Hi All,
 
I just purchased a 1980 Ford Escort Mk2 2 Door with a 2L Pinto. This is my second escort, loving the escort feel of driving. One sticking point so far is the braking capability. I have done some research over the net, and come down that for my budget that Wilwood Midilites are looking like the caliper. Also some guys that run production cars have used or are currently using wilwoods and have had nothing but praise for them. Car will be used on weekend driving and taken to track for some fun as well.
 
I can find 2 types of Wilwood Midilites, an Midilite M16 replacement caliper and Midilite 4 Pot Forged Caliper.
 
From my reading they are both 4 pot calipers, but can anyone help out with more information on the major differences and good and bad points of each caliper?
 
On a 7x13 inch minilite rim, What is the maximum rotor size available to fit? Also what rotor width do most people run?
 
Also what piston size would you recommend? They can come in at -  1.75", 1.5", 1.38" and 1.25 
 
Thanks in advanced for your help with this.
 

Wilwood (UK) have one they offer as an M16 upgrade (called the Powerlite I think), but they have no dust seals, which I think makes them illegal for a road car.  You can't get these with pistons large enough to match the M16 overall, so you pedal feel and clamping forces will be different.
 
The Midilite with 1.5" pistons is equivalent to the M16, meaning you wouldn't need to alter the master cylinder to get the same braking force, and hence would be a drop in fit.  Be aware that people often want to use vented discs with these, which can come perilously close to steering components, or even touch.
 
I recommend having a read of the article called "Pulp Friction" so you know what you are getting into when doing brake upgrades:
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/brake_FAQ.htm
See the 6 jpgs at near the bottom.

Just so that you are aware, the M16 uses two 54mm pistons, which gives a total piston area of 4580 mm2 (per caliper).  The Midilite with four 1.5" pistons has a total piston area of 4560 mm2, which being about 0.4% difference is why I consider it the most appropriate replacement size.

Thanks Flighter for the link to the article. Its a great read. All boy ricer racers should have a read of this.
 
As you suggested, the 1.5" pistons sound like the money from the same swept area as original. As the article suggests, If I alter the piston size, I would have to change the master cylinder size to accommodate the pistons.
 
 

Some of you might know this but I have Wilwood midilite radial mount calipers on my road car with larger disks.
Old parts

New parts


disks comparison 240 vs 285

These are a 4 piston caliper and I have the largest pistons combination available. I have also converted the rears to disk from drums

While I first thought I would have to change the master cylinder, I tried it first, while the pedal is a bit longer they work very, very well indeed. Standard is a 20.6mm master cylinder. I might try a 1 inch bore just to compare if I can find a suitable minimum modification version
From experience the Wilwood is a very capable road caliper, some hearsay suggests not as accomplished race caliper but others disagree. I use AP on the race car purely as they cost more must be better!
The Midilite is best suited to 15 inch wheels over large diameter disks if I remember correctly
 
JP
 

Nice brake setup!
What wheels are they? Any details of weight etc? pics of them on the car? 

Picture of the wheels on my subaru Justy...the subazuki! AWD swift GTi

They are Inovit KE10 in 15x6. about 7 kg's each. 400 pounds delivered with Yokohama Parada spec 2 tyres so not expensive

Aaaah yes didnt think they were on an escort. 

How does the subazuki go?

From my reading the midilite would work pretty well under 13s, I think the biggest rotor I could get under it, would be 265mm? Someone might be able to confirm that?

It stops a lot better than it accelerates!
Sitting next to the cossie is a 1.45L quad throttle body DOHC race engine ready to be bolted in once I have time and space so should go a lot better.

Yeah you might be right about wheel size? I cant remember but do recall one wilwood I was looking at preferred disks of 260+
 
Justin