Crossle Caliper Upgrade - Girling 14LF

[145inmy73]

Hi. I have a 1973 Crossle 25F. I have Girling 14 LF calipers on all four corners. I want to upgrade to modern calipers with a little smaller piston bore, but retain the same caliper mounts for a quicker transformation. The 14 LF calipers have a 3.25 inch mount center. I would be OK changing to the 3.5 inch mount, But would need to source the mounts for the spindles and transaxle. Has anybody had good experience with any new modern calipers with the 3.25 mount, or 3.5?

My caliper mount bracket offset is about .950” to the center of the rotor. Rotors are 9”. Masters are Wilwood .625” F, .750” R. I am looking at Wilwood Dynapro calipers as they are the only I found that have th 3.25” but the offset I think is too tight. The new LD19’s on Pegasus are sweet but have 3.5” mounts.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[TimH]

Why? The LF14 is such a proven piece.

[145inmy73]

Weight is the biggest opportunity. Reliability comes to mind as well. 50 year old piece that shouldn’t have problems. I just started seeing some seepage from one caliper. Not sure why as all were rebuilt, but not split. The pistons were a little rough, but usable and smooth.

[R. Pare]

Just rebuild them. Pegasus sells stainless pistons for that caliper ( I make them), and new seals should be readily available from a variety of sources.

[Garey Guzman]

Just because I had plenty if calipers to look at in my garage, I looked at the possibility of fitting more modern ferrous calipers to my 1971 March FF. I'm only running it with Vintage groups so I'm sticking with the 14LFs.

As you mentioned, the mount spacing is different. Another difference is the mount hole bolt circle from the center of the front axle. The LD19s are much further out than 14LF.

A leaking caliper seal won't hold pressure so if you stomp on the pedal for a minute, you would see fluid leaking. A very small leak can soften the pedal during use, by the 3rd or 4th lap. This would either be due to a scratched/rolled/damaged seal or imperfections in the piston. I have rebuilt 14LFs and 12SP vintage calipers (and LD20s, LD19s and ICP LD20s) and none have had an issue, other than one 12SP having gunk clogging the fluid path, which I discovered when I tried to bleed and no fluid came out.

They may be old but they just pass fluid/pressure to the piston. Not much to go wrong.

[BorkRacing]

My Crossle 32 came with 14's on the rear. I switched to all LD19's on 4 corners.
I think I still have the inboard brackets to mount the 14's to a Mk9.
I also have a pair of 14's condition unknown.

Robby

[145inmy73]

Robby - where did u get your brackets front and rear to mount the LD19’s swapping from the 14’s? I have 14’s now. What were the results from the swap? Pedal effort? Braking performance? Weight reduction = lap time reduction?

[stonebridge20]

I have a new set of Crossle rear LD19 rear mounts I would sell at cost which I don't know what that is until I get to my shop on Monday.

[145inmy73]

I am interested. PM sent.