disc brakes - ftw

[oprn]

Good thread!

All too often the focus is on going faster in our outdated cars without near enough thought given to getting it all to stop. The conditions out there on the road have changed drastically since these cars were new! In the mid '60s the main highway north/south here in Alberta between the 2 biggest cities had one lane each way and a speed limit of 45 mph. It was the highest speed road in all of the province. That is what our drum brakes were designed for!

No one dies from not having enough power, tens of thousands have died because they couldn't get stopped fast enough.

My only concern with upgrading brakes is keeping the correct front/rear balance.

[HotStreetVw]

Could have just been my combination of calipers. Four piston wilwoods and two piston strange, but this is what was required to get the pedal feel I was used too. However, a local shop said the squishy pedal is common, and I'd assume they have assembled multiple combinations.

Here is my setup. Prior to this switch I tried multiple combinations of residual pressure valves. The real problem was to move enough volume to engage the rear pads required too much travel with a 20.6mm bore. The 1-1/16" bore resolved that.

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4inBhore
50 Split - 2724cc NA. Haltech injected
62 Notchback - 2542cc Turbo WIP

[rs58rag]

[terryly]

Here is a guy who upgraded his Empi disc brakes I copied him works great
oops forgot link here ya go

Link

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2180cc MS3PRO sequential fuel and spark 42mm IDF style Throttle boddies
Calgary Alberta Canada
Terry Lytle

[RailBoy]

oprn, If you are concerned about "balance" of the brakes front/rear, all I can say is try it first with disk front and rear at the same time so, this does not throw you while using your original master. Why I say this, is I think this whole "Balancing" act is year and car dependent. I have heard now for years and numerious on both accounts, and yes, i run disk, and this is on a a 74 Super. Disk work great like everyone else's but I was able to keep my master. And , yes, I have had some "Racers" in the drivers seat and they said there was no issues with the brakes nor the rest of the car, friends...

But yea, Disk sure do look cool..... RB

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[quote="smitty24"]"HELP, I ported my own heads and now have fire coming out my ass" .[/quote]

[anobii]

Something that might help someone out with master cylinder size. I just recently did 4 pot wilwood dynalites up front and 7/8 bore wheel cylinders in the drums out back. I calculated the master cylinder bore by the surface area of the caliper pistons and wheel cylinder and ended up needing a 1" bore MC. By a stroke of chance i discovered a Mitsubishi outlander has a 1" bore with outlets in roughly the same orientation as a vw dual Master. They are even 10mm iso bubble flare. It even is a remote resivoir. Take a look.
https://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sku/Centric/Brake_Master_Cylinder/CE130-dot-46526.html
Pay no attention to the two other masters that are shown, it was the best link i could find

[DerrickfromNC1]

I’m close to completing a brake upgrade on my 67 beetle which consists of factory Porsche 996 calipers and rotors using the CBPerf 2”dropped spindles.

The rears are Porsche 914, but I may consider going with one of the standard rear kits available that use Golf rear calipers later if I think it will be an upgrade over the older used 914 stuff.

Has anyone tried the 23.8mm MC from Coolrydes they use on there brake upgrades. Bolts in everything lines up for $150.

https://www.coolrydescustoms.com/coolstop-brakes.html

[jismay]

I have the EMPI rear disc conversion on my 1970 Squareback.

I had to extend the parking brake cable tubes at the rear firewall by about 6 inches, but other than that everything was a straight bolt-up.

I still have the original master cylinder from when the car was front-disc/rear-drum.

My understanding is that the EMPI kit is designed to have the correct balance/bias when replacing a stock drum setup.

I have no breaking issues at all, car stops straight and hard.

The pedal feel could be nicer, but it isn't bad.
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1970 Squareback with 1915cc dual 40idf
1979 Beetle Convertible
1980 Vanagon Westfalia
1989 VW Cabriolet

[oprn]

[rs58rag]

[oprn]

VW used to advertise that their brakes were a dual diagonal system for safety. How do you fellows set them up?