Hi all, (my cars in the link below)
i am just about to embark on my own EA Falcon conversion and would love it if i do somthing wrong or you have any ideas, that you help out.

After trying to find some super cheap hubs to start with i think i will go with the ones from ISP West...





they should give me a good staring point. They are listed on the ISP sie for $125ea.
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From there i should be able to purchase some EA Falcon rotors for $72 ea from my local store, anyone know any better deals.

I can get slotted for $143 ea but have been told they wont make enough difference. That helps my save about $140 so if they make a good difference let me know.
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Sunbury brakes do the EA calipers rebuilt for $220 a pair. Can i recond them myself???? If i can they will ony cost $22 from a local wrecker....

Safety is failry important and i cannot buy them new but hey if its a simple rebuild mayby i can save some costs here too... Impressions?
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The rear caliper mount can be machined to fit fairly well on the VW diagional arm. I need to open the hole up to the same size as the standard drum brake backing plate opening. Tig weld the original holes and drill new ones to suit and then they bolt on.

I have heard they are about 2mm too thick though so i need to machine the caliper mount down by 1mm on each side??? I have heard that i can instead take 2mm off the oil seal (metal plate) that holds it all together???

Can someone help me with this one?
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Pads... $132 ultimate pads by bendix????????????????

reccomendations? i have seen green stuff too? Rmember i am building a race and street driven car
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Handbrake i need to do some work on but i don think its too bad. let me know
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I am planning on running 15x7 Cookie cuters at this stage
so i press in the appropriate wheel studs
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And now i am reading on an American site that braided brake lines will make abig difference to pedal feel and fade. There was a guy in here selling sets of brided brake lines for $175. Can anyon point him out again? thanks

mat berry for the lines, i believe rota australia was selling them from their shop on the sunny coast thru ebay though, since he's up that way logic says his are the same but not sure personally

Your on the right path.
The caliper bracket mount is, as you've discovered, easy to mod in order to get good rear brakes
The only other thing you'll need to make is a handbrake mount from memory, and that aint to hard to make, considering you've already figured out the rest

Cheers
D

Ok

You need EA caliper carriers. These need to have the hole in the center enlarged to the size of the VW drum backing plate so they will then fit over the mounting point on the trailing arm, tight!

The falcon mounting holes need to be TIG welded and the 4 holes drilled so the VW bearing cap can then be bolted on. Now here opinions differ.......seeing as the welded carriers will now need facing smooth (welded areas) anyway i would shave down the carrier to the thickness of the VW backing making it a bolt on affair. However some prefer to mill down the bearing cap rather than the carrier. This needs to be done either way so the bearing has the proper fit into the cap. IMHO the carrier strength is not affected by this, when you look at them first hand this is obvious

There are also some "drain" nicks in this area of the carrier that need TIG and smoothing

The type 3 drive flange's outside diameter will not fit inside the EA rotor, so it needs to be turned down to provide a snug fit in the ford rotor.

The locating hole on the center of the VW brake drum is larger than that of the ford disc rotor.........and as such the disc will not locate flush on the drive flange. To enable this, the VW drive flange (or after market universal thickness) will need the locating flange on its face lathed to the smaller diameter of the ford/ea disc rotor.

All good, you now have a caliper bracket that mounts up nice and a modified drive flange that accomodates the standard ford disc rotor. On mine i didn't start with blank rotors, so i used all of the five ford holes with counter sink allen head studs as the disc/flange locators.

Using blank rotors and flanges there is room for both 4 & 5 X 130 stud patterns

The ford brake hose is nice and flexible and connects straight to the VW steel line with out modification, hell it even fits the VW steel brake line positoning eye and the standard clip holds it in place as if it was a VW part.

Be sure to have both ends of any hard brake line suppoted with a bracket. OTHERWISE vibrations will cause it to BREAK.... GUARANTEED! Believe me on this one, i've experienced it.

Yes braided lines are great to help pedal feel and firmness and its Matt Berry with them for the vw. Keep in mind you will need the ford ones on top of them too. No point doing only 4 of the 6. Interestingly both my cars with these brakes have quite a doey pedal and i think its cause of the ea soft lines. Probably not an issue in falcons due to the power assist. Dont get me wrong, work great just not a rock hard touchy pedal.



