live axle brake conversion

[colincagain]

2 posts in 1 day must mean I am warming up for serious off season efforts in the garage .... I have a light (440 Kg) english live axle kit car with rear drums and have always struggled a bit to get a consistently firm pedal and the right balance with discs on front. If I get it right they are fine and provide plenty of stopping power for such a light car. But the self adjustment is feeble and I think makes them so trickky to keep right. So been wondering if there is any incentive to switch rears to discs.

Any experience out there? Be good to hear what benefits (or not) anyone found in terms of getting a firm pedal, balancing, weight saving, etc? Costs, who supplies best package etc??

Thanks

Colin

[allen]

I don't think changing to discs on the rear will firm up the pedal.

 

I have a live axle and have a very firm pedal - admitidly I've got a reinforced braided hoses - with twin master cylinders one front one rear, and a mechanical balance bar.

 

I've thought about a rear disc conversion, percieved wisdom is that for such light cars they are not really necessary - I'd also guess that they probably save very little weight - but I don't know for sure.

 

allen

[Pezky]

I am in the process of sorting out a Ford english axle for my seven, not sure whether to go down the rear disc conversion.

I would try some of the rally places for prices etc. I looked at www.fostek.co.uk their kit is £285+vat, but note that halfshaft flanges will need machining for the discs to fit. I think Burton do a kit aswell

[I.Mupferit]

Talk to Steve Perks at SPC in Redditch (advertises in Low Flying). He supplied all the parts necessary for the disc brake conversion on the English axle I fitted to my last 7. A further advantage of his kit is that the Sierra caliper mounts with the bleed screw uppermost so you get none of the bleeding problems the De Dion cars get.

 

The kit was trouble free although you will have to fabricate some brackets in the transmission tunnel for the handbrake cable but this is quite easy to do.

 

All in all, I thought it was a very worthwhile upgrade especially since the supposed self adjusting shoes on the standard drum brakes invariably don't after a while. (self adjust that is) Presumably this is because unlike the original donor car, the under-dash handbrake on a 7 rarely gets used and it is this that actuates the self adjusting mechanism.

 

Mine had a very firm pedal and it certainly gave me no problems during the remainder of my ownership.

 

 

 

Brent

(aka Arfur Nayo)

 

2.3 DURATEC SV Reassuringly Expensive

R 417.39 😬

[simon redshaw]

SPC rebuilt an English Axel for me and added a disc brake conversion.

 

Lovelly billet aluminium fitting for each end of the axel. An Escort front brake disc fits perfectly to this coupled with Sierra calipers.

 

I have 2 nearly-new calipers spare if you need them?

 

the only thing you need to consider is how to fit the hand-brake cable as this will not happen without some modifications. Also the brake pipes need modiciation.

 

The result is a much more effective braking and the ability to use good quality pads that cool down better than an enclosed drum. Better looking also!

 

KR

 

 

 

Simon7R