Brake conversion

[dave]

Just wondering if anyone out there can help, been thinking of converting my 69 bay, no brake servo, standard drums, standard 1600 engine to front discs but do not want to spend a fortune on a conversion kit, had an idea and this is where you may be able to help. is it possible to convert my brakes to later discs with servo? if it is has anyone done it and does anyone know of any stumbling blocks? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[NickJ]

Hi Dave, why do you want to change them ? If they are set up and adjusted correctly the drums should be ok for a standard engine. If you want to change to later discs and servo it will certainly cost a lot more than sorting out what you already have.

 

[james_stan]

Yes this has been done before (not by me - yet) plenty of times.

You will need to use the late bay spindles backing plates (and possibly trailing arms - not sure about that) .
The later bay the better as, for reasons of supply, you may wish to avoid the 71/72 year assembly which was only made briefly.

The other 'major' obstacle is the wheel stud configutaion. For Discs they have a smaller PCD. Of course this is not really an issue until you realise that you could end up with different front to rear wheel types. So this upgrade usually involves changing the rear hub/brake assemblies so you have a matching wheel set - only carry one spare etc..).

Alternatives to changing the rear are CSP conversion (££££s = ouch !) maybe sourcing a small to wide pattern stud
adapter for the fronts or take a look at this thread.. http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10947
where there is some momentum gathering to make some new conversions based on Vauxhall (Frontera/Astra) parts.

Cheers

James

 

[dave]

just considering at the moment as although brakes appear to be fine i lack confidence in drums, in a way i suppose you could say they have worked for 40 years why change them, am still undecided what is best. any comments / feed back on suggestions welcome.

 

[Araon]

Well maintained drums are very good indeed, whip em out and spend some time refurbing them, new where needed, then keep on top of it and you'll be fine.....

as has been mentioned if you do the fronts on the cheap with 73> discs then your gonna have a simple and relatively cheap set up but you've got the issue of the front back PCD mismatch....

 

[AxlFoley]

to change the rear, is it a case of swapping the drums for later drums or is there more to it than that?

 

[aggri1]

to change the rear, is it a case of swapping the drums for later drums or is there more to it than that?

I think you need to change the bearing housing entirely. The stub axles are a different length. Still not that bad, late Bay rear ends are everywhere.

Cheers, A.

 

[mattp]

I also thinking of doing this conversion for the following reasons

Less maintainance
Shorter stub axles on the rear meaning I should be able to run normal centre caps on my wheels
Because I have a set of wheels I like that are not 5 * 205 PCD.

All I am wondering is what M/C so use and also if I need a bias valve -i.e. run a complete late baywindow brake system? The only other thing I was curious about is what M/C and bias value would be required for a late baywindow rear brake set up and early 944 front set up?