Brake Upgrade

Front axle, springs, shock absorbers, wheels, bearings, calipers, drums...
Tuning: suspension, discs, alloys upgrade...
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tommysb
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Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 17 Sep 2009 06:52 pm

Time to unleash the project I've been working on to the world! (It's at a stage where I'm greater than 50% certain I can get it all to work!)

I've been working out how to get Mazda RX-7 callipers onto a Volvo strut. I've now confirmed that it's possible, but a pig of a job.

These are the brackets I had made up. They're made of steel, and threaded with a fine pitch M12 hole
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How they bolt to the strut
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The problem with the whole setup is that on a 340, the calliper is threaded. On the Mazda, the strut would be. SO for this adaptor to work, both sets of holes need to be threaded for it to go together.

If you bolt the adaptor to the leg, it's not possible to get the bolt through from the disc side, through the calliper to the adaptor.

It IS possible for it all to go together, but it really gave my brain a working doing it! I had to put everything loosely together, then reach inside the disc and finger tighten the bolts to the adaptor. Luckily, I have small girly hands. I don't think I'd have been able to do it otherwise!

Once the bolts had been threaded finger tight, there's JUST enough room to get a spanner on them. If you modify it.
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Then, once all the strut had been bolted together, I tried it out with my 14" volvo 480 alloys. they DO fit, but clearance was literally around 1mm. I wasn't comfortable with that so decided to get some 15" alloys.

Got a set of alloys off an MR2, with fairly good tires. The offset is higher, (45 I think) which meant that after having paid for fitted all the alloys at the guys house, I realised, whilst pulling out of his drive, that they were rubbing on the rear leaf spring/shock mount. DAMN.

Swapped back to the 480 alloys on the rear for the drive home. The fronts were much better balanced though, and I no longer have steering wheel shake at 60mph+. :)

There's nothing that can't be fixed with an angle grinder. Taking a few mm off the rear mount means that the back alloys now fit. (Although clearance is tight!)

An interesting thing about the MR-2 wheels is that the rear tyres are wider than the front. SO i have lots of grippy rubber on the back; Yokohama Advan tyres.

Here's how she now sits. I am toying with the idea of a spacer for the wheels, but it will reduce the amount of screw thread for the nut to hold onto, so not sure.

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volvosneverdie
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by volvosneverdie » 17 Sep 2009 07:10 pm

Great work Tom!

Car looks great on those wheels too.

I'd forgotten how much better 3drs look on good wheels having only seen my many door on poop wheels every day of late.
Looking cheeky dude. 8)
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tommysb
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 17 Sep 2009 07:13 pm

I thought they were a bit too 'sporty' (halfords) looking at first, but actually they grew on me. Will look better with a spoiler now.

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WooDooUK
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by WooDooUK » 17 Sep 2009 07:15 pm

Excellent Work.

Out of curiosity what discs are you running with those calipers?

volvosneverdie
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by volvosneverdie » 17 Sep 2009 07:18 pm

Drums would look better black with the spokey wheels too.
A I found with my 340.
Never got round to blacking them up though...... :oops:
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tommysb
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 18 Sep 2009 03:45 pm

Hyundai sonata. The central bore is a direct fit, although they need re-drilling with the Volvo bolt pattern. Also, the way I've got the calliper aligned, you also need to machine a couple of mm off the extruded part of the disc.

tommysb
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 05 Oct 2009 05:23 pm

Has anyone got pictures of the hose fitment on the volvo 340 caliper? Or comment on whether it's the same as that on the Mazda one?

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mrsoundcraft
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by mrsoundcraft » 13 Nov 2009 02:41 am

Hi, this looks like quite a good conversion, I want to upgrade my brakes, mainly so I have vented discs. With this setup how difficult is it for you to replace your brake discs when they are worn out?
Last edited by mrsoundcraft on 14 Nov 2009 01:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

tommysb
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 13 Nov 2009 10:26 am

Hi mate,

Not managed to get this conversion going yet. I've run into problems getting the plumbing sorted. I've never done anything like this before, so I'm trying to understand all the different variables involved and then decide on the best hose and pipe combination.

Replacing the disks is pretty much the same as a 300 disk. You'd need to re-drill a new set of disks to the 300 bolt pattern though.

I also machined a bit of the disk to clear a small area of contact with the caliper. In retrospect, it would be better to just file a bit from the caliper, to save having to do that to every new set of disks used.

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mrsoundcraft
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by mrsoundcraft » 14 Nov 2009 01:31 am

Thanks for the info, Im learning a lot as I go with this Volvo, its all new to me! There is a good arcticle in this months PPC about making custom braided brake hoses, not sure if you've seen it or if it would be any use.

Would it be possible to thread the holes in the caliper and bolt them on to the hub from the other side of the bracket?

tommysb
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 15 Nov 2009 09:05 pm

I'm learning as I go along too!
I actually ended up threading the calipers with helicoils, so that the bolts can come through from the other side.
That article sounds interesting....DO you happen to own a scanner?

Cheers,

Tom

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mrsoundcraft
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by mrsoundcraft » 16 Nov 2009 12:47 am

OK, here's the pages, as long as you promise to buy next months issue, otherwise a guy with with a V8 Capri might get annoyed!
ppc brake lines 1 edit.jpg
ppc brake lines 1 edit.jpg (326.13 KiB) Viewed 9885 times
ppc brake lines 2 edit.jpg
ppc brake lines 2 edit.jpg (339.32 KiB) Viewed 9885 times

tommysb
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by tommysb » 16 Nov 2009 02:35 pm

It's a bit naughty posting that up! I was going to ask for a PM with it in! Nevermind...

I'll probably try going down the 'custom hose' route.
I'm looking at the hose parts on 'Rally Design'...Can anyone suggest which parts would be needed for a 'normal' Volvo 340 hose? The Mazda calipers have a female m10x1 union, so I can use a male m10x1 on the caliper end of the hose...It's what to put at the volvo end which i'm unsure of.

Stefan
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by Stefan » 16 Nov 2009 03:55 pm

I am watching this with intrest as i want to upgrade the 340 brakes that i will fit to my daf 66 as soon as the hubs are ready to collect :) .
1978 Volvo 343 DL Black Beauty (sold)
1976 Volvo 66GL estate sold
1976 Daf 46 van (sold)
1972 Daf 55 coupe for sale
1974 Daf 33 van sold
1968 Daf Pony
1964 Daf 31

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mrsoundcraft
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Re: Brake Upgrade

Post by mrsoundcraft » 17 Nov 2009 01:11 am

Well once every one else has a look at it are sufficiently happy I will remove the pages!

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