T-Strut Caliper Find!

Man... I'm goofy because I get so excited about this stuff.

I guess it goes back to the years when I remember having a 911 with the lowly T-struts (which I actually love now). I remember searching high and low for a caliper upgrade but around every corner there was no true bolt on upgrade for the 3" spacing.

Now, I know this is a weird place to post this because most of the 911S models came with the Koni or Bilstein 3.5" struts and the fabulous S-Calipers (my favorites). But I've seen a lot of long hoods here regardless of designation and I know there's a lot of 67 and 68 guys here as well.

Although I no longer have any cars with the 3" struts, I finally found a "real" upgrade. A "real" bolt on solution that meets all of my criterion for an acceptable swap from the stock M-Caliper that came on these struts.

Ta-Da:

Here's the scoop:

Obviously Brembos; these have a 3" bolt spacing and the exact same offset as the M-Caliper. This means they'll simply bolt right on. When I say bolt on I mean... all the way. They even fit with the standard dust shields. The fluid inlet is aimed right up at the tab on the strut for a direct in.

They have the same 48mm piston as the M-Caliper, S-Caliper and the later A-Caliper (in fact, they look pretty damn close to an A-Caliper). What's cool about this is, they are the later "cup" type piston with no knock-back mechanism to deal with. The cup design offers better cooling with much more surface area than the standard M and S-Caliper pistons. Also nice is the fact that this won't throw off your fluid dynamics with your current Master Cylinder. Again, Bolt on!

The pad size is much larger than the #31 M-Caliper pad. I did all the math once but, forgot... guess I'll have to do that again. They are the same width as the A and S-Caliper pads but not as tall... (only slightly, like 2mm or so). If anyone is familiar with the BMW #174 pad size (320), these are them. Another nicety, as I mentioned that these add up in all areas as a true bolt on upgrade is; with this basic pad size, which has been proven with the S-Caliper and A-Caliper, there is no over stress of the standard 20mm rotor which obviously lived on all 911's through 1983.

They weigh in a full 4lbs lighter than the M-Caliper so there goes a good chunk of unsprung weight (yes, they're aluminum!). Bolt on upgrade!

So... I'm stoked. :D

Someone could simply take their M-Calipers off and stick them on the shelf (in a plastic bag of course) for posterity sake, bolt these on, bleed the system (you know you should do that this year anyway) and you'd be good to go!

More pics:

Here's the pads:

Here they are planted next to an M-Caliper. Same exact offset... just bigger pads and less weight! :D

Here's a full on front shot, on the strut with the dust shield on.

They'll fit under 15's and they are a good 5mm shallower than an S-Caliper from nose to the mounting flange. I set a bare hub here to mock the placement against the nose of the caliper:

You can see what I mean when I say they look like an A-Caliper. Here they are against an A-Caliper core we have in the shop:

looks the part , what is the part number or model ?

Eric...looks great...any pricing on them yet

These would be old(er) Brembo calipers? The logo is a pure 70's original.

I guess as long as you can get rebuild kits you're in there like swimwear.:D

Nice find.

Best,

Tom