so many options!!!!

[garry viohl]

Does anyone have the standard brakes and wish they upgraded to the Willwood brakes?  Say after a few laps at the track maybe? Or are they fine for the street, but not the track?

Are the leather seats worth it?

Does the heater only blow hot air on the windshield or are there vents for the foot boxes?

Was anyone unhappy with the 15" inch hallibrand wheels with the cosmetic centers and wish they had the real ones?

Thanks.

[LMH]

Garry
I have the standard brakes with the exception of the front calipers. I opted for the Wilwood caliper upgrade for the front. However, I can't give you much feedback as my car isn't together but I think the stock brakes would be fine for street or track because they are intended for a car about twice the weight. I'm sure the optional brakes are better but stock would be fine IMO.
Leather I don't have because I'm trying to stick to original SC spec as much as I can and SC's came with vinyl. That said, leather is worth just about whatever I have to pay for it otherwise! Seats, couch, underwear...whatever, I like leather! (no whips, chains, studs...just leather)
The heater can be set up to blow wherever you want. There are vents on the side of the heater case but I have them closed and added an inline vent on the defrost duct to blow into the footbox.
The cosmetic wheels I know nothing about except for photo's. I have Trigo's on mine.
Larry

[MFE III]

Garry, I opted for the standard brakes for the same reasons Larry stated. I aslo can't comment on the brakes in operation as my car isn't completed yet either.
As far as the seats, I visited HM before I ordered mine and looked at both leather and vinyl. Gotta say it was very hard to tell the difference - very high quality vinyl. That being said, I did opt for the leather just for the feel and cooler in the So Cal summers (as you can appreciate)! I stuck with the vinyl dash as it was virtually undistinguishable from the leather.
On the wheels, I saw them in person. Very impressive and they don't look like hubcaps. However, in my opinion, they don't look very authentic. I went with 17" Vintage wheels.
Matt

[66rdster]

Hey Garry,
I went with the standard brakes on mine and am very pleased with them. Although I'm not officially on the road I have driven my car a bit and find the std. brakes to be very strong. I couldn't say how they'd hold up on the track, although I would suspect that they'd do pretty well. I based my decision to go with the std. set up for the same reasons that Larry mentioned plus I wanted to save a few bucks on the initial cost of the kit then maybe upgrade them down the road.

The vinyl seats look great and its pretty hard to tell the diff. between the leather and vinyl. I don't think you could go wrong with either set. Just a matter of what you really want or what you'd like to spend. Both are very nice.


Mike

[McRacing]

Finally something I can talk about, I cant wait to pull the trigger and be the newbie that asks all the questions but when it comes to brake performance I do have something to offer.

I own an ASA race truck with a total weight of 2650 Lbs and braking into a corner at 100 mph was just fine with the stock brakes. That is until I installed the Wilwood calipers. Wow what a difference. The pedal effort was 25% less to achieve the same braking and when I needed more it was there. The same pads lasted longer and created less rotor heat. Bigger brake rotors dissipate the heat faster and allow for a more even and consistent brake system.

You will notice it as well in normal road driving but I doubt if you could justify the difference in cost if that is all you are going to use the car for. But if you are ever going to track it it will be money well spent.

When I buy my kit it will have the best brakes on it and not just for better performance they look cool.

Bob

[YerDugliness]

I frequent a different forum, and the best advice I got there was to forego a mondo motor build and spend the $$ saved on the motor on a good LSD and big brakes.