The readily-available Corrado rotor used in the new Fastbrakes kit lowers replacement cost and moves the caliper in just under half an inch compared to the old 11.8-inch rotor, just enough to squeeze it into a 15-inch wheel.
The new kit uses a slightly smaller 11-inch Volkswagen Corrado brake rotor, which adds a few pounds, but saves replacement cost and shrinks the overall package just enough. The new mounting brackets are also billet aluminum instead of chocolate and even the Wilwood caliper is an updated design.
There are several wrong ways to install the new billet mounting brackets, all of which we tested. To save time, install the rotor first and hold it snug against the hub with two lug nuts. Then take the caliper, without brake pads, and install it with the mounting bracket oriented however you think it goes. Snug the bolts down by hand, making sure everything fits flush, and see if the rotor is centered in the caliper. If not, you guessed wrong. Repeat as necessary until you stop screwing things up.
Fastbrakes discovered the same balance problem we did and suggest a similar, but clearly better, solution. They recommend 1989-94 Nissan Maxima rear calipers which are designed to mount on the front of the rotors, just like the B13. The stock SE-R parking brake cables hook right up. If you can find NX2000 ABS rear rotors, they're the same as the B15 rotors we used, but already have the B13 4x100 bolt pattern.
A common criticism of Wilwood calipers is they don't have dust shields to protect their piston seals. But in our experience, such seals are seldom necessary.
Confident we were now installing a fully sorted kit that would need no further adjustment, we naturally installed the brakes the night before our big track battle. The plan was to use the Ferodo DS2500 brake pads from the old Fastbrakes kit, but the first attempt to stop with the new brakes was as terrifying as the first time with Jared's. This time initial bite was great, but mashing the middle pedal did nothing dramatic, just gently slowed the car.
Close inspection showed the pads weren't touching the inner or outer ends of the rotor surface. The old rotors were severely worn-taking on a concave contour-and the pads had worn into a complementary convex shape. Pressed against the flat new rotors, only the middle of the pad made contact. We swapped in the brand-new Hawk HPS pads that come with the Fastbrakes kit, did a few hot laps around the block to bed them in, and thought the problem was solved.
At the track, things still didn't quite work. Though firm and responsive at street speeds, heavy braking at high speed made the pedal soft and unresponsive, causing the rear brakes to lock first. The HPS pad compound is engineered for street use and doesn't have enough bite at high temperatures.
As high-speed braking panic sets in, you push the pedal harder, which just causes the calipers to flex. Wilwood calipers are lighter and less expensive than Stoptechs or Brembos, but the tradeoff is a less rigid shape-something that became clear as we tried to get the wooden pads to bite.
These brakes work quite well on SE-R Cup cars, but only with better brake pads. It's also possible that our Maxima rear brakes, though a perfect match for the old 11.8-inch ones, are too strong to balance with the new 11-inch kit.
Tom Paule's SE-R cup car, for example, uses this Fastbrakes kit in the same Motegi Trak Lite wheels. Paule uses Hawk Blue brake pads up front, though, and smaller SE-R brakes with cheap Pep Boys pads in the back. These grippier pads mean less fluid pressure, therefore less caliper flex, for the same front brake torque. The smaller rear brakes, with crappy pads, make the brake system more front-biased, something ours needs a bit more of.
So learning from our missteps, get the Fastbrakes kit, throw the HPS pads in the trunk to use as your get-home pads if you burn through a set at the track, and buy something more aggressive to actually use. If it's a street car, I still think the Ferodo DS2500s should work well. Leave your stock rear brakes in place, get braided steel lines all round, and use a 15/16-inch master cylinder from a B15 Sentra or mid-90s Altima.