Brake upgrade questions!!

[Commynist]

Hi all, just 2 very quick questions;

I'm in the middle of upgrading brakes in my vh from standard disk/drum to vl turbo front, standard disk rear.(Already swapped new diff)

Now witht the vl turbo front calipers, which were designed to work with factory 290mm disks, work ok with just my standard 270mm fronts? Just swapped the rotors to bendix slotted last year and dont really wanna change them again just yet!

Also with the rear disk conversion, it all went fairly sweet till I got to setting up the new handbrake. I have the disk brake handbake but the brackets under the car which held the old drum cable seem to be in the wrong spots and therefore make the whole thing seem too compessed/short, if that makes sence? Anyone overcome the stupid handbrake setup before or do I have to go weld some new brackets in the right spot or somthing?? (welding on my back and inches from my face should be fun!):my:

Any help at all much appreciated! cheers fellas.

[markovr]

When I did the same thing to my old vh many moons ago,I used a factory vh disc braked rear handbrake cable and it just fitted up like the drum brake one did and all the brackets were in the right place.
The vl turbo front calipers use a 290mm disc...a lot of vp commodores use the same front disc/caliper setup as the turbo one that will fit your car so you might be able to get a couple of s/h discs from the wreckers....

[vkberlina]

You really need to use the 290mm front rotors with the new calipers, your car would also benifit from a 1" master cyl as well.
Rear brakes you probably doing one of a few things wrong, either :-

1 - Your using the drum brake backing plates instead of the disc brake ones.
2 - your using a drum brake handbrake cable instead of a disc brake one
3 - You have just incorrectly bolted the brackets up ie left on right & right on left

I do have some images on my site from when I did my rear brake upgrade.

cheers
Scott

[Commynist]

Hey thanks heaps for the replies guys,
with the front rotors I may just keep using the standard setup (270mm with standard calipers) till they wear out, then buy some new 290mm types and use the vl turbo calipers. Also I forgot to mention Vkberlina that I already have a 1" master and dual diaphragm booster goin on, so no worries there mate!

With the handbrake, I know my handbrake cable is for disk brakes and pretty sure its for a vh, but you might be right Vkberlina with the brackets on the wrong way?! Never thought of that! lol as I didnt put'em on, they came already bolted when I picked up the diff. But yea since they are only bolted on I'll check and see what I can do there.
Btw, ripper site you've got there too mate!

Thanks again guys

[vkberlina]

Hey thanks heaps for the replies guys,
with the front rotors I may just keep using the standard setup (270mm with standard calipers) till they wear out, then buy some new 290mm types and use the vl turbo calipers. Also I forgot to mention Vkberlina that I already have a 1" master and dual diaphragm booster goin on, so no worries there mate!

With the handbrake, I know my handbrake cable is for disk brakes and pretty sure its for a vh, but you might be right Vkberlina with the brackets on the wrong way?! Never thought of that! lol as I didnt put'em on, they came already bolted when I picked up the diff. But yea since they are only bolted on I'll check and see what I can do there.
Btw, ripper site you've got there too mate!

Thanks again guys

Put the 1" master cyl on even with the standard front brakes you will notice a good improvement anyway.

Odds are the backing plates should be on correctly you cant really bolt them up incorrectly but the cable brackets can be bolt up around the wrong way.

thanks for the comments on the site its been a labour of love, im starting to get quite alot of hits to it now as google and other engines pick it up, im averaging 10 new unique visitors a day.

good luck
Scott

[lazyass]

Save up and put 330mm rotors and twin piston calipers on that will make a difference.The VL turbo stuff has only a minor advantage with the 290mm rotor and the fluted caliper it still takes the same brake pad as your stock calipers.

[vkberlina]

Problem with the 330mm rotors is the smallest rim you can fit on the car is a 16" steel or a 17" alloy.
I have a pair of 330mm for the front of my VK that I wont be using for a while as my 16" Simmons wont fit over the brakes Instead I opted for the 298mm VT rotors with the twinspots.
Incidently there still is quite a performance difference running a 1" master cyl with the VL turbo rotors over the standard setup my VK used to stop very quick with them. Like the 330mm rotors you still run the same pad size but there is more rotor circumfrence wise.

cheers
Scott