Brake compatibility

[Mikey_VKG]

I'm having a problem mounting the brakes on my "kit" car. I was told they were 993 calipers. I've been gathering parts from different sources for a couple of years. So I'm not exactly sure I ended up with the right parts. Best I can figure, either the pads are wrong or the disc is wrong.

I've had both the disc and caliper mounted on the car for a couple of years, I just bought the pads and I can't get the disc to fit inside the pads. The pads have about an inch of space and the rotors are an inch and a quarter. Maybe this has something to do with it, but the hubs are not pictured.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure what other information to include or pictures, but I will add more if needed.

Thank you,

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by Mikey_VKG

I just bought the pads and I can't get the disc to fit inside the pads. The pads have about an inch of space and the rotors are an inch and a quarter.

Any part #'s? Almost sounds like you're trying to mount N/A calipers over TT rotors.

There are some caliper/rotor combinations where you need to open up the caliper throats and/or shave the pads to use them (belt sander apparently works well), but that wouldn't be necessary for calipers over the factory rotors they were designed for.

Looking at the photo - are you sure the caliper pistons are all the way back in the bores? Pads - especially the one on the right - look a long way out. The pistons would have come out as the old pads wore down, they may just need to be pushed back in.

As long as they're not seized, should fine to push them apart/back in carefully (e.g. a tire iron with something sacrificial on the piston tops so they don't get chewed up) - but keep an eye on the fluid level so the master cylinder doesn't overflow. BTDT...

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Mikey_VKG

I'm having a problem mounting the brakes on my "kit" car. I was told they were 993 calipers. I've been gathering parts from different sources for a couple of years. So I'm not exactly sure I ended up with the right parts. Best I can figure, either the pads are wrong or the disc is wrong.

I've had both the disc and caliper mounted on the car for a couple of years, I just bought the pads and I can't get the disc to fit inside the pads. The pads have about an inch of space and the rotors are an inch and a quarter. Maybe this has something to do with it, but the hubs are not pictured.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure what other information to include or pictures, but I will add more if needed.

Thank you,

That looks like a 993 caliper, of course there are several variants, but they all want 304-322 x32mm rotors

as Spuggy mentioned it looks as if the pistons are not fully retracted.

[Mikey_VKG]

Thanks Spuggy and Bill. You were both 100% spot on. I didn't retract the pistons into the caliper all the way. I guess I jumped the gun a little and didn't put more thought into it. I used a 8" c-clamp to compress the pistons. Worked like a charm. Pushing excess fluid out of the caliper.

I appreciate the help.

[Flieger]

Dare I ask, what is the car?

[Mikey_VKG]

Well, it's a 1964 Vw Karmann-Ghia.

'64 Karmann Ghia body on a '74 chassis.
Body: Dechromed, debadged, widened front and rear fenders, and a front mounted radiator.
Brakes: 993 calipers and rotors, '87 944T front hubs, '86 944T rear hubs and rear caliper brackets.
Transmission: 914 with a 901 nose cone.
Engine: Subaru JDM 2.0T

The front hubs are riding on stock vw bearings with custom bearing spaces and caliper mounts by vdubengineering.com. Also pictured is a 5-bar suspension brace from vdubengineering.com.

A work in progress.




Questions, comments? I welcome both. But it's my first build.

[Flieger]

Interesting.