Hi All

The car in question is my daily driven 65 beetle.

I'm looking at some wide5 type3 rear drums to put on my 65 bug, and I don't have much experience with conversions, or know too much about them - However I have been told that they are 15mm wider then beetle drums, so they would increase the braking surface. (I understand that they will need some machining to be put on my axels)

The main reason for the question on conversion

I also figure that they may give me more clearance from the adjuster bolt on my adj spring plates – so I can eventually put mags on. But I am unsure of this.
(I don't like the idea of wheel spacers on a daily driver, however better brakes sound really good)

[size=6]My question in a nut shell:[/size]

Will these drums push out my track, if so by how much? - with stock wheels

Forgive my ignorance

Thanks Gents

You need the entire brake assembly from a type 3,
not just the drums.
from memory, to fit early type one axles, 15mm needs to be machined from the snout of the drum,
but best do some comparison measurements once you have the two assemblies side by side.
Yes you will gain some clearance, but with brakes only, its about 10 to 15mm from memory.

If you do both the axle assembly AND brakes from the type 3 it is about 50mm.

Do a search on this forum for type 3 brakes and you will find many previous discussions.

If your going to be fitting an aftermarket wheel in the future i would also recomend using the late type 3 backing plates which are the same as early backing plates but the big PLUS that they have adjustment holes in the backing plate which saves you removing the wheel everytime you want to adjust the brakes as if you use the early backing plates they DON't have the adjustment holes and you have to adjust the brakes through the brake drum hole which with alloy wheels etc just doesn't happen with out removing the wheel first .
And as for the track increase , as dave has said above you will gain approx 15mm
And for an idea on how this will effect your tyre to guard clearance , on my 62 beetle i have standard beetle drums on the rear and 15 x 6 centerlines with the 3 3/8 back space and 205/60 tyres and i only have approx 5mm left between the outside of the tyre and the inside of the outer guard and on the inside of the tyre i have 43mm to the outside of the springplate
BRM's or something similar will probabley suit you better with stock guards and the type 3 brakes as they are only a 5.5" wide rim and also have bigger back space .



Andrew

Good advice above, although I'm with DB, you'll need the type 3 backing plates too.
ps, you'll definately notice the increase in braking performance.

Cool thanks guys.

I did run a search prior to this thread and found that it applied to later 4bolt type3 drum (assemblies) to later beetles.
Sorry when I meant type3 drums I mean the complete assembly. Said drums but meant drum assemblies (it happens with me from time to time )
I have managed to track down a set of OG drums, so I'll keep you posted with the progress.

Thanks again gents