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How to: 944 n/a Rear discs

48K views 24 replies 6 participants last post by  Skeeter 
#1 · (Edited)
okay after a lot of questions asked i finally finished my conversion - and i thought i would share it with everyone - i hope it can help those considering the conversion

i used early 944 single pot brake set up on an irs rear end. You need the calipers, rotors, rubs, caliper carrier, 8 longer bolts to bolt the caliper carrier on, longer rear hard lines, ans swan necks and tubes which rad dubs supplies for the handbrake conversion

first things first - i stripped the calipers, had them shot blast, painted making sure i kept all sliding areas free of paint and replace the piston seal and dust boot - i personally think it is well worth doing and wont cost you much. seals available as a kit from pelican parts





the piston MUST go in completly square and it is a good idea to cover the piston and pot in brake fluid to help ease it in. also u must get the right orientation of the piston - i will post up a good pic i found later

next i moved onto the handbrake mech. you need a special swan neck for the vw handbrake cable as the 944 one is held on with a pin rather than a metal loop. also you need a conversion tube to accept the handbrake condit. i will cover this in a mo

here is the 944 swan neck - the pin needs to be pushed out and put into the new vw friendly swan necks. i used a vice and suitable socket for this. the pin should pop out and in with a little force





now the old tubes for the cable conduit must be removed - this may take some force - soak with some penetrating fluid. then replace with the suitable ones - i used some copper slip also. these new tubes will have to be shortened for your purpose - bus / beetle etc and can be done with the mechanism on the vhicle





bolt the back plate on (you need longer bolts than beetle bolts) and fit all handbrake gubbins. you now need to trim the new cable conduit tube enough to allow the loop of the handbrake cable to fit over the hook on the swan neck - remember its best to chop off to little and readjust than too much! oh and its a good idea to slacken off all ajustment at the handbrake lever end before you do this!



now with the handbrake set up - whack the hub on with hub nut as tight as you can do it by hand - put on the rotor and use the counter sunk screw to hold it to the hub and then bolt on your caliper

 
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#2 · (Edited)


now you need to use a longer hardline (mine was 675mm off the top of my head but PLEASE check) i got mine made up for the grand sum of £8 the porsche calipers use same unions as beetles



bleed up your brakes and torque the rear hub nut - u are now done. happy days - porsche 944 brakes ;)





enjoy :hangloose
 
#6 · (Edited)
When I get the final photos up I'll do the front pre 85 conversion and get all the diagrams up too.

Deano: You beat me to it. Getting back to uni has taken priority.

FYI the Porsche tubes can be used with adapters, however the cables are a bitch to get in. I've reamed my tubes out a bit. Rad Dub's tubes are probably a better solution, but weren't available at the time of conversion. I can't recommend enough the guy who I got all my bits from in Canada from www.veedubengineering.com

I'll get the conversion up soon, then a sticky may be in order :)
 
#8 ·
glad u guys liked it :) i also did one on adjusting rear suspension not long ago - would be cool if these things could be archived and not lost!

al - ive been waiting a month to put this up what with moving back to uni and vzi crashing! itl be good to see the front conversion! the only hing that puts me off is the cost.

rad dubs stuff is good and works really well - i noticed when i was playing around with the 944 stuff the cable was a real pain to get into the 944 tube!

Deano
 
#9 ·
sorry link is www.vdubengineering.com

Front will cost a lot less if yo get a local engineer to do it. It cost me a hell of a lot less than I was expecting. Just the caliper plates to have made/make as I've now found a metal supplier who will cut to rough shapes. A friend has a beefy angle grinder too, and the correct drills and tap so I may just make them up myself to reduce the cost :D
 
#11 ·
I was recommended lazer cutting, but TBH for just a single pair its a lot cheaper to have it done elsewhere. Batch production brings in economies of scale. A friend made some neat adapters to fit calipers to trekker spindles. The finish is good enough for me with a tight budget and a little effort!

Not that I'm poo pooing you. Rad Dubs is sound. And from what I see the parts are spot on :)
 
#16 ·
sorry to go on any pics, ive just gone the most pricey way possible by the look of it, by having the porka spindles machined ,bolted,welded and crack tested to a new set of cb spindles but it fits just thinking how long it will stay fitted

andy
 
#17 · (Edited)
Pre 85 944 N/A hubs, modified for beetle spindles. These use standard beetle bearings but a thinner grease seal, available from most bearing places.

Spot faced stock drum spindles. This is important, others ARE different. Be aware. There is loads of alternative methods on GermanLook.



And the front machining



Fitted with bearing adapters





Courtesy of Chris Percival (GL.com)




Machining Diagrams:

BEETLE spindle, PORSCHE hub stock (all from Ricola's website)



Bearing adapters



PORSCHE hub mods



Caliper adapter plate



Oval: I'm getting there... Don't rush me! :incheek:

So front brakes are added too. Can we get int the FAQ forum now?
 
#23 ·
One last thing to note, I'm having a few issues with backing plates, which I'd really like to run. Thinking on having them tacked onto the spindles as there seems to be no other viable way of mounting them cause of the distance between the hub and spindle. My idea is that they'll be held in place by the caliper mount bolts, but this is yet to be tested.

I presume that most people don't run them.
 
#24 ·
Offset is a problem with wheels. My cookie cutters were too wide, but teledials fit a treat. There is almost the same as factory turning circle on them with a stock beam cause of the offset.

Like I said, this is just one method, easy and relatively cheap allowing the use of many factory components.
 
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