Porsche brakes

Discuss with fans and owners of the most luxurious aircooled sedan/wagon that VW ever made, the VW 411/412. Official forum of Tom's Type 4 Corner.
philikon
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 2:37 pm

Porsche brakes

Post by philikon »

Hello folks! I have a '71 411 that I'm going to do various upgrades on (engine, suspension, etc.). Right now I'm trying to figure out brakes. I have a set of Porsche 944 Turbo/S2 hubs and calipers (the 4-piston Brembo ones) that I'd love to use, though if a different setup e.g. from the 911 works better, I'm also open to that.

Front: I could press in bearing adapters into the 944 hub to make it receive VW-size bearings. Then the hub would fit on the 411 spindle. This is what people usually do when putting these brakes on standard (non-Super) Beetles where you can't just use the 944 spindle. I still need to mount the caliper to the spindle somehow, by way of some sort of adapter (because the caliper mounting holes on the 411 spindle are too close to each other for the 944 caliper to fit.) However, before I go off and do that, I was wondering: I read somewhere that the 412 has a front caliper that's different from the 411 and shared with the 914. I also read somewhere that the 944 Turbo/S2 brakes fit on the 914 spindle without an adapter. So, if all that is true, maybe I just need to upgrade to the 412 spindles without the need for an adapter? Can anybody confirm/deny this theory?

Rear: On Beetles, the way you fit these caliper is to use the early 944 backing plate/caliper bracket and hub. They will fit right onto the trailing arm and the stub axle. The 411 is a bit trickier here. While the backing plate/caliper bracket fits the same 4-bolt pattern, the stub axle is obviously very different. Does anybody have any experience with which Porsche stub axle + wheel bearings fit on the 411? There are many options (various 911, 914, 944) and I was hoping that perhaps somebody has found a known good combination before I try all of them. I'm looking at you, 612 RS ;).

Thanks!
Hulken
Posts: 131
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:46 am

Re: Porsche brakes

Post by Hulken »

If your caliper mounting holes are CC 3" / 75mm they will fit the late spindles. Sine usefull info here, both for front and rear;
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=97099
http://www.germanlook.net/forums/showth ... hlight=412

I am going almost same route on my 412, but with Porsche Boxster calipers...
philikon
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 2:37 pm

Re: Porsche brakes

Post by philikon »

Hulken wrote:If your caliper mounting holes are CC 3" / 75mm they will fit the late spindles.
My '71 spindles have the caliper holes 75mm apart as well, while the calipers want something like 95mm (3.75"). So I guess my theory was incorrect.
Hulken wrote:Sine usefull info here, both for front and rear;
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=97099
http://www.germanlook.net/forums/showth ... hlight=412
Awesome, thanks! Wally's rear axle solution is impressive. It'd be awesome to get measurements for his adapter so we wouldn't have to start from scratch.

That said, perhaps I'll try a few different stub axles as well (I have 944 Turbo, 914, and 911 SC *somewhere* in the shop... ;)). Maybe I'll find one with the right length and a diameter that I can find bearings for.

Hulken wrote:I am going almost same route on my 412, but with Porsche Boxster calipers...
How are you going to mount the calipers in the front? Going to fabricate a bracket of sorts I presume?
Hulken
Posts: 131
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:46 am

Re: Porsche brakes

Post by Hulken »

Wally has sold the car, but I know the guy who has bought it. I'll ask if it is possible to get a measurement of the adapter and the stub axle. I would be interested to get a set of the adapters both for the rear and for the bearings in the front if you are gonna make some. There are adapters ready made for 914/early 911 with 75/94mm mounting holes. I'll see if I can find the link....
philikon
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 2:37 pm

Re: Porsche brakes

Post by philikon »

Hulken wrote:Wally has sold the car, but I know the guy who has bought it. I'll ask if it is possible to get a measurement of the adapter and the stub axle. I would be interested to get a set of the adapters both for the rear and for the bearings in the front if you are gonna make some.
Getting those measurements would be fantastic, thanks! For the front bearing adapters I can probably just measure spindles and bearings from 944 Turbo/S2 + Beetle/411 and figure out what the adapters need to look like.
Hulken wrote:There are adapters ready made for 914/early 911 with 75/94mm mounting holes. I'll see if I can find the link...
Perhaps you're referring to http://www.vehiclecraft.com/Brakes/VCI911_2_964.htm? This is a 90 degree bracket that requires modifying the caliper to be radial mount. Not sure I want to go down that route tbh. But it turns out that 993/996/Boxster calipers are already radially mounted! I bet I can get some used Boxster calipers for the same amount of money that machining down my 944 calipers would cost. Then I just need to track down or fabricate a caliper bracket that lets me bolt this to the 3"-spaced spindle. There are tons of Boxster brake upgrade kits for 911/914 out there, but they all require the 3.5"-spaced strut housing.
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