Technical Big brake upgrade

[kimi1984]

Hi all, hope you had a good Christmas and New year. I'm taking my marea off the road to sort out the paint work as it's looking a bit worse for wear (still not bad for 16 year old though) and am looking to do a brembo brake upgrade using the coupe 20vt parts while it's parked up. Can anyone advise what parts (apart from the calipers and disks) I need to get for it?

Thanks all

 

[kimi1984]

Forgot to say, it's a 1998 HLX 2.0 20v.

 

[F1ANG]

I've put this question up a few times with no answer back, as i wanted to convert my bravo hgt, tbh i don't think anybody really knows.

I know for sure you can do it the "bodgy" way by having custom brackets made up. To do it the propper way from what I've gathered so far, you need:

Coupe 20vt:
Hubs
Brembos (obviously)
Suspension struts

Where im confused is the drive shafts... Do 20v N/A shafts fit into 20vt hubs, or will 20vt drive shafts fit into the none turbo gearbox?

You'll have to let us all know how you get on. If you ever attempt it....

 

[franglais]

im struggling to think what would the advantage of a brake upgrade would be, on the basis that, pushing hard i can lock up the wheels on my marea weekend (broken ABS) using the factory setup, sending anyone unattached into the windscreen!!! i assume it would be sensitivity of the pedal, i cant see that it would give better stopping power, as that comes from the tyres, and short of putting racing slicks on the car i can't think how it would improve things. perhaps bigger brakes reduce brake fade? i dont know.

perhaps it's me not understanding the (what i call) show off culture surrounding cars, reminds me of an incident a few years ago. A ricer was in the car park at work with his bonnet open, nothing fancy, a beat up old 305 with a custom front bumper and bad spray job, i walked over with my jump leads and asked (genuinely misunderstanding he was actually showing off something or other in the bay) if he needed any help; he wasn't amused!

genuine question, what would you achieve with a brake upgrade?

 

[F1ANG]

Despite what you think is good breaking on your marea, Brembos are alot bigger and have alot more stopping power. Not to mention a far superior 4 piston calliper, used on a whole range of turbocharged cars from factory.


The standard disk size on a marea 20v is 284 mm where as brembos use 305mm disks, also fade is dramatically reduced, don't get me wrong standard marea/bravo/20v coupe callipers combined with good disks, fluid and pads are pretty good. Certainly up to the task for the average everyday driver.

But for enthusiastic drivers that like to drive hard, ie full on mountain assaults in the middle of summer and breaking hard from high speeds regularly, the brembos are in a completely different league, i found standard callipers on both my none turbo coupes (same as marea) were good, but did fade quite easily after a bit of stick, brembos will take alot more stick before they even think about fading. Bare in mind a marea is quite a large heavy car, more capable brakes can only be a good thing

Also they look great behind any alloys, huge aesthetic improvement imo.

Now your probably thinking who thrashes there big old fiat estate to the point of achiving brake fade..........

 

[bluejohn125]

Ang, did you find a 20V Weekend like you said you wanted????

 

[F1ANG]

Ang, did you find a 20V Weekend like you said you wanted????

I didn't john

I still trawl the net most days, just waiting for the right bus to come along

How's your car going mate?

 

[CFREITAS]

Kimi
All you need are the hubs and track rod ends from the coupe, and while you have the calipers out would be a good idea to refurb and powder coat

 

[Caravadossi]

... looking to do a brembo brake upgrade using the coupe 20vt parts ...

Considering the range of FIAT (& Alfa & Lancia) models that use the same `Marea’ brakes – then it could be argued they’re a very respectable set-up for a Marea 2.0/20v

In contrast I think the specific Coupe brakes you’re set-on fitting maybe an up-grade but are unique(?) & possibly back-you-into-a-corner.

271248Z

 

[kimi1984]

Thanks for all your help, the annoying thing is I've seen it done before, both on a bravo 20v and a marea too.

 

[CFREITAS]

Thanks for all your help, the annoying thing is I've seen it done before, both on a bravo 20v and a marea too.

I had them fitted to my yellow bravo brefly, but it had no abs so wad locking up everytime u went near the brakes

 

[CFREITAS]

Now your probably thinking who thrashes there big old fiat estate to the point of achiving brake fade..........

ME
Regularly see my Weekend on track at Brands Hatch

 

[franglais]

ME
Regularly see my Weekend on track at Brands Hatch

i would love to do that, brands hatch is an awesome circuit, but i can't afford to break the old girl and have to buy another. i have to make do with http://www.lfs.net/ live for speed

 

[CFREITAS]

i would love to do that, brands hatch is an awesome circuit, but i can't afford to break the old girl and have to buy another. i have to make do with http://www.lfs.net/ live for speed

It's so much fun, should definitely try it some time
Just take it easy and don't break it, first time I took my bravo out it ended up Tue rhe barrier at Druids

 

[Plbmak]

Hi, nice one. I have Coupe calipers on my Marea running cosworth 4 pots. The rears are the marea front discs with Ford probe rear calipers for the handbrake. I rum EBC redstuff on the front and green stuf on the back. Best brakes ever! If you want more detals, see here -
http://plbmak.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[steve20vt]

Hi, nice one. I have Coupe calipers on my Marea running cosworth 4 pots. The rears are the marea front discs with Ford probe rear calipers for the handbrake. I rum EBC redstuff on the front and green stuf on the back. Best brakes ever! If you want more detals, see here -
http://plbmak.blogspot.co.uk/

Great blog although my phone wouldn't load the pics.
Interested in the probe caliper conversion.

 

[steve20vt]

Just a little update on the hubs / shafts front. Marea 2.4 jtd shaft fits in coupe hub, I suspect that the 20v hgt hubs are the same as the jtd ones.
Coupe struts also fit the marea hub and vice versa.

 

[CFREITAS]

20v shafts do not fit coupe hubs as I found out the hard way
Plus you need a coupe steering rack if fitting brembos as the ends simply won't fit


On the plus side they look the business

 

[steve20vt]

Okay maybe 20v cv joints don't fit, my jtd has got something weird going on, the hubs are different to coupe hubs. But the coupe shaft/ cv joint fits in whatever hubs are fitted in my weekend jtd.
I can take the coupe cv joint and fit it to the marea shaft, and then fit that in the marea hub.
Although the coupe abs ring doesn't line up with the sensor. But then again the marea cv joint has no abs ring at all.

 

[CFREITAS]

In my experience they are a mix and match of parts