Those junkyard big brake upgrades

SWMBO and I were driving to the laundromat a few minutes ago and we’re sitting next to a newish Dodge Grand Caravan at a red light. I looked over and saw...

huge berkeleying front brakes.  The caliper was massive and the rotor look at least 14”. I’m wondering what else those brakes could fit on?  And how hard is that process in general?  If the brake discs have the right bolt pattern they’ll slide right on, how much of an issue is the center bore size?  Obviously a smaller hole in the brake disc could be opened up, could a spacer be used if the hole was larger than the hub?  And brackets could be made for the caliper. 

I’m thinking things like this are perfect for cheap challenge level builds. 

Here is a write-up and good example. 

http://turbododgeparts.com/html/slh2_slh3_brake_upgrade.html

Also using NA pt stuff on neons is a upgrade. All bolt in. 

There's always the common Japanese brake upgrade of z32 calipers with random rotors that fit the application. That's even been done on really new cars. Kinda drives me nuts. I want someone to find better, newer, and more plentiful upgrade calipers. Who me? I'm not the droid you are looking for. 

Most cars have a solid junkyard upgrade.  For my race Civic, take 07 Mini Cooper non S 280mm rotors and 96 accord Wagon/integra type R calipers and it all bolts on to my 91 Integra spindle.  It also just barely fits in a 15" wheel still.  
 

For our 07 Mazda3, Speed3 calipers and rotors up front, Madza5 van rotors and caliper brackets in the back. 

SN95 twin piston front calipers (GT and Cobra) bolt to MN12s with no modifications. Can even use stock MN12 rotors with the GT calipers, but you'll have to redrill the bolt pattern on the Cobra rotors.

I believe the same applies to pre-96 Tauruses.

First-gen Expedition calipers & rotors are a good upgrade for 97-03 F150s. The rotor is much thicker. You can also use the calipers from a 7700 series F150, but you'll need different rotors (7700 series is 7 lug).

You can also swap tundra brakes on 3rd gen 4 runners and 5th gen onto 4th gen. 

Hmmm. What if I wanted to go in reverse. How can I find out what 350z brakes will upgrade?  

I did this a while back.  Great mod for the truck

https://www.nloc.net/vbforum/showthread.php/210296-Factory-Big-Brake-Kit

Comparison, stock on the left, upgrade on the right

What I want to know is what junkyard disk set ups will swap on to a standard rear drum application. 2 of my cars (Durango and 3rd gen camaro) came with drum rears  that kinda suck.

In reply to itsarebuild :

I assume 6 lug Durango?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Damn I had been looking for that for a long time after reading it a few years back and google was zero help.

In reply to Ranger50 :

Glad to help.

I need to dig into the Bronco 4WABS system stuff and see if I can get it to work with this.

The J55 13" brake upgrade is a bolt on for standard C4 Corvettes.

Did it on the cheap by getting reman part store calipers with brackets and scoreing blank Brembo rotors on sale.

In reply to Ranger50 :

For the Durango yes. 2003 had disks... but I have conflicting info about master cylinders between setups and what to do with the rear ABS system.

In reply to infinitenexus :

Finding a correct offset, thickness and diameter rotor is the hard part. What would be easier is to Fab up a bracket to work with rotors of your choice

In reply to _ :

I have Z32s with 12 inch rotors on my 2100lb SE-R. It is cheap, easy, plentiful and it works damn well. I could have also used the Spec Brembos but that would have been a downgrade

itsarebuild said:

What I want to know is what junkyard disk set ups will swap on to a standard rear drum application. 2 of my cars (Durango and 3rd gen camaro) came with drum rears  that kinda suck.

Camaro is the 1LE upgrade IIRC.

In reply to ChrisLS8 :

What did you pay for the z32 calipers? Most often they aren't cheap around here. Everyone "knows what they have" 

^You can buy Z32 reman calipers really cheap.

That said, the info on them is unclear on rockauto and it wouldn't surprise me if they are all the later cast iron calipers instead of the aluminum ones (if you go with the 30mm width)

In reply to _ :

I get the reman ones. The 90-91 are aluminum 30mm then 92-93 were iron the remainder were 26mm

The 1995-1997 Lexus LS400 had 12.5" front discs with 4-piston aluminum calipers. The 1998-2000 had the same but with monoblock (one piece) 4-piston aluminum calipers. Pretty sweet setup. You also don't have to take the caliper off to change pads. I've scored a set from the junkyard before for pretty dang cheap. I decided not to use it and made some decent money selling it on eBay.

I remember when corrado g60 rotors were the hotness for several 4x100 upgrades. 

I had a 5th gen 99 Accord. Front brake upgrade was to use Integra type R calipers (and I think brackets, it's been several years), with VTEC prelude rotors. 

Still single piston but with a bigger bore and gained approximately 1 inch of rotor diameter. Still fit with the 15 inch wheels.

It was a 5 speed coupe so it already had rear discs. The car stopped really great after this.

itsarebuild said:

What I want to know is what junkyard disk set ups will swap on to a standard rear drum application. 2 of my cars (Durango and 3rd gen camaro) came with drum rears  that kinda suck.

Find a whole axle the same width with discs and preferably the same bolt pattern, and swap it over.

Another example of junkyard brake upgrades: I'm using this one on my Dodge Dart. And my Buick is going to get a set of later Impala brakes that are about 1" larger swapped on whenever I get around to it; they bolt right on.

Sonic said:

Most cars have a solid junkyard upgrade.  For my race Civic, take 07 Mini Cooper non S 280mm rotors and 96 accord Wagon/integra type R calipers and it all bolts on to my 91 Integra spindle.  It also just barely fits in a 15" wheel still.  
 

For our 07 Mazda3, Speed3 calipers and rotors up front, Madza5 van rotors and caliper brackets in the back. 

They were also found on acura CLs and odysseys and preludes, really easy to find. The newest if more expensive OEM BBK for some of the newer stuff is using the TL Brembo Brakes on the RSX and 8th gen Si models