ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

Will a beam off a late 72/73 bolt onto a 71 bay window? If so could i swap the bigger discs and calipers off a later bay onto that beam? What year did Vw put bigger brakes on the bays?

Beam will bolt in, same pattern.

`71/`72 brakes are of one design, `73-up another. The late brakes are desirable, but not necessarily because they're any better - it's just that the early ones are obsolescent and difficult to find parts for. Caliper bolt pattern, rotor offset, and pad design are all different; but the beams are the same from balljoint to balljoint so early and late spindles will interchange easily. Updating to the later master cylinder would also be worthwhile, again because of the lack of availability of `71/`72 parts.

hmm ok thanks for the info, for some reason i had heard that the later brakes were bigger, guess i was wrong.

Any idea weather the boosters are interchangable?

knox wrote:hmm ok thanks for the info, for some reason i had heard that the later brakes were bigger, guess i was wrong.

The 73-on pads are thicker, ie. you'll get more service miles out of them than the 71-72, but the actual friction surface/rotor dimensions/swept area is identical. Plus, as was stated, the rebuilt parts are available for the 73-79 calipers, should you need them down the road.

Any idea weather the boosters are interchangeable?

AFAIK it's a direct 'unbolt/bolt-on/bleed system' swap. OTOH sometimes VW changed the position of brake light switches or bias regulators, even mid-year. Go for it; it's do-able!

J.R
'68 Westy
(+ others)

so the brake booster and master are interchangeable through out the years? just making sure i understand you right