rear disc conversion

[Nazza's Nova]

ive got a 1992 calibra as a doner car and im wantin to put the rear discs and everything on to my nova

has any one got a step by step guide on how to do this as my drums are w**k

[burgo]

buy my beam already done ;)

[Nazza's Nova]

how much u want for it mate

[Dose]

http://oege.ie.hva.nl/~jelsma02/discconversion.pdf

[craig green]

Only the calipers & discs from the Calibra will be any use.

[loggyboy]

your drums are ****? looking or working.
IMO discs at rear are pointless if done for perfomance, they are unnescarry, and to get them to function right you need to mess with a bias adjuster, or youl just lock the rears all the time. Rear brakes only do anout 10% of the braking so drums are more than adequate if serviced properly.

Only go for disk at rear if you have big rims and wanna fill the space.

[craig green]

your drums are ****? looking or working.
IMO discs at rear are pointless if done for perfomance, they are unnescarry, and to get them to function right you need to mess with a bias adjuster, or youl just lock the rears all the time. Rear brakes only do anout 10% of the braking so drums are more than adequate if serviced properly.

Only go for disk at rear if you have big rims and wanna fill the space.

Everyone knows that. Its not loads of messing about if you simple swap the bias valves on the Novas master cylinder for from a car with rear discs, ie Astra GTE 16v or Cavalier SRi.

Personally Ive found the rear doesnt hold down well enough when approaching bends etc at 100mph+. I know the fronts can cope with the speed but the rear gets light & wanders at those speeds (in a straight line). So I fitted discs.

What performance car has drums these days anyway?

This debate will rage forever. :thumb:

[loggyboy]

I just dont see the point in any effort for no gain, as the brakes ur adding on the rear work at the same effeiceny as the drums do. Performance cars use discs at the rear for lots of reasons, mainly looks, the fact its not 'cool' to have drums, manufacturing and servicing costs. I doubt any 'sub' super car intended for road use could claim the discs were there because they needed to be. Infact they may have been there for homologation purposes

[Philsutton]

Im with loggyboy on this one, for the effort put into doing it I wouldnt justify doing it. How many of the regular track users use rear discs on theirs? Most the braking is done by the front and the last thing you want on a stripped nova is more braking power at the back.

[Stuart]

"super" cars tend to have rear discs due to them usually being RWD so the energy required to slow down the rwd drivetrain that has lots of inertia.... no use really on a fwd car lol

[diablo007]

if drums are so good at the back, why not have them at the front aswell? ive just put my axle wit the discs in, i havent tested yet but ill let u no when i do.

[Stuart]

minis used to have drums upfront, the thing is drums cant take the heat that discs and pads can...... you dont generate much heat up the back as the weight is moved to the front....

Dont people think about things? lol

[Adam]

if drums are so good at the back, why not have them at the front aswell? ive just put my axle wit the discs in, i havent tested yet but ill let u no when i do.
Its nothing do with how good they are, Yes discs/pads are better than drums, but seeing as the rear brakes do hardly anything they dont need to be great at braking, so its not worth having discs.

[diablo007]

ill bet ye a pound it is :D

[Philsutton]

Dont people think about things? lol

Clearly not, most probably brake around the corners so its not all shifted to the front anyway lmfao.

The old muscle cars had drums all around and they had to stop about 3 tons of car. But that isnt really a good examplelol


ill bet ye a pound it is :D

Depends what is defined as "worth it", weighed against the cost and effort involved then no its not worth it.

[Sirnixalot]

disks can dissapate heat alot better than drums can, drums will fade after 2 or so repeated high speed stops.

i would be interested to know if there is a weight advantage in swapping to disks.

[Adam]

Drums hardly get hot at all tho.

[Sirnixalot]

i know, i meant on the old cars when used at the front;)

[Stuart]

if you had a late setup like from an Astra G then i could envisage a weight save as the handbrake is on the caliper iirc, where as the handbrake is still a drum setup on the cav style stuff, therefore weighing in at equal/heavier imho...

[Nazza's Nova]

i dont like my drums one bit they look w**k and prefer the look of discs as i sed ive got my calibra for a donor and it will have the bias valve up front to stop my nova lockin up at the rear.

And ive got problems with my adjusters on on my rear shoes they keep knockin there sell of and givin me a sh*t pedal and hardly no brakes its canny dangerous considering a run a baby valver C16XE.

anyone willin to tell me how to do the conversion please.

[Dod]

Unbolt the Hubs from the Cali Axle and cut the small plates off the Axle (small square with the stud holes through them) Do the same on your Nova Beam. Reweld the Cali plates onto your Hubs so the handbrake mechanism is at te top, Bolt all on, re fit the brake lines and Bleed. As said, use the small tubular valves from the donor car in the brake lines at the rear to reduce fluid rush and the rears locking. Thats you and its not difficult to do so i say do it. But Buy a spare Nova axle just in case.....

[Sirnixalot]

if you had a late setup like from an Astra G then i could envisage a weight save as the handbrake is on the caliper iirc, where as the handbrake is still a drum setup on the cav style stuff, therefore weighing in at equal/heavier imho...

has a conversion been done with those calipers before? If its like that its probably a single piston caliper. I would be more interested in that conversion.....hmm

[Stuart]

no idea if its been done but if it works for most modern hatchbacks then no reason not to work on an old one lol

i belive rally design even sell a small spot caliper to act as a handbrake on discs that is lever actuated for not a huge ammount. It would then look like a sierra cossy that has two rear calipers per wheel lol

[diablo007]

by the sounds of things ive done mine a bit different, i used the back hubs and front discs and calipers off a mk 2 astra. hydraulic hand brake an that.

[Stuart]

you need a friendly MOT'er to pass a hydro handbrake...

[diablo007]

ahh, dodgy mot....plus its a rally car, doin a lot of closed events at the minute so no need for one just yet.

[Nazza's Nova]

Dod: which stub axles would i then use NOVA or CALIBRA if a was to do it the way u sed? or if i was to buy the LMF conversion kit then which ones would a use thanxs

[Mike]

i belive rally design even sell a small spot caliper to act as a handbrake on discs that is lever actuated for not a huge ammount. It would then look like a sierra cossy that has two rear calipers per wheel lol

noway, that would be pretty cool. But none the less pretty useless as rear disc's are imo aswell, not worth the hassel tbh espcially not at this time of year!!

[Dod]

You just unbolt the whole thing, 4 Studs on the rear of the Hub, thats it