Front disk conversion.

29th June 2005.
I had decided much earlier in the chassis rebuild that I wanted to change the braking system on the buggy as the improved engine and the lighter chassis would enable the buggy to perform at higher speeds. The benefits of fitting disk braking to the front of the car are well known and it is fairly common in the world of motoring to fit this combination in commercial vehicles. It has been proven that disk braking systems provide better continuous braking as they dissipate heat better than drums and they are also less likely to have brake fade than drums.

Changing the braking system was going to be an expensive option as the conversion kits that are advertised vary in price and in quality. I decided to try and locate 2nd hand camper van front spindles, disk and callipers as one whole unit one for each side. I located these in a beetle/camper van repair workshop and paid around £20.00 for the pair.

The braking assemblies where taken apart and it was apparent immediately that the disks needed replacing and the likelihood was that the callipers where seized as well. This meant that I would only be able to salvage the spindles and the backing plates from the setups. I cleaned the spindles up and repainted them and sent the backing plates away to be zinc plated by the hot flame spray process provided by AC Blasting in Flimwell, East Sussex. When they returned I was able to bolt them on to the clean painted spindles.

I bought the Disks and new bearings from Ajay car components. They provided them on a next day delivery service. The callipers I found were advertised on eBay and had been sitting on a garage shelf for the past 5 years on eBay Item No 4578950519 for £67.00. They where in very good condition and just needed painting with calliper paint and they where ready to go.

With the new disk spindles kits made up, it was time to remove the front brake drums and spindles. These are connected by ball joints to the front suspension arms. Fortunately I new these bearings had been renewed recently so the old spindles could be unbolted and the old component replaced with the disk version. The spindles where bolted in at the bottom first and the lower suspension arm was jacked up with a small trolley jack until it met the top suspension arm and the top ball joint fell into the top hole of the spindle. It is important when doing this conversion to remember to leave the brake fluid cables attached to the old drums. This prevents spillage of brake fluid. Once the new disk spindles where in place the brake fluid lines could be unscrewed from the drums and screwed into the disk calipers. This was repeated for each side.

Once the disk spindles where in place the whole brake system was bled to remove any air that had entered the braking system. The brake fluid level was checked and topped up.

Brake Technical:
FDB732 Premier Brake Pads TAR732
*826911 Brake Discs
*FPSFBK041 WHEEL BEARINGS
4578950619 VW Beetle new brake callipers