Stock disc brake to 4 piston Toyota caliper swap

[Idaho Hillbilly]

Hey guys, I already have this information out there in two separate threads now (my build thread and the brake forum), but figured I'd put it here too due to relevance and to give it it's own thread. I've never seen the info on Ratsun and had to work through it myself, so forgive me if this is already known to some of you.

The common upgrade for the 70-78 240/280z car guys is to install brake calipers/pads from a 79-84 Toyota 4x4. These are 4 piston calipers with larger pads. Well, it turns out that the 240/280z calipers will bolt in to any 620 with factory disc fronts... That alone is an improvement and offers an alternative to our hard to find calipers. Last night i purchased one of the Toyota calipers and some pads to give them a test fit on my SVO-620 build and the pics speak for themselves...

A look at the mounting area/backing plate stock

 

The small trim that was needed to make the 4 piston calipers fit

 

Caliper fitment after installation

 

 

 

Clearance with a 15" wheel bolted up




Anyways, I hope the info proves valuable to some of you out there.

[datzenmike]

I did a Toyota SAS on my 620 and with transfer case, four heavy leaf springs, Z24 engine, power steering and a bunch of other things it weighed about 3,500-3,600 at the weigh scales with me in it. I bought kits and rebuilt these 4 piston calipers and once I got the bias right on the rears it would really stop!!! Good news is I was able to keep and use the stock '78-'79 brake master cylinder. It should be noted here again that these are the pre '85? calipers that fit the non vented rotor.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I've got a Datsun master cylinder on my '57 Rover and it powers the Toyota vented rotor calipers just fine. No power booster either.

[datzenmike]

I have a set of the vented somewhere. They look identical to the non just wider.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

On 5/7/2020 at 10:03 AM, datzenmike said:

I have a set of the vented somewhere. They look identical to the non just wider.

There are two different vented rotor calipers. The 4cylinder IFS caliper has four pistons in two different sizes (two small and two large). The V6 caliper has four large pistons and is identified by cooling fins cast into the caliper body.

 

The calipers pictured above are 4cyl calipers and obviously non-vented.

 

The vented rotor calipers can also be found on FJ60/62 Land Cruisers.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Stoffregen Motorsports

[datzenmike]

These were on a '86? 4 cylinder I guess. Has large and small pistons.

[unitrak750]

This is a great post. I just verified on my 82 720 4x4 the 79-85 Toyota caliper bolts right up with minor trimming of the backing plate. I'm running the stock steel 15 rims and plenty of room.