Vauxhall 256mm Front Brakes, now on: 2 of 2

I'm still here  8) lol,

All works fine, but think they need bleeding again, I did finish up in a bit of a rush last night ops:.  Plus a bit more bedding in and adjust the bias, damn its tail happy as is .

One side bolted up perfectly, the other side didn't, had to space the carrier slightly.  I suspect its more a problem related to the hub than the brakes, it looked pretty 'tired' and corroded.

Is there normally a big tolerance between disc flange and the hub?

My main problem was the wheels wouldnt fit over them!  Its a very close thing, at a guess they would fit under 15"s no problems, and probably most 14"s as well, my 14" ATS Cups have small webs on the inside that just clipped the edge of the caliper.  The Pads which came with my calipers were virtually new anyway, so have used them, new ones would push the caliper marginally further out, but not much (mm or so).

Pics and more details to follow after a few laps of the 'Ring on GT4…. :wink:

Jenks said

hmm sweet, so what vauxhalls were these on then? does this mean a better availablility and cheaper prices?  8)

Yes.

and

Yes.

Easiest to find on mk3 Cavaliers. If they're vented, then they're 256's. They have a centre vent on the 256mm disc. Common as a common thing.

http://www.vwgolfmk1.o…ms&file=viewtopic&t=15014

 :wink:

Ok, Shopping list for the conversion:

VW:
-Mk2 Golf 16V 256mm Vented Discs (Same as Passat etc)

GM:
-90s 16V Spec Calipers and Carriers (with slider bolts etc)
-Matching Pads.
-Matching Vauxhall Front Brake Flexis (Bolt to Caliper with M10x1.25 Banjo Bolts/Copper Washers)

Other:
-Brake Fluid (ho hum!).
-Bolts:
EITHER: Extended M10 Bolts (carriers are thicker) with 12/10mm sleeve, easily made from mild steel tube from B&Q
OR: M12x25 Shoulder Bolts (High tensile, 12.9 spec)

As yeha said, the brake set up came on Mk2 Astra 16V, Mk3 Cavalier 16V, Calibra 16V, and possibly mk3 Astra (?).  Absolutly tons of them around and shouldn't cost more than ?30-40.  Have a scan of vauxhall forums like Migweb and theres always some floating around.  I reignited my old Nova forums usernames and found them in no time

Be aware of wheel clearance if using 14"s, I 'assume' 15"s would be fine, not tried them.  Maybe worth a trial fit first without plumbing them in if using 14"s.

Dave

ok, time for images….

The Bolts, 12mm Diam x 25mm Shoulder Bolts.  As they're 12mm diam the threaded section comes in the next std metric size down, M10 Coarse, (Which is correct thread to fit the mk1 Hubs).  Length of threaded section is a std length based on thread so don't worry about that.




I picked 25mm shoulder so it sits about 1mm inside the carrier, to prevent risk of torqueing them in against the shoulder if closer! (Don't worry I did scrape paint off the carrier mounting surfaces:wink:  )


The other option: Cut down some 12mm Tube to make sleeves, then use longer M10 Bolts (High Tensile):


Pass Side: (Disc not on properly!)


Driver Side: (Spaced slightly)


Damn webs on inside of my wheels!:


Pass Side on:

ive been running this set up for a while now and had no problems with the spacers that are used on the bolts as ive heard people mention on other posts. i found that the flex's where abit short so i had some braided made up, worth doing if you ask me!!!

it really is as easy as dave has made out.

simon

What about the master cylinder, does it cope?

TT

i chose to upgrade my mc at the same time, 22mm 16v option

simon

TT, Sorry mate have been busy ops: , a mate who wanted a set initally has dropped out now so now have enough for the 5 people that said yes straight away, so…

Earmarked a set for both TwinTurbo and a set for rdubman, (4 each).

The-gog, i'll fish out their details for ya

Does anyone need them before Xmas? I do all work on my car back at my parents in North London (where the bolts are) but I live in Reading, and off on holiday on Friday!  I'm definitly back at the garage on the 27/28th and can send them straight away… Otherwise i'll hassle my parents to sort it out for me.

Dave

thanks very much manicGTI  :y: , no rush as my car is in the paint shop at the mo. do you want me to send you a christmas card with some money or have you got a paypal acount or something?

what do you do about the felxi hoses please?

If any ones interested, believe all vauxhall breaks up until recent mount the same, so V6 from cav or vec should work if disks can be found (280 something mm -unsure)

One for thought?

MRBLONDE said

what do you do about the felxi hoses please?

I used Astra ones , a wee bit longer than Calibra ones. Only thing is , the banjo fitting is a fraction narrower , so I used heavy copper washers. AFAIK Opel/Vaux don't use any washers at all .

ManicGTI said

Driver Side: (Spaced slightly)

If the caliper carrier is to one side , is it really neccessary to space it to one side with shims/washers as above? Mine was off slightly , but I left it as it was. :dontknow:

mattgti said

If any ones interested, believe all vauxhall breaks up until recent mount the same, so V6 from cav or vec should work if disks can be found (280 something mm -unsure)

One for thought?

Sorry was wrong vec B sri breaks are 280 something mm, vec B v6 are 315 ish mm.

Either way same calipers different carriers accross the range.

has anybody got this set up on there mk1 up and runing?..what banjo fittings do i need for the vauxhalll hoses also?

MRBLONDE said

has anybody got this set up on there mk1 up and runing?..what banjo fittings do i need for the vauxhalll hoses also?

Loads here , including me. The Vauxhall flexi pipe connects straight onto the solid brake line of the VW , and uses a banjo bolt to the caliper . Just be sure to get the banjo bolts when you pick up the calipers from a scrappie. Safest thing to do is chop the pipe off a few inches up from the caliper when removing them from a tired Vectra/Cavalier.

Yep i got the banjos with the calipers.so do i have to put them onto the vauxahll hoses?..dont they come with the new hoses then?.

-The only reason I spaced one side was the disc was actually touching the carrier, (must be tolerances in my car), I haven't heard of anyone else needing to do it apart from one lad on the caddy forum.  The Caliper Slides anyway so don;t worry about it otherwise.

For reference, the flexi line thread fittings are as follows:

Caliper End:  GM Banjo Bolts are M10x1.25, VW fittings M10x1.00.

Solid Line End: GM Fitting to Solid line M10x1.00, same as the VW (Concave seat).

So the GM flexis will fit the VW solid lines with no mods 'required'.  That said, the way that they mount to the car is different, the GM fittings are a larger external diam, so won't sit in the mk1 inner wing bracket in the same way but its that not important.   As I had a kink in one of my solid lines anyway I decided to put fittings on my solid lines with longer threads (same thread fitment, just longer), so I could keep the standard VW little spring holding them in place.  One guy on the caddie forums has drilled the brackets with bigger holes, but I didn't want to modify anything I didn't need to.  The only purpose of all this is to stop the solid line from moving too much, so do as you feel fit.

My Goodridge mk2 astra 16V braided line set came with the correct banjo bolts and washers anyway.  I bought the mk1 Goodridge set first by mistake…still need to get rid of them!

Shame VW didnt use banjo fittings on the mk1 then all we would need is new banjo bolts, ho hum. (didnt use them on anything else did they?)

I've got hold of some of a vectra I think it had 284mm? discs, anyone see a problem using these with 280 discs instead? Not that i'm going to use them, atleast not straight away, as i've just gone a different way.
Opinions anyone?