While it may not be the fastest production car out there, the Plymouth Prowler became a fan favorite after it’s release in 1997 for it’s hot rod looks and sleek design. Ralph McLaughlin had previously worked with us on his Aston Martin Vantage, and having seen pictures of the one-off 2JZ Prowler we had built, wanted to see what we could do with his Prowler. The car is primarily used for car shows and arrived in beautiful condition with plenty of previously installed modifications. Having already won many shows in its current form, Ralph wanted us to take some inspiration from the car and further upgrade it to take things to the next level for future events.

Brembo does not offer a BBK Kit for the Prowler, however we created a one off version on the 2JZ Prowler using custom CNC Brackets and hats. Having seen how good the massive brake kit looked on that car, Ralph wanted the same kit for his Prowler to make it stand out at the many car shows he attends with the car. We went back to our records and worked with Brembo to complete a full update package and they were installed on the car without a hitch. To further give the brakes a custom touch we applied a fresh coat of jet black paint to match the exterior with the Prowler logo painted on in silver.

After completing the brake upgrade the factory wheels would no longer clear the massive Brembo calipers. Wanting to maintain the wild stance of the Prowler, we installed a set of custom painted Black and Chrome Asanti AF162’s in a massive 19″ front and 22″ rear. While the brakes were being painted we also addressed a tear in the factory roof by installing a new custom soft top.

The car arrived with plenty of chrome and the wild color changing flame job on the front, so no additional changes were needed on this front. Karim at Superior Detailing made sure the car had a fresh coat of wax and spotless exterior prior to its transport back to Ralph’s residence for him to enjoy. Karim has detailed many of our projects and equally as many exotics, and was amazed at the depth and quality of the paint job on the car, whoever laid the brilliant flames outdid themselves.

StopTech’s complete line of high performance and racing calipers is forged to help produce the strongest calipers around, ensuring consistent and predictable brake caliper performance, stop after stop. In testing, StopTech’s patented forged calipers have exhibited the least amount of flex of any aftermarket or OE caliper.

With forging, an aluminum billet slug is heated and shaped using compressive forces. This produces a better grain structure that improves a material’s resistance to fatigue.

In contrast, the casting process involves pouring liquid into a mold, which can produce a finished product with regional density irregularities. That is why castings are more prone to cracking.

That is why StopTech calipers are all forged, and why StopTech calipers are the best calipers on the market. We’ll take a quick tour of how Stoptech produces the calipers featured in their popular big brake kits.

In this picture you can see the billet caliper slug as Stoptech receives it from their foundry in comparison to same part after finish machining. The pictures below illustrate the steps that take the slug to this final product. All Stoptech calipers start with the same forged slug with CNC finish work tailoring it to a specific application.

The raw forgings are placed in custom made jigs for final machine work on one of the many CNC machines that fill Stoptech’s California location. Each kit features various piston sizing to help maintain proper brake balance while using the OEM master cylinders.

Stoptech’s trophy sport line spends extra time in the CNC machine where additional finish work and machining leads to a 15% weight savings over their standard calipers.

Fresh out of the CNC, these calipers are checked and put in que for their final finish.

After being removed from the CNC, each caliper is sent to the dipping tank where they are anodized in a natural grey finish before the logo is painted in Stoptech’s trademark black and red.

The freshly coated calipers are inspected, assembled, and pressure checked on a test bench before being packaged and shipped to an authorized Stoptech distributor. These Trophy Race Kits are used on many of the top competitors in the SCCA Pro Pirelli World Challenge Championship as well as in Grand-Am and other race series. In addition to these premier racing series, you can also find these brakes on the vast majority of project and employee owned vehicles here at Titan Motorsports.

