Hey guys,

Have got myself a Squareback. Was defected, but cleared the defect and now she's my daily driver.

Anyway, was wondering if the disc brakes I had on my '73 Super Beetle would fit the Squareback? I know that the drums would fine, but just need to clarify if the front discs will fit.

Cheers!

If your type3 is a late model (1973) then no. They had different calliper mounting to other VWs. I think they were from the 914.

Yeah, the Square is a 73...

Hmm, so I wouldn't be able to just use the disc itself from the brake setup I had?
I'll have to look into it a bit more, but thanks for the starting point!

Sebastian I know it's a bit far away but I have a complete front end out of a 74,the rotors will need a skim and the calipers will need an overhaul. Let me know if you are interested,at the worst someone may be able to pick it up at Valla.

Thanks for that Grumble.
Unfortunately I want to change the actual stud pattern (hence why using the ones off of Zelda would be helpful as that is the stud pattern I want to achieve).

Took a look quickly just before at the mounting position of the calliper on the Square, seems to be in the same position... I'm going to grab the discs and drums this weekend and just dummy mount them I guess. Hopefully I can at least test fit a rear and front wheel just to get an idea.

I think the rotors will fit, & yes you will be able to get the rears to fit, but you will have to completely change out the complete drums hubs shoes etc as the type 3 are a wider shoe / drum. You will effectively be reducing the braking ability of the rear brakes. Normally use type 3 rears as an upgrade on a beetle, not the other way around.

The disks are slightly bigger diameter on 72 onward. They used the same disks are type 4 and Porsche 914.

I checked a few Australian disk supplier catalogs online, but all listed the wrong earlier disks for the 72+

Disc and callipers are different to beetle

Quote:

Originally posted by vlad01 The disks are slightly bigger diameter on 72 onward. They used the same disks are type 4 and Porsche 914. I checked a few Australian disk supplier catalogs online, but all listed the wrong earlier disks for the 72+

As said in another post above, the type 3 rears are a drive flange and a drum, 2 pieces where the beetle is a one piece unit. The bigger type 3 rears are the way to go, but the stock flanges don't take to re-drilling to another pattern well as they are already relatively weak stock. There is a cromoly version available that is the best option for upgrading or when changing stud pattern.

Ah, thanks for that Matt!

I'll have to purchase the rear drums off of Airkewld then. But need to suss out the front brakes first and see what goes on and see what happens.

So, today I decided to install the front disc brakes from Zelda on Anja. I removed the disc brakes from the struts yesterday.



I couldn't really be bothered cleaning them up as I just wanted to get them on. After a few braking cycles the rotors will clean themselves up. I need to get some brake pads that are specific for cross drilled rotors as well. Anyway, moving along. Original discs had to be removed.



I was met by a dodgy repair on the speedo cable. It had been siliconed instead of the circlip.



The next step was unbolting the brake calliper. I made up a breaker bar from my trolley jack handle. It made removing the untouched bolts holding the calliper on a lot easier.





The next step was to remove this nut that holds the rotor onto the spindle. Using an allen key and a 19mm spanner, I got this off and was faced with the biggest issue.



I grabbed the rotor from Zelda and tried to put it up on the spindle. I went to bolt it up and realised there wasn't enough thread. I then took to removing the backing plate and was faced with another issue.



The bolts that held the backing plate on.



So, out came the angle grinder and I cut them back.



Once that issue was rectified with the bolts protruding, the rotor popped straight on and bolted up perfectly. I then bolted the calliper back up, put the dust cap back on and threaded the speedo cable through. Took a few times to get the circlip working 100% but now it is fixed as Volkswagen intended.



Then I repeated the above on the other side (bar the speedo cable).



So there you have it. Running Airkewld rotors that were purchased for an L bug on a Type 3 up front.

Now to just wait for the drums...