Rear disk conversion, DIY?

[beast02]

What is required to do a rear disk conversion on the standard axle? Fiesta rotors (what years specifically), VW golf calipers (what years?) and of course the mounting bracket welded on etc etc?

Anyone done this themselves? (Not from a kit)

-Bryan
66' GT Duratec

[corsair]

You should start by asking why you want them. I have done it to my Corsair and in all honesty I think it was better with drums, having said that the discs look good under my 16 inch 5 spoke wheels! The underdash handbrake (if yours has one ) is not good enough to pull on the pads so you will have to change to a floor mounted one or go hydraulic if allowed. Discs I used were Mk3 Fiesta, the mounting flange on the half shaft will have to be turned down so the disc slides over. I used Sierra calipers, made a pattern using 10mm thick MDF then transfered it to 10mm steel plate then cut it out with an angle grinder! made it in a 'C' shape so it slipped over the axle case and bolted it up to the back of the end flange with longer bolts. Dont forget you will need part of the old brake back plate under the bearing cover that slips over the half shaft. Paul
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc128/avg185d/avgresto036.jpghttp://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc128/avg185d/avgresto035.jpghttp://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc128/avg185d/avgresto037.jpg

[beast02]

What sort of Engine mods do you have? I'm doing a Duratec conversion with hopefully one day at least 200hp......so I was figuring well, ditch the drums, upgrade to disks, upgrade the fronts.....stop better.

So when you say it was better with drums....what do you mean by that? Also, do you have a proportioning valve to adjust etc?

Thanks,

[madflow]

Hello ,i was using peugot/citroen(106) discs on my previous std mk1 diff and rover 200 series calipers, thought it would be an improvement and it wasn t ,the balance was wrong so fitted a sierra proportion valve got better but the hand brake --pull out type --was useless then the calipers were always sticking. A common problem with that type ,whilest it was cheap to do parts wise the engineering side of it can be pricey, i was able to do it mostly myself and the machine work was minimal but all in it was a let down ,, the car just didn t have the power to justify it either. But this didn tstop me from doing it again but using a better match of components and for differant reasons , if you havent got all the std set up to refurbish and use then it can be the easier option. Its possible to upgrade the drum set up to cope with 200 plus bhp or even use mondeo parts for bigger a gain.

[corsair]

Mostly as madflow says. My car is a Corsair with a 2 litre EFi Pinto 128BHP, yes I have an adjustable proportioning valve. Most braking is done at the front anyway backs are really to balance the car. Good 9 inch drums and a decent brake shoes will work well. Slidders sieze up and have constant squeke squeke squeke from the rear. Front end was Princess 4 pot calipers and Capri 2.8 injection 245mm discs but have recently changed to Renault 21 discs 285mm with Cosworth Sierrra 4 pots. As I run 16 inch rims.
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc128/avg185d/avg016.jpg

[madflow]

If you use the golf calipers go for mk3 or 4 type /ones ,mk2 gave problems with sticking and many mk2 cars were upgraded to the mk3 ones over the years, found this out the expensive way with my wifes mk2 golf-great for a long time then one problem after another ,.until the swop over only thing was it went into a dealership for this , i felt skinned after that! Also check out the ford scorpio discs , they have a larger id and you may not need to machine the flange /hub diameter down but just the central register to suit the disc center, dont be tempted to have the center of the disc machined out to suit. Thats the pitfall the front BMW disc swop had ,you had to have that done and the ford 108 x4 pcd to it each time you wore them out.

[beast02]

Well I screwed up my order from the junk yard......opened the box and there were rotors staring at me! Their drop down menu sucked and so I bought "brakes" as that was the only option I saw.....SHIT! Too much to send them back and restock, so i'll hope to sell them locally...... and i'll stick with doing the rears in drums and save my money to do wilwood upgrade to the fronts

For the front E30 disks, if you machine the hubs then you don't have to machine the rotors every time....though after trying to get the calipers to fit, i'm not sure you had to do that anyway (never checked though). BTW, the Volvo 240 calipers with E30 rotors DON"T fit under 13" superlite wheels.......ask how I know!

[madflow]

I had looked at machining the mk1 hub --problem was it does nt have that much material there --or so i felt -to reduce , and the biggest drawback for me then it was my everyday ride so i couldn t take the hub off ,send in to be machined and have to wait as you always have to till the small jobs get done.(even though i worked next to them at the time) Rally Design sells them already done but drilled metric and i thought i could save money by going the other way-ha-ha, of course i didnt.At the time i also had it stuck in my head that swopping to 4 pot calipers was the only way and the mondeo sliding type just wasnt cool looking--never mind how many times iwas told otherwise as to go with what worked, my volvo setup was okay but difficult to bleed and sourcing new seals then later a piston , was a long search . Then i had achance to drive an escort mk1 with mondeo disc/caliper and machined hub --a caprisport kit as such--put my set up in the horse and cart era.Have you gone ahead with rear discs--dont let my failures /letdowns stall your plans just dont use rover 200/honda or vw , even though these are now used in some kits, whats being used more often now here at least , is toyota yaris ,by some rally cars --its compact and trouble free it seems .

[Trekbike]

Alfa berlina 2000 rear discs fit with no mods, Peugeot 504 rear calipers. make some brackets to weld to the diff and you can use your original handbrake set up. A mazda 808 dual circuit master cylinder with remote reservoir (standard), you just need to enlarge the bottom mounting hole and bolts straight up. I had this a few years ago and worked a treat with vented capri discs and widened calipers. Before the rear discs i ran GT rear drums and a VH44 booster to the front circuit only and a volvo biasing valve. I found the Gt drums and booster on the front circuit worked better than when i had the discs on the back.

[RoadRacer68]

beast02....if you're looking to get parts locally, I just did a 1987 Thuderbird Turbo Coupe swap, rotors and calipers, and brackets from Speedway Motors. got the calipers and rotors from Rock Auto..beware though, keep hearing that the Corty axle is only good to about 200hp...

[beast02]

Road racer, the Thunderbird rotors and calipers, do the rotors fit over the half shaft mounting flanges, or did you have to turn those down? Did it all fit under 13" wheels? I have superlite wheels, so, might be tight

Thanks,

Bryan