better brakes ???? help

i need advice on my brakes on my 1983 mk1 1.8gti im replacing my front discs and pads because there crap does anyone know how easy- difficult and costly it is to convert the rear drums to discs or anyway of improving the overall effectivness of my brakes because they all really bad just pass mot but still feel really bad even brakeing from 30mph to a stop ????

ANY ADVICE HELLLLP

rear discs wont really help you, uprate the fronts first.
9" servo from a mk2 + 22mm master cylinder helps the brakes on a mk1, easy swap and pretty cheap.

then there are adaptor kits on ebay which allow you to fit mk2 g60/early MK3 GTI/VR6 280mm calipers & carriers, cheap but effective.

ross off here was telling me the other day he did the rear disk conversion on his 2.0L 16v but then scrapped it and went back to drums as the rear brakes just locked up all the time, so gotta agree with jonny stay away from tht and just focus on the front

Hi
I have fitted standard mintex friction items all round to my mk1 tintop, new flexis ,refurbed calipers & brake fluid flushed lots of times  & my brakes are  excellant
baz

has to be said you can make rear discs work if you sort out the rear bias properly, but they really do bugger all apart from look nice on a MK1

the back end is so light any real force at the back would just make em lock up, unless you put a ton o weight in the boot

Would they work on a Convertable due to the extra weight?

Can you fit a rear MK2 axel or do you just fir the calipers and disks?

on mk2 gti the car was so low my rear brake compensator used to lock up the rears alot, in the end i took the spring and arm off but i know you can get them set up so you can drive it with a working compensator while its slamed, tbh i never did i rarely drove it with any more then a passanger and its a 2 min job to bolt it back on for the mot, if you do go the rear disc root and your car is lowered get the bias set up if you intend on driving the car about with more wieght then just yaself and a m8

cabby is a bit heavier yeah, but the discs still wont be any better than the factory fit drums, they're more than good enough.  you can't fit the beam, just the stub axles etc.

i did have rear discs on my cabby, but thats only cos they came with a beam i bought to replace the knackered one on there

you can make them work in a MK1 using a bias valve, what i meant was with this valve fitted they do next to nothing. even with a weighty ass cabby they still wont be doing much in comparison to the front, and they certainly wont offer any braking improvement over rear drums.

as i say, they just look nicer

I still have the entire beam off the Mk2 GTi I broke up so I suspect it may be finding it's way onto the MK1  :twisted:

oops sorry you can't fit the mk2 beam, typo! fixed it now though. as i say, you unbolt the stub axles and swap em over to the mk1 beam. if it doesnt have a roll bar you can just add one, bolts right onto the outside unlike a mk2 which has it built into the beam

Still tempting, how do you sort out the brake bias issue?

you can use later cabby/scirocco inline valves mounted in the engine bay, or fit a MK1 beam mounted bias adjuster. on my cabby I made a custom bracket so i could fit a MK2 bias valve, which worked great. reason was my mk1 bias valve was busted and i couldnt get one for a decent price anywhere. i had 2 made up as it happens

So if I just strip off and mount the Mk2 GTi bias valve then the set up should work?

Sounds to easy, bet their is a catch !

not directly, you need to make a mount so it fits, not hard though: