Keep the rearbrake as a handbrake?

svenakela · Post by **svenakela** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:43 pm

I have a T2 -77 and I am upgrading to discs on all four. I've got a complete setup of very nice brakes, they are from a BMW 320 (E36) station wagon so they are way more heavy duty than the original system.
But...
The BMW has an internal "drum brake" hand brake. Is here anyone who converted to discs but kept the original rear brakes for the handbrake?

It would be great to get a hint which discs that can be used. I want to keep the standard rim pattern and BMW got a wider diameter.

Post by **Marc** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:57 pm

I'm not familiar with the BMW setup, but if it's like Porsche 944/924T the rear service brakes are disc but there's a mini drum-brake built into the rotor. IIRC BMW uses 5x120mm (your bus is 5x112). You can't have both the stock VW rear brakes and the BMW brakes at the same time, if that's what you're thinking of doing.
And how are you going to adapt the BMW fronts to the VW spindles?

Franklin has more experience than anyone else I know of in grafting different brakes onto VW buses, you'd do well to contact him with the specifics and see what's feasible:
http://franklinsvwwerks.com/

svenakela · Post by **svenakela** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:46 pm

No no, my intention is to use the calipers from a BMW and they have the hand brake as an internal drum. Yes, it's the same design as the Porsche brakes and my intention was to use as much from the same car as possible or keep the original parts. The reason is to not have to gather pieces from a bunch of cars if something happens. Therefore, I was curious if someone already used the original brakes for the internal handbrake
I will still have the 5x112 pattern. Either I use the discs from a modern VW station wagon, or I use my uge (new and unused) discs for the BMW and make a new bolt pattern. Not a problem, I've got access to a mechanical workshop.

PS. Thanks for the link!

Post by **Marc** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:25 pm

Another resource would be http://www.vdubengineering.com/products/brake.htm
When we put Porsche 924T rear disks on our `69 Beetle Lanner had the "swans" and e-brake cable sleeves needed to hook up their internal parking brake to the VW cables.

svenakela · Post by **svenakela** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:06 am

I've seen a Porsche setup on a bus, but then they took the whole setup from the Porsche. Hub and everything.
I checked a spare parts store and the parts to make the internal drum mechanism is not much money at all, so I think I'll fabricate something.

Thanks for the info!

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:08 pm

I worked on a 1996 Subaru outback legacy this past weekend. It also has teh disc with internal drum set up and a really nice low profile sliding caliper set-up. It might be a nice donor. Ray

svenakela · Post by **svenakela** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:16 am

I talked to the test engineer and he said that in worst case I can use a hydraulic version. The best would be a separate system but then I still need to change the uge rear calipers I already have. I can also connect the hydraulic clutch in serial with the existing system, that's the way the rally guys mount them.
But for long term parking on a camper van, I think I want the mechanical mechanism. So I still will try out the drum type setup.

BTW, Volvo (200/700-models) front calipers have a two channel system, so they are good for rear mounting if someone wants a hydraulic hand brake with a separate system. The standard brake goes to one channel and the hand brake to the other.

svenakela · Post by **svenakela** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:01 am

I went to the spare parts place to find discs that I could use. After hours of measuring, the only thing I came out with was a new set of rear calipers. I got a pair of after market calipers for a VW Passat -00. The main reason was the weight, the are at least half the weight of the BMW calipers! And as a bonus of course they have the hand brake function. I don't need to fabricate the mechanism and therefor save even more weight.

So sort of, I resign.