Braking 't Kreng (part 1)

As everyone who has driven a standard TR7 knows from experience, the original front brakes are rather poor to say the least. Especially if you drive the car a bit spirited. So when rebuilding 't Kreng one off the tasks was to put decent brakes up front.

In the mid 90's the way to go without getting bankrupt was to put Princess callipers and bigger discs on the car so that was what I did. Stopping power was greatly improved over the original brakes but even during running in I managed to warp the discs due to overheating. After having them machined on the car twice within 4000 km I really got fed up with them. Something new had to come.

So I went to a local brake expert (C&C Parts) for some advice on the various options that were available or could be made for the car. When I mentioned the set-up to him with the 2 pot Até callipers from a Ford and vented discs, as sold by TR7 specialist S&S Preparations, he advised me to go for that one. Biggest advantage is that all parts are readily available off the shelf and that pad choice (RS2000) is huge. Also the weight off the complete setup is much less than the rather heavy Princess or TR7 brakes. The set was ordered and it has to be said that the performance has been quite good since they were fitted in the summer off 1999.

So with the front brakes sorted for the time being I could switch my attention to the back off the car. Not that the rear drums weren't powerful enough. But after two MOT failures in a row due to sticky and rusty rear cylinders it was time for something different. As the front brakes from S&S were working quiet well I went for their rear disc conversion. Since then I haven't had any MOT failings on the rear brakes, so mission accomplished. And braking and balance have improved slightly. Well the Quaife ATB diff that sits in the back axle since then might take some off the credits there!