Cheap break up grade! Is there one?

[mike95125]

I have heard about the 19mm master cylender upgrade, and have already figured that I will do it. I was wondering about some of these "bolt in calipers" that people have been working on. Truthfully any pad overhang makes me a bit uneasy. I am just looking to stop well, not to have a dead leg after traffic, and to be able to do it as inexpensive as possible (Im a stoodent = no $). BMW, Volvo, etc. what do yall got for me?

[DSPTurtle]

BMW calipers from a junkyard. Follow the instructions in the tech article. Buy the rebuild kits and do everything but the maching yourself.
It cost me:
$30 used calipers
$40 Machining
$40 Rebuild Kits new brake lines and Brake Grease
$25 Brake Pads (Organic)

Total $135 and it will be a different car.

I have since gone to $85 R4S Pads from Porterfield but in the beggining those normal pads were great.

You ahve to do it yourself though, rebuilt calipers will run you $85 each loaded if you dont have a core. Then you have to get them machined.

Go For It!!!!

[mike95125]

But what about pad overhang??? I thought that the BMW pads had to be monkeyed around with to get them to fit due to the larger pad. Somthing like a 1/4" or along those lines. If this mod will do the job without having to goof with the actuall pads then I am set!! I guess that that is my final question....Overhang of pad?

[DSPTurtle]

I have been autox these pads twice per month for the last four months and do a lot of weekend driving. I ahve not noticed any overhang yet. Even so, if there is at some point, you can get a file and just file it off. If you did the file trick before you put them on you would never have to worry. I don't really worry, I just check them once per month to make sure I have no interference problems or leaky calipers. They work great. I also put in a "tee" and moved the front calipers to the rear. Yup, no P brake...I hope that 30 year old 1st gear keeps doing its job. (I live in Fla, no hills).
The Pad overhang is more a mythical creature than a real problem...deal with it when it becomes and issue. As a student you should have plenty of freee time to rub a file on those puppies when the time comes!!!

[mike95125]

Free time!? Ha! I am a pre med student so not much free time here. Thanks for all of the help!

[rich]

It depends on what year car you have. I installed BMW 2002 4 piston calipers on my 1972 914 without any machining and the pads track in the same path as the stock 914 pads did. I have yet to verify whether or not I have early or late struts. I suspect I have the late struts. I changed the bolt pattern from 4 to 5 lug. The rotors had a reinforcement web in the back side of the bolt circle area. As I understand the early cars did not have this web. (I could be wrong about that)
I hope to be able to verify this soon. My hope is, I have the late style strut mounting. This would mean in order to fit the caliper on the early car you would simply shim the caliper to center it.

[mike95125]

Ya, I was hearing about the 2002 BMW calipers, but it wasnt completed as far as I knew. I am curious about the second hose conection on the caliper and what was done with it, plug, T fittting? I have a 73 that was manufactured in May (not sure when the switch happened). I dont mind machining I have a great machine shop down the street that does good work cheap. If the 2002 are a bolt in, more power, same pad width type of deal then that would be the best be I would think. Why did you go to 2002 instead of the 320i calipers? Also what is the size diffrence? Will the 2002 calipers fit most standard 914 wheels? How about the 320i?

[rich]

Ok, Heres the latest on the 2002 calipers.
As I think I mentioned, I had a 2002 parts car and decided to try the calipers. I've run the 2002's hard and never felt like I needed more brakes.
(well i can't say never, there was this one time.....)
My car is a 1972. I wasn't sure if I had early or late struts. I tried the calipers on my friends 1971 on Sunday. They were a direct bolt on. I guess I have the early style struts on my 1972. I was never sure, now I know.
The stock steel wheel bolted on the 71 no problem. The 2002 wheels are 13". So things are a close fit on the BMW.

So for the masses, this means in order fit these to the late struts you will need to follow the instructions for the BMW 320 machine work as listed in the archives.

I still don't have the lines run, but I plan to use the VW "T" fitting as suggested in past discussions and a 19mm master cylinder.

My logic for wanting to use the 2002 caliper over the 320 is first and formost the 4 piston power in a compact caliper. I think the 320 rotor dia. is larger which would explain the pad fitment problem.

I don't know how much longer the pads are on the 320 but the 2002 pads are appoximately 17mm longer per pad than the stock 914 pad.

Now I can't say how these work yet, and won't really know until I finish my conversion.
So if anyone wants to complete a conversion and giveus all a report that would be great.

[chibone_914]

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. 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, add your favorite brake fluid 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.

UPDATE: The brakes work GREAT. Rich, you have early struts if you don't have to machine your calipers.

Overall costs: Calipers, $35/pair (pick-ur-part).

19mm Brake Master Cylinder, $100.

Caliper Rebuilding Kits, $24.95.

VW Brake Tees, $1/three.

Hard Brake Lines, $3.99 each. (used 2 for each caliper in front, 1 line for the line that got screwed up removing the proportioning valve.)

Four Shock spacers, purchased w/tees.

Hardware Kit, $10.

Organic Pads, $14.95.

Satisfaction that my wild efforts still don't get me killed on the 110 freeway south every morning..............Priceless.

[rich]

chibone_914,
Do you know how much longer the volvo pads are than the stock 914? How much pad are we gaining? I don't have an old Volvo pad laying around to measure. If you don't have one let me know and I'll call a friend of mine that is a Volvo nut. And he'll give us the skinny.

If your up to the task of trimming the bus shock spacer (shim) and modifying the pads, I'd go with the Volvo calipers. They are far easier to find in the bone yard than the 2002, same lines, "T"'s, and maybe more pad surface that the 2002.

[chibone_914]

Hi Rich,

the ATE pads are: 61.8mm, length X 65.5mm, Height X 14mm fat(thick)

The Girling pads are: 79.8mm, length X 64.4mm, height X 15mm fat.

Pads don't need any mods, and sorry the spacers are a "trial and error" fitting only. (you'll need to so it yourself)

You'll have some overhang as with the 320i conversion, but it's nothing to be concerned about. You can shave the pads if you wish, I personally don't plan on letting the pads wear down that far.