The 24th annual Performance Racing Industry show took place this past weekend, and Titan Motorsports was proud to be a displaying vendor amongst thousands of attendees in our hometown of Orlando, Florida. This industry only show takes place at the Orlando convention center and is attended by over 40,000 buyers from around the world. The show features suppliers and parts for all forms of motorsports from Nascar to monster truck racing to offshore marine. There is also a section of the show devoted entirely to fabrication and machine shops showing off the latest in CNCs and machinery to help make going fast easier. This was our first year displaying at the show, and we received a warm response from attendees and vendors attending the show. In addition to our Titan Gallardo Twin Turbo displayed in our booth, we also had our Camouflage Porsche 996tt, Scion TC Outlaw drag car, and George Bonafede’s Nissan GTR on displayed throughout the convention.

We would like to thank Bosch, Brembo, Carbonetic, Cometic, Eagle, Fidanza, Haltech, Hypertune, Injector Dynamics, and Supertech, our great partners whose support helped make our booth possible.

Brembo has just announced that they are making a bigger GT brake kit for the 93-98 Toyota Supra. These new kits come in a 2-piece design with a 380x34mm front rotor and a 380x28mm rear rotor. Front calipers are 6 pistons while the rears are 4 pistons. These will be available in Black, Red, Silver, and Yellow, and are also available in Brembo’s GT-R Mono-Block version. These will be available by the end of September, so pre-order yours from Titan Motorsports today and avoid the rush.

We just got finished installing our StopTech Big Brake kit on our project Porsche. We like going fast just as much as anyone, but when you’re adding hundreds of horsepower to a vehicle, it’s always good to plan on upgrading your brakes. Our car had over 60k miles when we purchased it, so the brakes needed some added attention right off the bat. We went with Stoptechs 380mm/6piston kit on the front and their 332mm/4 piston in the rear. We will be using the car for DE events and the Texas Mile so I wanted to make sure that the brakes where properly bedded and will be up the heavy braking the car will experience.

Just as important as upgrading the brakes themselves, is carefully following the bed-in procedure for the pads and rotors. This is a very important step and it should be preformed right after installation to ensure a consistent friction surface and prevent warping of rotors from pad deposits. Before you begin the process you want to make sure the rotors are clean and free of and oil or debris. For non-plated rotors a bath in soap and water, then brake clean should do the trick. For our application we had the rotors zinc coated to prevent rusting of the fins. If you opt to have the rotors zinc plated, drive a few miles with light braking until the plating is worn off. Do not use the brakes aggressively or begin bed-in procedure until this has been completed.

To begin the bedding procedure find a long stretch of level roadway or a skid pad. It is best to perform the exercise at a time when traffic is at its lightest to make sure you can complete the procedure without compromising safety. I was fortunate to have a long 4-5 mile access road for the airport near our new location to perform the bed-in. To properly seat the pads and rotors evenly you will perform 2 series of 10 consecutive decelerations from 60mph to 10pmh. You want to be sure that accelerate back up to 60 after reaching the 10mph decelerating point. You should be using consistent 80-90% braking force and expect some smoke and brake smell from the brakes. Be sure that you do not come to a complete stop during the series of 10.

For this procedure in the 996tt I found 2nd gear to work quite well as it allowed me to reach the designed RPM and still be able to accelerate from the lower RPMS. Complete the first 10 series in sequence, when you are finished be sure not to come to a stop as you want to let the rotors cool completely without leaving hot deposit. Once the brakes have cooled to a near ambient temperature (usually after 10-15 miles of driving at 50MPH or more without using the brakes) repeat the series of 10 stops and let the system cool again to ambient temperature. For higher performance track pads, Stoptech recommends you add 4 80-10mph decelerations to the end of each series. Full race pads should always be bed-in on the track.

Once you have completed the 2 series the rotor faces should have a faint blue appearance covered by a polished, light gray film. The blue tint indicates the proper brake in temperature has been reached and the pad material is evenly transferring onto the rotor face. Perform this procedure at your own risk, don’t necessarily be concerned that you are reaching the speeds exactly, but you want to make sure you are using consistent brake force throughout. Check out the Gallery Below to see before and after pictures of the rotors for comparison.