I've been looking into converting my rear brakes on my 57 bug to type 3 early (wide five) brakes. I have heard that the type 3 early rear drums will have to have studs put into them which makes sence. I've been looking at the drums with the correct webbing inside ie not the swirl type but I'm still confussed as there appears that the webbing is not wide enough inside the drum to drill and fit the studs into.

I wouldn't want to have these machined down so the studs can go in sqware as this could cause strength problems in the casting

Has anyone had this done or is there any related links?

nIck

did you try a search nick /

are the studs getting fitted ?

can you not use the drilled and taped holes ?

I have done a search to no avail as most people retain the wide five stud pattern

The idea of studs is that the wheels I'm using are porsche rims and there better suited to that type of fitment I could drill a tap the drums but the studs are a far safer way of going about it as they would not have the danger of threading or even pulling through the drum

nIck

Why not use the later T3 drums?

I would get rid of the drums at this time , go the ford EA eb conversion ,this is one I have done on irs , the same for swinger seagull

[Edited on 10-7-2004 by seagull]

backing plate set up

[Edited on 10-7-2004 by seagull]

G'day Seagull, You say that you did the conversion. I have an IRS rear with T3 drums on a Manx and am not real happy with it. Is your conversion able to be engineer certified? I assume that as long as there are no welds it should be OK. It seems that having welds is a problem with the brakes. How much would you be able to do the conversion for and what would it include or what would I have to get to do it to my rears on the buggy??
Cheers, Doug

would drums off a thing aka 181 work on type3 early rear brakes?