Rear Brake Conversion - Drums to Discs?

27th December 2008, 00:59

i am going to be lowering my car next week at the rear, so while im at it i was thinking of sourcing a cheap set of calipers off a vts to fit in place of my drums. first of all how much work is needed for this? can it be done as a straight swap? and anybody got any ideas on the price's im looking at for 2nd hand set of vts calipers ? (will be buying pads and discs new)

27th December 2008, 01:14

you need vts trailing arms you cant just swap the drum for a disc

27th December 2008, 01:18

you will also need a vtr/s handbrake cable

27th December 2008, 01:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

you need vts trailing arms you cant just swap the drum for a disc

ah ok, so can the arms just be swapped or are other things needed? i no the offset on the vts is different so with fitting the new arms to my 'desire' it would change the offset too wouldnt it?

how much for the arms and handbrake cable? if anybody knows?

27th December 2008, 01:28

you might be better getting a vtr beam mate and just doing a swap. for a second hand beam your looking at about £150-£200. but your going to need to make sure that the beam isnt worn.

however, the rear brakes only do something like 12% of the braking so the difference imo would not be worth it

27th December 2008, 01:34

I was in a similar situation to you mate about 8 months ago. I opted for a drum beam because:
1) they're much more readily available
2) it's just a relatively straight swap over
3) you need to flare the brake lines in order for them to fit the VTr/s beam

and as mark pointed out the rear do very little braking effort anyway.

ads

27th December 2008, 01:49

vt beam conversion is an arse, its why it didnt get done on my rallye.

No point imo on a poverty spec saxo converting tbh.

reminds me i need to flog my 2 drum beams lol

27th December 2008, 02:01

its mainly for cosmetic reasons that i want the discs, will be fitting some alloys and i hate looking at drums on the rear. i was hoping it would only cost £100 at the most. for 200 odd pound it would be a waste of money just for the convinence of having a caliper to paint instead of a drum. cheers anyway lads

27th December 2008, 02:09

if your doing for cosmetic then people will still see that its a flat arched saxo

27th December 2008, 02:14

polishing a turd is still quite easy these days mark

on a serious not dont bother with the beam conversion, for £100 you will struggled to get a decent disc beam, then you need to sort handbrake and brake lines etc...

27th December 2008, 02:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

polishing a turd is still quite easy these days mark

on a serious not dont bother with the beam conversion, for £100 you will struggled to get a decent disc beam, then you need to sort handbrake and brake lines etc...

depends what polish you use

27th December 2008, 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

vt beam conversion is an arse, its why it didnt get done on my rallye.

No point imo on a poverty spec saxo converting tbh.

reminds me i need to flog my 2 drum beams lol

Wouldnt agree in fairness, I did it in under 3 hours. Only hard part is lining the four bolts up. All the brake lines fitted each other, just had to put in the new HB cables and bleed the brakes. And I did notice a difference in braking too

Agree its not worth it unless youve got big plans

27th December 2008, 02:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben_Saxo

Wouldnt agree in fairness,

Agree its not worth it unless youve got big plans

soooo,....

alot of people when converting s1 rallyes have used copper pipe and flare tools for the lines as thery were different, which is why on mine it was a big job. having to use the diffeent handbrake lines and handle also makes it more effort for not alot, espec on a 1.1 imo

27th December 2008, 02:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

soooo,....

alot of people when converting s1 rallyes have used copper pipe and flare tools for the lines as thery were different, which is why on mine it was a big job. having to use the diffeent handbrake lines and handle also makes it more effort for not alot, espec on a 1.1 imo

Fair enough, mine were a straight swap. And ya dont have to change the handle. I know what you mean though it may not be worth it for a 1.1 or whatever but it depends on what your plans are. And drums do look fecking awful lol

15th January 2009, 11:15

Drill out a large whole in a spare brake disc and secure it to the hub. Will shine through your wheels and look like disc brakes!

15th January 2009, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by GazzWalton

Drill out a large whole in a spare brake disc and secure it to the hub. Will shine through your wheels and look like disc brakes!

or not! how will you fit the wheel back on? when people realise what you have done , if you can get it to fit, they ill fall over laughing at you

15th January 2009, 12:26

He only wants it for cosmetic reasons, seen it done on a few cars.

15th January 2009, 18:43

i had to make a new quadrant for my xsi as the new cables were different. It does brake better, its not the caliper grabbing the disc that give you brakes but the transfer of movement energy to heat, discs have better cooling than drums so are more efficient.

15th January 2009, 20:20

just drop a 16v lump in and let people mock ur drums then smoke em at the lights!
Friend of mine has a ralleye with a 16v in and kept the drums on the back cos he prefers them for track use cos there more adjustable