O.K. If 320 calipers work do Volvo 4 piston?

DuckRyder · 05:40 PM

Alright Guys I have a question / possible suggestion.

I see 320i calipers are an upgrade, I'm assuming you guys are using the except 77 calipers (since the 77 are rare and sought by BMW peoples) well Volvo 2 series girling 4 piston calipers are a nearly bolt on upgrade for 320i (couple 1mm washers and some brake line bending). Now the 77 cars had vented rotors, so the hot ticket for the BMW's is a 2 series volvo with a vented rotor. but they also had them (and are more common) with solid rotors.

Might be a possible route for the 914? Anyone tryed?

campbellcj · 07-23-2002, 07:39 PM

Jeff Shyu did the Volvo 4-piston setup on his turbo car, with custom Coleman rotors. Check the archives for a write-up w/ pics. Looks nice, but a lot of work. I'm going the "easy" way with an SC front end and thus lots of easy bolt-on possibilities should I need 'em.

Brad Roberts · 07-24-2002, 01:13 AM

Rich Johnson sells a complete Volvo conversion kit.

(A914guy@aol.com)

Chris, is the SC stuff legal for your classes ? oh.. 6cyl car.

Here is what we use: The caliper on the right is a 914 caliper.

B

rfoulds · rfoulds's Garage

I misunderstood. What is that HUGE caliper on the left?

campbellcj · 07-24-2002, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BRM9148

Chris, is the SC stuff legal for your classes ? oh.. 6cyl car.

B

It's still a 4cyl car for now but it will be in a non-stock class and I'll eat a couple points on brakes; since I mainly drive with POC it will probably fall into their V5 class. That is their class for modified 914/4's (and I think certain other 4cyl cars like 924S, 944NA etc).

sammyg2 · 07-24-2002, 09:28 AM

I had a pair of the Volvo 4 piston calipers in my garage for a long time. The plan was to install them on my 1973 914, but I never got around to it. They are almost bolt up, just a little modification here and there. It looked like the hardest part would be setting up the 2 into one brake line on each caliper. Rich johnson sells it, but I was going to just use a tee. One word of caution: the stock 914 rotor is fairly thin and will probably warp if you had big brake calipers/pads and really used them hard. The vented rotors would be the way to go.

Brad Roberts · 07-24-2002, 01:00 PM

RFoulds,

We have 4 Winston cup cars that I maintain for Road racing.

I was switching out some control arms and had the calipers off one of the 01 Ford Taurus'. I thought it would be neat if I took a comparison shot just for fun.

B

jurhip · 07-24-2002, 01:16 PM

I hear that people put Carrera front ends on their 914. What year do you use.
thanks

Brad Roberts · 07-24-2002, 01:26 PM

JurHip,

As long as you dont plan on Autox'ing or TimeTr'ing the car with PCA or SCCA, you can use 78-84 SC or Carrera front struts. You dont need the complete front end. The struts bolt onto the late 72 and up lower ball joint.

The aluminum cross bar is it not worth it. Basically it saves you a few pounds at the lowest point on the car. I think they flex. Some people like the late under body style sway bar that comes with the later complete suspension, but I like through the body adjustability.

I really should finish my vented rotor 914 4 lug bolt on hub with 911 calipers.... This way you dont have to buy wheels and still get the benefit of 911 brakes and vented rotors (much like Bremtek did back in the day)

B

rich · rich's Garage

I'm using BMW 2002 4 piston calipers. They are bigger than the 914's and smaller than the Volvo.I thought that they would add the improved braking i'm after with out over heating the rotor. (although they don't overheat the solid rotor on the Volvo.....?) They are a direct bolt up on the early strut, and unlike the 320I caliper the pads track correctly. Use the "T" fitting from a wasser boxer VW van to connect the duel lines. The van fitting allows the two steel lines and the rubber hose to connect.

campbellcj · 07-24-2002, 04:49 PM

B - why would there be an issue running SC/Carrera brakes in PCA? From what I can tell you just eat 3 points or so for modified brakes down here in Zone 8. Same with POC more or less, except they assign different points for various 'levels' of brake mods. (I know nothing about SCCA nor do I really care at this point cuz I don't plan to run with them.)

Or am I reading the rules wrong...which is definitely possible...

You're right the main reason(s) I am looking to the SC setup is for vented rotors...the bigger caliper & pad area is a nice side effect but cooling and reliability is more important to me right now.

Plus of course there are tons more wheel options in the 5-lug world. I'm not sure you can get an 8-10" wide Kinesis or BBS race wheel in 914 4-lug pattern (?)

Also I thought one benefit of the alum x-member is more clearance for a huge m/c (23mm) should you want to use one? I have basically a whole SC front; was planning to keep the thru-body swaybar but undecided on the arms & x-member etc. The arms I have were already modified for thru-body swaybar tabs, which is one minor plus.

sammyg2 · 07-25-2002, 07:58 AM

It's been a while, but I thought I remembered the Volvo rotors being a little thicker than the 914s, maybe mine were just wore out real bad :-)

I know the old volvos were heavier than the 914 but they were not designed for track use. Fade and warpage were probably not a major concern when they designed the cars, but when they went to the turbo and the higher powered volvos they definitely changed to vented rotors.
I think the big calipers would work just fine on a solid rotored 914 until you took it on a track and pushed it really hard for a half hour or so, then the heat build up would trash the rotors, but that is just a hunch on my part.

mike mueller · 07-25-2002, 08:17 AM

Chris, we don't have points, we'd get bumped into a higher class which could really suck if the rest of the car or the driver was not on par with the higher class.

chibone_914 · 07-25-2002, 09:59 AM

This is a copy of a post earlier this year. So far, no problems whatsoever.....just stops NOW.

Ok Guys, Here goes....

I've done the Volvo Girling 4 piston caliper x-over and here is what you need:

19mm master cylinder

Three VW brake line tees

Four 6mm X 203mm hard brake lines

Four VW bus front shock spacers

Two 4 piston girling calipers (240 series, solid rotor car)

new pads and hardware (for Girling)

You'll need to remove the brake proportioning valve and use a tee in it's place.

Use the brake lines and remaining tees for the front. Girling calipers have 2 brake line inlets instead of 1 inlet. Just screw in the hard brake lines into each hole, bend lines accordingly and screw opposite ends into the brake tee.

The spacers will need to be machined down to properly center the caliper over the rotor. (sorry, you'll need to cut and test fit the spacers 1mm at a time for best fit)

Use your original 914 brake caliper bolts (or get new ones)

Put everything together and bleed like crazy. You'll have a little more brake pedal travel, but improvement in stopping is very different from stock.

The calipers fit perfect with original 2 liter Fuchs alloys (sorry, can't tell you if other wheels would work or not)

Pad overhang is minimal (about 1/4") but there is far more pad contact versus the ATE 320i caliper.

Good Luck and I must include that if you choose to embark on this conversion, this information is FYI only. If you crash and burn I nor this forum are not held responsible.

campbellcj · 07-25-2002, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mike mueller
Chris, we don't have points, we'd get bumped into a higher class which could really suck if the rest of the car or the driver was not on par with the higher class.

True. Even with a points-based system, it's all about where you 'spend' your points. Once you're into a particular class, you basically have to max out on points within that class or you may not be competitive with the other guys who did.

FWIW I never had any problems or complaints with the stock brakes on my previous car...but that was a stock car. It couldn't do more than 115 or so unless I pushed it off a cliff. I think this one will need more brakes....