WTB 78-83 BMW Calipers

[mudhead]

WTB - 78-83 front 320I BMW Calipers -ATE not Girling
Thanks....email me robertnrhonda@rocketmail.com

[175mph951]

if you dont find them here you should be able to get rebuilts at your local parts store for like $40 ea...youll have to eat the core charges though. the rebuilts although not in an ate box are 9/10 times ate

[mudhead]

Thanks for the reply. From my research, the BMW caliers seem like they will be the best bang for the buck at this time. My 914-8 is not real crazy about stopping quickly on its stock breaks. But boy does it like to go! Thanks Robert and Rhonda PS....We have read of guys installing the front stock porsche calipers on the rear. Do you know anything about that?

[175mph951]

i ment you can find bmw calipers rebuilt at local part store....in my opinion your best bet is to install a complete 911 carrera front suspension with the 911 carrera brakes

[Schump]

I put the 320i calipers on my 1973 2.0 and it definitely stopped quicker. Something about the 45% bigger pistons? Of course, I hope you have access to a Bridgeport if it's 73 or newer as I read on the OLD "Tim's 914 web page" that the 70-72 have the correct offset, but 73-76 brake caliper ears aren't the correct offset. [Someone who did it and posted instructions & pix.] The stock BMW ears don't center the calipers on the rotors. Also, after 2 track sessions at summit point, brake fluid begins to boil. So if you're going that route, you'll need to either have earlier struts which I think have different caliper ear spacing and should line up, according to the article, or you'll have to spend an hour or two in front of the Bridgeport w/ an end mill to center them up properly.

Of course, the complete 911 front suspension swap would be better as you get vented rotors and thicker T bars (I used 21mm, definitely helped, but you have to press in the poly graphite bushings...it makes the corner 2x as stiff as w/ the rotted old rubber ones.)

Also, if you keep the 914 front end, do like a friend did in PCA.... Go to Home Repot and get some dryer ducting and make a ram air rotor cooling system! I think i paid $45 for the calipers and $20 core or so, but get a few extra hard lines as you have to make new ones. Just don't do what I did...get 2 hard lines, spend a while in the machine shop, all night in your friends garage, and get it buttoned up by 5:15am so that you can drive 3 hrs N on I-81 to do a track day w/ 0.0 hrs of sleep!

It WAS, however the best $150 i spent on my 914, for sure. (btw, original LF caliper was leaking and wouldn't pass PCA tech, and i'd contemplated doing the swap for while anyways. Go for it, just do what I didn't do, and add some ventilation to keep your rotors and consequently fluid cool.)

Good luck,
Schump