Brakes Again

[robertcosta]

I don't want to start another thread on brake calipers, but is it true that Austin Princess calipers will fit the pre 1985 solid disc setup without mods except for the hydraulic line??

[andydclements]

Personally I'd avoid Princess calipers.

They are really heavy, I've got a pair in the garage, I was going to fit them to the Europa, then found how heavy they are compared to more modern ones.

Unsprung weight (Calipers, discs hubs etc) is one of the worst weingts on the car (discs themselves are even worse due to high moment of inertia, which reduces acceleration, both gaining speed and slowing down). Unsprung weight means your suspension travels either less than you want because the undulation was so slight it cannot overcome the suspensions resistance and the unsprung weight, or if the undulation in the road was greater the road wheel travels further due to the momentum the whole set-up gained so the wheel looses grip o the road temporarily.

I can measure the stud hole distances etc and post those if you want, but I'd suggest looking for an aluminium 4 pot caliper that is a direct swap or easy to have a bracket made.

Andy

[robertcosta]

Thanks Andy,

I thought they might be old school heavyweights!

I'm constantly looking for shortcuts.

I got a cost for a brake upgrade kit from PNM delivered to Sydney being about 700 pounds.....plus the GST charges ( that your VAT ) a little too much for me.

I thought of making up the brackets. If its been done before would anyone have a drawing of the bracket ?

Robert

Edited December 19, 2007 by USAndretti42
Removed quote

[hilly]

I have got the measurements on file from when I made the caliper brackets for my brake conversion.

If you tell me what calipers and the disc size I should be able to modify it for you.

Hilly

[robertcosta]

Thanks Hilly,

http://www.wilwood.com/Products/001-Calipe...-BNDL/index.asp

These calipers and 264mm discs

Robert

Edited December 19, 2007 by USAndretti42
Removed quote

[hilly]

How thick are the discs and do they bolt to the back of the hub or are you doing something else ?????

Hilly

Edited December 18, 2007 by hilly

[robertcosta]

Bolt at back of hub and 20.5mm thickness

Robert

Edited December 19, 2007 by USAndretti42
Removed quote

[LOTUS]

On the subject of brakes, I had a very noticeable vibration on braking in my 1981 S3 caused by one of the rear discs having large runout. I assumed it was the disc and bought a very expensive new pair, but after several hours removing the old ones I discovered that the drive flange from the gearbox had the runout (a very difficult thing to measure with a dial guage as there is no continuous smooth surface to measure on).

While I was scratching my head, wondering how much hassle it was to pull out the offending flange, a neighbour arrived and started rummaging in his garage as I was absentmindedly trying various thicknesses of washers under each of the 3 bolts holding the disc on to try and compensate for the runout. Unbelievably the neighbour had a full box of engineering shim washers of different sizes and we managed to remove the runout completely!

The car does not vibrate on braking at all now, so before condemning the discs, check your driveshaft flanges!!

Joolz