The calipers on my Model A face forward. I bought it this way, didn't build it this way. As far as I can tell, there is no reason to have them facing forward except maybe a small gain in turning radius. Is this safe? The brakes work no problem but it sure looks odd. I imagine it would be as simple as swapping mounting plates left to right and getting longer lines. GM Calipers on volare rotors with a magnum dropped axle. Any sage advice is mucho appreciatted.
if you do change them to behind you will need to swap the calipers also makes no diffrence where the calipers are mounted on a disk only thing that matters when you mount them is the bleeder are at the higest point.
Didn't work that way for a friend of mine with Mustang II on the front of a '50 Chevy tudor. When turned to maximun the caliper hung up and the brakes failed as the caliper couldn't close. Blown49
AMC Pacer and 68-72 Impalas with discs,calipers were located ahead of the spindle from the factory........
[ QUOTE ] Didn't work that way for a friend of mine with Mustang II on the front of a '50 Chevy tudor. When turned to maximun the caliper hung up and the brakes failed as the caliper couldn't close. Blown49 [/ QUOTE ] Hung up on what? Was the frame end of the hose not located to allow travel? Did the caliper actually hit some other chassis part? This is a Model AFord not a 50 Chevy, there's lots of different reasons why that one didn't work but whether the caliper was in front or back doesn't matter to the braking, just whether or not it's in the way of other chassis parts. The new Chevy Cobalt, (for just one example,) has the caliper in front.
the only real possible prbolem is pad taper. but this would only likely be an issue on a multipiston caliper. most 4 piston calipers have a differential bore to reduce pad taper and flipping them backwards would mess that up. on my schools formula SAE car we run calipers on teh front where we have the steering arm (keeps things lighter) as long as the bleed screw is on top you are ok. if it isn't you can bleed the calipers off the spindles using a block of wood in place of the rotor and once bleed replace them
[ QUOTE ] Didn't work that way for a friend of mine with Mustang II on the front of a '50 Chevy tudor. When turned to maximun the caliper hung up and the brakes failed as the caliper couldn't close. [/ QUOTE ] Sounds like the hoses were not long enough,or there was some mechanical interferance. We are assuming that,mounted front,back,top,or bottom, the components used are installed in the proper fashion. Failure due to poor workmanship,and bad planning,is another subject. I hope no one was hurt.
I have seen them listed as "Front Drag" or "Rear Drag" so there must be some reason for doing it. Maybe its just a clearance issue for certain applications...
I was going to ask that same question, when ever tech week came along. there must be a reasion why. i see new cars with them both ways.
Just don't tell the calipers they are on the front and they will never know the difference. Seriously I have had Midgets and Sprint Cars with calipers on the front, back, on top below the spindle it doesn't matter
The "theory" years ago was that the location of the caliper would affect the dive of the suspension under braking. I don't think it makes any difference.
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