G60 Brakes - Girling 54 ?

Hi all,

For my planned g60 conversion, I purchased a 9" servo some time ago from a local guy who threw in a set of girling 54 calipers which he said he did not know what car they came from.  My understanding is that the G60 brakes could be either lucas items or girling 54's. How can i tell the difference between girling 54's for the 256mm and the 280mm setup ? Part numbers are difficult to make out with the rust but will wire brush them if this is the only way to distinguish between them

cheers

Pippo

Further to above the calliper carriers have the following numbers:

3532-2 CN 6
3532-2 CN 3 (possibly 8 on end)

One of the calipers has old pads which are pagid 565gf written on but unfortunately these are appRently used on both 280 and 256 solid and vented 

the 256 and 280mm calipers are almost identical in appearance, the only difference is the thickness of the caliper where it fits over the discs and pads. measurements in dansters post here:
http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?241335

Check the bolt spacings of your caliper carriers too: 256mm setup are 76mm apart, same as the mk1 whereas 280mm are further apart - 91mm or so - and require adapters to fit.

If you've been gifted a 256mm setup you are a lucky man indeed  

Cheers for the help lads.

I purchased the epytec adapters months ago but they are stored away where I can't reach them at the moment, so it's the 280 I am after.

Just measured the  carrier bolt spacing as suggested and they are at  about 94mm centres . Does this confirm I have the 280 callipers ? I thought some 256 calipers had similar bolt spacings ??

I think if they were 76mm it would confirm they were 256mm but not so sure about the other way around-go with rubjonny's link above 

I have a 9 inch servo and 256 girling 54 on drilled grooved discs stops very nicely result if your bagged them for free.  

You may well have a good point marts but with 225 ponies I need all the help I can get lol. Might do a good deed and give them away, need a good cleanup and slider pins are a bit sticky.

Saw a corrado g60 280mm setup for sale, is this the same as mk2 golf ? ie will work with the epytec adaptors  ?


edit: on the calipers the piston isnt wound right back but there is currently around 40mm of a gap and looks like the piston will only go back a further 10mm or so. So based on the link by RJ I would say these are 256mm calipers

the 256 and 280 bolt spacings to the bearing carrier are the same, the 280 carriers are basically same as 256 just push the caliper out more so they fit over 280mm brakes

OK I think I got it regarding 280 g60 fronts.

As for the rear…. when I got the car it already had a rear disk conversion and the previous owner could not get a firm pedal, part of the reason he had enough and sold it to me :-). I have just been out and took the following picture (access is poor atm as the front is jacked up and I cant get the rear wheels off just now). Seems to me that the calipers are upside down which may explain the bleeding difficulties that the previous owner had ? From what I have read they should be upright or at least upright for bleeding.




Can anyone identify these calipers from the pictures ? I presume they are late mk2/mk3 as the spring will be at the bottom when fitted other way around and corrosion rules out the mk4 items

cheers

Phil

 

with the external spring they are mk2 and early mk3, if the bleed nipples are on the bottom yeah they have been fitted upside down so remove and hang upright to bleed

Cheers for the confirmation RJ.

I will probably fit the late mk3 items as you suggested in another thread I read last night to avoid seizing. My concern is the balancing. With girling 54 up front pushing the 280 disks and mk3 rear calipers (36 or 38 pistons ??) will the standard mk1 load sensor balance this correctly ? Is it better to use a load sensor from a mk2 designed for disks ? I have read that the drum version holds residual pressure which is not a good thing for disks.I have also read some people use rocco 16v compensators in the m/c instead.

Also, my car has valves inline on the 2 rear lines as posted by Macca here:

http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&type=misc&id=running-gear_2%2Fbrake-line-non-return

Could be non return valves. In Macca's case, he stayed with drums and kept them but can anyone confirm if they should be removed for disks ?

cheers

yeah take those valves out, on my mk1 i put T pieces where they were and put my brake light switches in there handy as i only had 4 holes on my MC. you could use bleed nipples to block the holes instead, or redo the brake lines right down to the pipes that go under the car in copper to bridge the gap. whatever works!

the stock bias valve should be fine if its in good nick, if not then you could use a mk2 one. I did simply becasue my valve was bust and replacement mk1 units at the time were either impossible to find or mega expensive! I had a new ATE MK2 one in stock so I used that instead, you just need to make up an L shaped bracket to mount it and job done

Ok RJ. I will give the mk1 compensator a check. I presume we can only really check for free movement of the leaver arm ?

Also, thinking of doing the polo 6n rear disc conversion as detailed here:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4358337-polo-ibiza-stub-axle-on-a-golf-mk1-to-mk3-guide&s=72509d4e3f4f9baa2cdfd15746e4d0f0

Doesnt seem to be very common, I like the idea of the complete stub/hub/disk/pads/caliper being from the same car. Any pitfalls ? The Polo 6n caliper seems to be the new design

cheers

yeah you want the arm to move freely and spring back under its own power when released. if its all floppy you may be able to fix by changing the springs but once i looked under the boot i found the whole thing seized solid -> bin

yeah the polo gear all a straight fit, its on my list of things to do once i change the rear beam

if you use the polo calipers just be sure to check the nipples are free, they can corrode badly due to caliper being alloy and nipple steel. same goes for the mk4 calipers

I have found a polo 1.6 gti local breaking. Thinking of putting an offer in for the rear beam and take what I need. I quite like the wheels on it, bbs rx2 6 x 15 with an et45 offset. They are 4x100, will they be ok on a mk1.? Might make an offer on them too

et45 is a little high for mk1, but worst case just add spacers

Might pass on the wheels then, not nice enough to warrant messing around with spacers.

Regarding the 6n2 polo rear callipers, there are supposedly 34 and 38mm versions but when I look for new/reconditioned callipers they are all listed as 34mm (even the 1.6 gti)

I was thinking that the smaller calliper may be a good thing on the mk1, but am I thinking about this wrong? If we are displacing the same amount of fluid in a smaller piston won't this actually create more pressure/further piston travel which could be more prone to lock up ?

Cheers

the disc is a bit bigger on this setup so any difference in piston size prob made up for with larger disc. regardless the discs do next to daffodil all brakign work so 34/36/38 all make no real difference once the bias valve cripples them