Rear disc conversion....

I asked about this a while ago and it didnt seem like a very popular conversion but as i had the bits i thought i would give it ago!!

What i bought for the job…
4x Powerflex rear beam bushes
2x Mk2 16v rear stub axles, Brake carriers
2x Mk2 discs, pads and bearings
2x Mk4 alloy rear calipers
1x Goodridge braided hoses + mk4 caliper adaptor hoses (c&r)
2x Scirocco 16v Handbrake cables (GSF)
1x Hammerite
2x Friends
Various nuts and bolts that came with the stub axles

Having access to a workshop and ramp for the weekend ment the job was made much easier. To do this i removed the rear axle which in my eyes made it alot easyier as i was replacing everything anyway and wanted to give everything a good clean and paint (anti rust )

After removing the rear axle i removed the original drums and backing plates off the axle taking off all the old brakes in one hit Once i had cleaned and painted everything i set about building it back up off the car. The stub axles bolted straight up using the original bolts and a couple of new washers (with only a slight bit of confusion to which way round they go!!), then on went the new disc with bearing. Next was the carrier which would of originally been held on with 2 allen bolts, but as these always corrode (and i didnt have them) i had to chop down some normal 17mm bolts so they did not catch the disc. After that simply fit the pads and caliper.

Now all that was done it was time to plumb it in, now i thought the kit i bought would supply me with all the brake lines i would need but it turned out i needed a short piece of solid copper line about a foot long to connect the two flexis. luckily i had all the equipment to hand to knock some up Now this is where your two mates come into it, lucky phataz off here had been helping me all day and another lad turned up just at the right time for throwing it back in!! Once in and the brake lines were connected all that was left was handbrake cables and a bleed up.

The handbrake cables seemed slightly to short but this could of been down to trying to run them in the original mounts (tight to the body) but they seem quite happy now and getting them to sit in the caliper was abit of a pain aswell, does anyone know if there is suposed to be a clip that holds them in?

There not bedded in properly yet and im just waiting on a 16v master cylinder but the handbrake definatly feels better and the pedal feels great, but a couple of bias valves may need to be fitted as im only running polo g40 239mm on the front.?.?!

Will try and get some pics asap as they look brill

Hope this is of some help to people and a big thankyou to Phataz for helping us out (true dubbing style )

Cheers
Chris

You'll need the Scirocco limiting valves or you'll be sideways everywhere.

yeha said

You'll need the Scirocco limiting valves or you'll be sideways everywhere.

or two M10 ones off a mk2 astra GTE 16v  :wink:  (you'll need to find two cars though as they run one M10 thread and one M12 because Vauxhall don't trust their mechanics to connect the brakelines the correct way round….)

If you have a load compensator on the rear beam ignore the above, although you might need to change this for one suitable for rear discs or you might get away with removing the preload by disconnecting the spring.

this is a very worth while conversion and very much worth the effort to do properly. For those against the idea I wonder why VW (or any one for that matter) no longer uses Drum brakes on any performance model?? Oh yeah it's because it they were rubbish.

Mr_GTI said

this is a very worth while conversion and very much worth the effort to do properly. For those against the idea I wonder why VW (or any one for that matter) no longer uses Drum brakes on any performance model?? Oh yeah it's because it they were rubbish.

Its because with mass production, economies of scale etc, its now cheaper to make discs than drums. (And since manufacturers also offer inclusive deals on servicing etc, the cost of servicing them is taken into account). Similar to how its cheaper to make CDs than tapes, even though they're better.

and cos' they're a funker to put back together…  :evil: