The Larue Brake Mod

The original brake mount system for the Q-2/Q-200 is pretty bad. All sorts of variations were tried in the mount, mostly to accomodate for poor twisting alignment of the pucks to the rotor disc. Some guys tried "floating" the disc. The brakes are Hurst Airheart, designed for go-carts. Obviously they are operating on the edge of their capability but they do work a lot better than the old ones. In 1988 a guy named Bob Larue came up with a better system. I tried it and had an instant improvement in braking action. Here are his words regarding the application, plus the original drawings, as published in the September 1988 issue of Q-Talk.

" Q-2/Q-200 brakes have been the cause of problems for many operators including myself. Fortunately, I received some help from an engineer who formerly worked for Hurst/Airheart. He said "There is nothing wrong with the brakes, you just need a better mount". Then he explained how to make the proper mount. With the help of my good friend Lynn Kavffold and his drill press, we fashioned the mount. The mounting plate is bolted directly to the wheel pant - without offsetting washers - so no structural modification is required."

Notes from Sam :   A real improvement (I think I did it this way) would be to modify the guide bolts that support the caliper.  First off, use steel, not aluminium. It would be good to do away with the 1/4-28 stud joining the two bolts, since that is an obvious weak spot.  Instead, take a 7/16" or larger bolt and thread it half way up with fine threads.  Then, chuck it up in a lathe and turn down both ends to 3/8".  This will give you a 3/8" shaft with threads in the middle to clamp up the mounting bracket, without having to worry that the shaft will fail.  Or, you could use John tenHave's suggestion to use two bushings, clamp them together with a through bolt.

One on-going problem I have, is when the brakes heat up they tend to grab, causing the canard and wheel pants to chatter. An suggestions?