1992 - 1995, While Building the Car

Brakes

 

I installed a Bias Pedal Box, with separate master cylinders for the front and rear brakes.  A remote servo, from a Hillman Avenger I believe, was installed in the front brake lines.

The front brake system used Princess 4 pot callipers, with Stainless Steel Pistons and a spacer plates so that they could be used with vented discs.  The fixing points on the callipers had to be re-drilled to suit the Manta Wheel hub.  The front discs were from a Carlton, and were cross drilled.  Unfortunately, the callipers didn't quite match the discs, which caused some juddering under heavy breaking, but the stopping power was much better than standard.

The rear brakes were completely standard.

Steering

A 2.2 turn steering rack was fitted, and the rubber joint in the steering column was replaced with a Group 4 universal joint.  A 12" sporty looking steering wheel was fitted.  A set of 15"x7" Mim 12 spoke wheels were also fitted, with 205/50 x 15" Avon TurboSpeed Sport tyres, having a much softer compound than a normal road tyre, and only good for about 3000 miles (4800Km).

As you can probably imagine, the steering is very sensitive at high speed, and very heavy at low speeds.  Fortunately I have a lot of strength in my arms, but even I don't like trying to parallel park the thing.

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1997 - Willwood 4 Pot Callipers at Front

In 1997, I came across a cheap brand new Willwood Superlite Alloy Racing 4 pot Calliper Kit for the Manta.  The kit contained a pair of the above callipers, adapter plates and vented discs.  So I snapped them up immediately.

The kit was immediately fitted, giving much better braking than the Princess callipers, and no more juddering.

There are only two down sides.  Firstly, they must be checked for cracking and road damage on a regular basis, and secondly that new pads are expensive.  The up side is that this new calliper/disc combination is no heavier than the original Manta sliding calliper and solid disc.

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2000 - Rear Discs and Callipers

I have used the single pot sliding vented disc calliper from the Ford Escort Cosworth.  One of the good features of this calliper is it has a good handbrake actuator.

The drum brakes and old handbrake cable were removed.  An old knackered pair of backing plates were cut down, so that the half-shaft bearings would keep the correct pre-load when refitted.

An adapter was manufactured and bolted to the end of the half-shafts.  This adapter ensures that the disc and wheel do not solely depend on the wheel studs for location.  The Escort Cosworth discs have a 120mm PCD, so the discs had to be re-drilled for the Manta 100mm PCD.  Due to the thickness of the disc, new longer wheel studs were fitted to each half-shaft.

The Pagid 8 groove discs were then fitted onto the half-shafts. A suitable location was chosen for the calliper , and it was then held in place by pressurising the calliper with an air line, so the pads clamped onto the disc.  A set of brackets were fabricated, and welded to the axle. 

An Escort Cosworth handbrake cable was shortened.  Two small brackets were fabricated and welded to the torque tube cross-member.  The new handbrake cable was then installed and attached to the Manta handbrake lever.  New Goodridge flexible brake hoses were made up and fitted.  The brakes were then bled and wheels refitted.  Job complete!

Conclusions

 Only the brake bias between the front and rear needed adjusting, which was a simple matter on a car with a brake bias pedal box fitted.  I haven't had a chance to try the brakes out in anger yet, as I'm still waiting for the new 2.5L engine to be finished.

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