at the base of the chingus. The rotor’s center opening is relieved on the back but it’s not enough to clear the ring. The ring must go.

Concern two are the wheel studs themselves. The base of the studs are just about a half inch in diameter and the infamous rotor stud holes are smaller.

I ain’t complaining, I’m thinking.

Kevin suggests the unidrill. I can’t think of a reason not to. Opening the stud holes will be easy but the center of the axle and/or rotor is something else.

In the end, a dremel with a ball grinder is used to grind the belt way down on the chingus. It takes some time but the rotor eventually finds itself seated solidly to the axle flange, on the right side anyway. I rush the left side and it’ll be a the next day that I notice my rushed work and grab the dremel again.

Needless to say, this repositioning of the rotor changes the caliper spacing and in turn. the mount.