Brake Upgrade/Improvements for Lotus Elan M100

Hi "Spunky",

to start off on the wrong foot I have to admit that I have no knowledge of M100 brakes.
Good start that, oh well.
Your description "ineffective" leads me to believe that you want more braking power?
I don't think that you'll achieve that with braided brake lines alone.
A load of us original Elan boys do use them to get a "harder pedal" where they do work.
I'm not too sure if the "feel" of servo powered brakes would improve with them though.
To be positive they will have greater longivity & your car's originals may be in need of replacement anyway.
Do they show any signs of blistering?
There are surely better brake pads on the market that could improve the brakes.
Other than that it will get expensive i.e. bigger brakes.

Good luck
John

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply and the advice. I've started with the basics, new brake fluid and pads (nothing special) and we'll see what that does first. Cheers

Hello again John,

I forgot to say no blistering, and also to ask if you know of a superior pad?

Cheers

Spunky wrote:Hello again John,

I forgot to say no blistering, and also to ask if you know of a superior pad?

Cheers

I would say something like the Mintex 1144 or yellow stuff pads would be a good top range pad to use? I have the green stuff pads on my big brake upgrade which I will post some more details on for you now.

Spunky wrote:Hello again John,

I forgot to say no blistering, and also to ask if you know of a superior pad?

Cheers

No I don't, but I know somebody who does

Give Classicar Automotive a call. They "know" about Lotus brakes.
Tel. 01625 860910
E-mail:- sales@classicbrakes.co.uk

They may even recommend red or green stuff but I doubt that very much

No connection but recommended by many others as well.

Cheers
John

Thanks,

I'll do that!

Last November I had an alternate Wilwood brake upgrade with dust seals put on the front of my Elan. Wilwood do offer an upgrade solution for the front of the M100 but there have been issues with them because they don't use the dust seals. The large 4-pot Wilwood calipers (Midilite) have a piston size of 35.1 which keeps the brake bias at 71.3:28.7 (stock bias of 70:30 split). 295mm grooved discs replace the 256mm stocks along with a set of green stuff pads (would have gone for red stuff but were out of stock). I also had stainless steel brake hoses installed all round. The total cost of the upgrade once fitted was about £700 but with the amount of use the car gets and for safety reasons it was a justified upgrade in my opinion. After a bit of time to bed the new brakes in it was immediate the difference in braking power and stopping distance. Although the upgrade takes time to warm up, once warm, the braking power is a significant improvement and when you do find yourself stepping on the brake pedal you will be happy with the results.



Only problem is now I am after an upgrade for the rear system. The chap who put together the upgrade kit is now doing one for the rears, which include a custom designed rear hub, and either stock size discs to work with the standard calipers or a further option to use Hi-Spec callipers and 256mm discs. I have chosen at current to order a set of the new hub designs to allow me to get some new, non corroded discs, and will give me the option to upgrade the calipers etc in the future.

Hub with disc for standard calipers


Rear hubs with Hi-Spec caliper upgrade

Thanks for the info. They certainly look impressive! Where did you source the kit with seals?

Spunky wrote:Thanks for the info. They certainly look impressive! Where did you source the kit with seals?

From a chat called Bob Brown, he is Mr Brake expert and sourced the kit from Willwood. I know he is still offering group buys on both the front and the rear upgrades ... they ain't cheap but I think well worth having the fronts done.

Thank you. I think I will follow that up. Just going to test out the effects of a some basic housekeeping first before making any changes. I was trying to follow a thread on the LEC website about brakes but they got so long and convoluted I was beginning to lose the will to live, (that and my short attention span).

Spunky wrote:Thank you. I think I will follow that up. Just going to test out the effects of a some basic housekeeping first before making any changes. I was trying to follow a thread on the LEC website about brakes but they got so long and convoluted I was beginning to lose the will to live, (that and my short attention span).

Yes they do blabber on! Feel free to ask me any questions, I try to keep up to date with the know-how from LEC. You're not far from me either