Standard hand brake cables need to be spaced out around 15mm. This is easily done be welding a length of tube that the VW cable will slip into....onto the ford calipers cable guide.

The ford and vw handbrake levers move at different ratios. So if you connect the cable to the end of the hanbrake lever at the ford caliper, the rachet on the VW hand brake in the cockpit will run out of travel before the brakes are clamped enough to hold the car.........to change these operating ratios, the handbrake cable mounting point needs to be shifted up the "pull" lever at the caliper end, thus providing more travel for the same movement in the cockpit........

Couple of ways to do this. Either cut a well shapped "nick" into the ford lever or use a hole and bolt to locate the VW cable onto the pull lever or welding part if a VW arm for the drums onto the ford lever........either way you will need the full length of the ford lever at the caliper so the return spring still pulls the handbrake OFF when its time to hit the road.

The falcon caliper is a tricky thing compared to our vws. The hand brake lever operates with a ratchet system to keep adjustment up as the pads wear. Once the lever goes past a point when pads wear, it ratchets a notch so the pistons dont return as far. When its time for new pads a special tool is used to "rewind" the piston back out. Care needs to be taken when working with the lever so not to cause the pads to trail or even lock the rotor. When all done you dont want to be consistently pulling the hand brake on any further than enough to hold the car.

Slotted rotors rid the area of gases for maximum braking, so yes any added braking when racing is a good thing.........better wet performance too.

Pads will need upgrading if you are going to race.....you may find the standard ones adequate for short corses without many applications........however they will melt under consistant extreme stopping. there are many options and you will find race specialists that can provide pads that will operate best cold or at medium temperatures...........or be shite until heat is induced and when at this operational temp, stop better and better

if i can get this computer fixed i'll back all this up with pics if it helps. i'm doing another set of these at the moment too

nice info daimo, i have the conversion parts sitting around in a box....just need new rotors.........seems easy enough to do.....

You must be carfull you do not over brake the rear of the car, i have a set of these on my 60 beetle and on the front i have a set that i made using a set of 4 spot calipers and a 300mm vented rotor, i machined a billet aluminium hub and had the brake system engineered, it has perfect brake bias with the standard master cylinder, you will probably need to increase the front braking to match.

I agree, from what i have heard though, the front braking with a new type 3 caliper and pads is suitable. I will probably intall a bias/ proportioning valve though just to see where i sit. The last thing i want in an emergency braking situation is to throw the rear end around unpredictably.

porsche 914's came with the same type 3 caliper.a upgrade that they used to do was use a caliper from a bmw 320i model,same bolt spacing as the bigger t3 caliper and also 12mm thick rotor..i rang a wrecker here in perth, $65 each in working condition..yee,i know what im doing for the front....

what about this thread? call the guy selling these kits and see if he still makes them.

Kits are ford rear brake conversion and Holden vented front kit.

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=68055&page=2#pid709528 

I can get hubs and caliper brackets made if that helps.......and a lot cheaper too

cheers craig cheapest I could see it happening for was about 800 bucks so I have gone a cheap empi bolt on setup for now... Don't curse too much, I can spec up later if no good. 400 for the whole rear including hbrake cables was too good and just had to keep the project moving

on the rear. Try hellbugged he has done this

I've just purchased a kit from VWCOOL on the above link. In all seriousness he has developed a wicked package with a lot of R&D and very good value compared to the time and $ you'll sink into trial and error.

Any updates on where to get balnk Ford rotors from?

Newt

newt ive decided to go with other brakes but I think most Re happy to drill ford rotors in between the original al ford holes

Got a brake man looking into it. He thought it wouldnt be too difficult to source.

See what happens - wont hold my breath - its just a wish list project.... (mind you I have calipers, mounts and hubs..).

Newt

eb rear rotors from DBA are 111BU, undrilled

Thanks Hellbug.

DBA advise they will supply in 50 unit lots.

See what the Chinese have.

Newt