I have a question for you guys with the Alcon six pistion Calipers. Can you please tell me the purpose of the aluminum block that is on the lower inside portion of the caliper?

I have one with and one without it and no one even Jag has an answer to its purpose. It does not seem to serve a mechanical or hydraulic function, but I'm sure its there for a reason and want to make sure what it is if possible.

Thanks in advance!

 

I had to remove them as they scraped against my larger brake discs. Could it be something for possible brake noise?

 

I'm glad I can just remove it as I only have one, but would love to know what the heck its there for. No one knows, its a puzzle

 

Just speculation, but could it be rotated 90 deg so that the open part covered the hydraulic line? Perhaps it is some kind of protection for the inboard part of the line?

 

The front and rear Alcon Calipers are different. The front Alcon is a 6 Piston caliper, while the rear is a 4 piston caliper. I have the same calipers.

Contact Chris at Alconkits.com located in Chicago. He is great to answer any questions.

Alcon Brake Kits

Phone: +1.630.360.AKIT (2548)
Email: sales@alconkits.com

 

As MaximA indicated, his picture is of the front 6-piston caliper. Note that only the front caliper has the "R" logo; it is not on the rear 4-piston caliper.

Subscribed, as I'd like to know the answer to MaximA's question.

 

So I found this picture last night which makes it look like a may support/guide the main brake line but there are no fittings for the line.

richzak - Alcon does not ship the calipers with the part so they had no clue as to what it was. Its a Jag part but they have no clue either

Use of these calipers on any other car does not have the block so I'm at a lose at to whats its for.

 

Think I may have some possible insight here.. I spoke with the shop that works on my car and they said that a lot of the high end factory cars with big brakes i.e. Brembo, Alcon etc have these blocks or even wheels as guides in case a caliper bolts breaks or works its way out. The manufacturers are designed hard use out of brakes so seems to be a problem they have noticed. I know check the torque on caliper bolts before, during and after track days so this makes sense. How this keeps the caliper from falling off and not sheering a brake line I have no idea. My general consciousness is if a caliper bolts break or work their way out your **** out of luck. ebrake it and and hope you don't run out of talent.

I'm going to give Richzak's Alcon contact a ring to see if what he has to say and will kepe you guys updated.

 

Finally got the brakes completed yesterday and I have to say I'm very happy with the results. Pedal feel is a huge improvement and the brakes just grab great cold and hot. haven't had them up to race track yet but the RS29s peak around 700F.

Still no word on what that aluminum block really does but I ended up finding another one for the other caliper. Jag put it there for a reason, just wish I knew what it was.

Now if the weather holds up tomorrow I'll finally have some after tune 1/4 times to share with you guys.

 

Max:

Any reason why you didn't go with the Alcon rotors 350mm and 400mm in the since you have the Alcon brakes and calipers?

 

I decided to go with the AP 400MM as they off a bit better internal cooling and are off the shelf AP parts when they need replacing as long as the hats don't get damaged. As hard as it was to find the calipers I'm worried it will be the same for the rotors down the road.

The rears are stock '13 brakes with EBC Yellow pads, as I did not want to redo the entire parking brake assembly, but I'll have to see how the brake balance is on the track. So far I've had a few hard stops form 100 to bed the pads and everything feels good. Now that may change at 150 so we shall see.

I'm afraid to even try and find the rear brakes, took me a month to source the fronts and they were the last pair Jag could find.

 

I know this is old news, but there is an Alcon part number for it, DSC4497X547, and it is referred to as a "damper block". Still not certain what purpose it serves, but according to the revision notes from Alcon engineers in 2007, this was a modification at the request of Jaguar along with a modification of the fluid inlet for the brake hose. I had to remove the blocks from mine to clear the barrels of the wheels by about a millimeter until I can grind them down a bit on the outermost tip.