Bigger brakes

[carnage501]

i was thinking of getting bigger brakes to make my car much more safe to drive, astra gte 16v calipers would probably be easy to get from a scrapy but are they easy to fit, do i just bolt them straight on or do i have to change the servo or anything else.

any help would be greatful

the car is 1990 1.4SR.

[mikeoxford]

as ever theres a guide at nova-land

basically if you have a gte or gsi it dont matta as u have the biggest nova servo

similarly the SRs have good ones - not the best

only replace if u got a 1litre or summat

one point to note is u need to make sure the brakes go under the wheels and theyll fit!

standrd wheels r a no no

[locky]

Also, bend the brake guard back, or cut it away, unless u can unscrew the 3 screws, i couldnt i tried all excepy heat!
Iv not long fitted mine, if ur gettin new pads n discs u wont feel ne difference, if worse! thats coz they gota bed in. i fitted em 2 a 1.2, and if i brake hard, they do work well, im just awaiting my master cyl now, but a 1.2 will be fine for the time being!

[Ben (lurk75)]

16v's are the easiest route to go. the cylinder will be fine but if you need to replace it in the future upgrade it then.

[Ben (lurk75)]

16v's are the easiest route to go. the cylinder will be fine but if you need to replace it in the future upgrade it then.

As for wheels with the 16v brakes you can get away with 14" wheels off of a corsa GSi or ant 14" Group A wheels. They will fit with any 15" and bigger.

[mikeoxford]

apparently some say they can fit on the standard sr wheels, but i think a tiny bit of the caliper surface needs grinding away - which id be a bit wary of!

[Dicko]

there are 20mm and 24mm callipers. the 24mm take a hell of alot of messing about to fit under gsi 3 spokes and thats with spacers aswell

[Ben (lurk75)]

whoops dont know what happened there :!:

[rgv_stu]

dicko - u mean discs available in 20 and 24mm thickness ;) and so calipers are different to suit

mike - the sr has no different servo to a 1.2 or 1.0 etc , only the gte /gsi has a larger servo

iirc all novas had the same master clyinder size - so to upgrade one off a cav or similar is needed

yes its a simple bolt on job - remove dust sheild they aint needed and if you drive like me they only trap grit / gravel

remember to bleed them well

[mikeoxford]

:oops: oops

i thought at least the 1 ltr had a tiny servo?

never thought about changing the master cyl

the guide on nova-land & topbuzz says the gte / gsi servo is fine - changin the cylnder would have a difference?

[novaturboo]

I have just had vectra v6 discs fitted to mine front and back. Luckily got hold of a write off v6 so got everything i needed. However stll got to make up a new rear beam as the nova one will twist. Not got the car back yet so dont know how good they are.

[rgv_stu]

the bigger servo just makes it easier to press the pedal
it aint needed unless you are a girl - rally cars dont bother with them , or westfields etc as they take the feel out of the brake

the bigger master clylinder will push more fluid - making pedal travel less

the 16v setup uses bigger pistons in the calipers than original nova so your pedal travels becomes longer as more fluid is needed to push them out the same distance.

a long pedal is not a problem, but a bigger mastercylinder would make it better as would new hoses / braided hoses.

[Dicko]

mike was right the 1L do have a dodgy servo but im not sure if its actually smaller than on the 1.2/sr its justa different shape. like more rounded at the front.
and yes most cavs/astras originallyt had 24mm discs and callipers to suit. 16v corsas had 256*20mm discs to clear the smaller 14" alloys and also the callipers are a little thinner but there shouldnt be much performance difference compared to the 24mm

[ade]

so if I wanted to upgrade my brakes on my 1.2 (which I do) what calipers would I be best looking for? And I suppose obviously from that point on, and brake service I need to tell the bloke doing it (if not me) that I need the pads/discs for that [articular set (e.g cav calipers = need cav pads/discs)

Ade
:?

[Dicko]

if you have nova steelies then probly nova sri/gsi callipers and if poss the servo to go with it, these are pretty good

[mikeoxford]

ade mate you have 15 alloys so you can have the bigger ATE style 2ltr calipers etc without any problem

when buying them from a scrappy, probably take the pads as well if they look in good nick, but TBO theres a chance the discs could be warped so buy them yourself

take a not of what you gat the caliper off (e.g astra merit or summat! - LOL i duno!) and then just ask for those at motor factors.

failing that give us the part number of a caliper or even the model car u got em off and we can luk the part number up on EPC and then when you fone vaux or car spares etc they can tell from that