283mm brake conversion guide (with pics)

[AC BILKO]

I’ve just done the normal Chim 283mm/Granny cossie brake upgrade and thought I’d post up a few pics of it; you never know they may help some one in the future.

I managed to pick up second hand callipers from a 24v Mondeo as there the same as the ones fitted to cossie Granada’s (came to £40 of eBay). All you have to look out for is the casting stamp 888 & 887, as people have said before just make sure you get the carriers as well as the callipers (try to get the bolts also, saves hassle afterwards).

A couple of pics showing the difference between the 283mm and the original 240mm




The new callipers compared to the old front callipers. New ones are painted gold; note the 887 & 888 casting numbers








Start by disconnecting brake pipe from chassis


Remove spring clips


Remove rubber caps and undo callipers from carriers, using a 7mm allen key. Mine were really tight and a right git to undo so I used a spanner for extra leverage.








Pic showing the calliper removed leaving the carrier and pads


Remove the two bolts that hold the carrier; I used a tommy bar as the buggers were also really tight.


Drill out the two calliper carrier bolt holes to suit your new bolts (I used a 12mm drill bit on mine)


Hold the new discs in place with a couple of wheel nuts and some spacers while you’re working.


Fit your new carriers, use spacers/shims between the carriers and the uprights (where the carriers bolt on) to centralise the carriers with the disc.


Fit callipers and pads, reconnect brake pipe and bleed.


Finished job


I replaced the rear discs & pads at the same time as the discs were only around £8 each from the same company.
Rather than buying the piston retracing tool for the rear pistons you can use an angle grinders tightening key, mine fitted perfectly.








I bought the discs from this mob http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/ the prices on their site are out of date so the prices end up a little dearer than shown on the site but only by a pound or two. Fronts worked out at £13.80 + vat, rears came to about £8 each + vat and £7.50 p&p

[AlexB]

Thanks for that - it's one of the jobs I have planned for winter and that guide wil be really useful!
Did your calipers come like that or did you clean and paint them - if so, any tips as mine need cleaning up.
Thanks
Alex

[Barreti]

Bloody hell, it was worth reading this just to get the tip about the angle grinder tool being a perfect fit for winding caliper pistons in.
Great post though, very informative. Nice one

[Chimjunkie]

Thats the way i did it. A word of warning though, when drilling out the mounts it is very important that you keep the hole centralised. Mine wandered a little and meant the carrier was too close to the disc. Not much but had to remove a little metal from the carrier with the dremel... Best bet is to go through the drill sizes in 0.5mm steps. Watch out for the drill snatching. Also would get professionally reconditioned calipers not straight from the scappie and on the car.

[AC BILKO]

Alex, I cleaned and painted the callipers, used an angle grinder with a wire cup and a drill with a wire brush attachment. it's a bit of a messy job though m8, it filled the garage and my lungs with rust dust, do it outside if poss, unless you like coughing up chunks for the next few days (teach me not to wear a mask, lol). I've found the best paint to use is gold "japlac" , as it's heat resistant and drys quick. painted the wifes callipers on her MX5 about 3 years ago with it and they still look as good as the day I painted them.
Obviously Chimjunkies right in saying reconed callipers would be best, alternatively pop the pistons out of their bore check for scoring, if they look ok just fit new seals.
It's also a good time to fit new hoses as you have to remove the front ones anyway and bleed the system, wish I'd ordered mine before doing the job, now got another afternoons work changing the pipes, when I get round to ordering them.

Edited by AC BILKO on Saturday 15th November 12:37

[Zumbruk]

Luke, what are your chassis/wishbones painted with?

Edited by Zumbruk on Saturday 15th November 13:38

[AC BILKO]

Zumbruk, it seems to be a mixture of black under seal and waxoil that the previous owner had spayed on, may just be black waxoil if they make it in black. I scraped all the loose bits off (as you can see in one of the pics of the top wish bone)and I'm gave every thing that aint nailed down a coat of normal waxoil which seems to melt the existing black stuff and merge with it.

[Corso Marche]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but what year Mondeo V6 are the calipers and caliper carriers from ? Is it the 1997-2001 Mondeo V6 ?

[Barkychoc]

Have you got the right front pads?
It doesn't look like its sweeping the full width of the disc, there's a wide area near the hub that has no pad contact. Or is this how the upgrade is?

Edited by Barkychoc on Sunday 7th June 21:18

[daz the plumber]

what wheels do you have , don`t think 282mm discs will go behind the 15" wheel.i have a cosworth conversion, not sure what they are as i purchased as a kit ,they are 272mm discs.i did not need to do any drilling .

[roysum]

Barkychoc said:

Have you got the right front pads?
It doesn't look like its sweeping the full width of the disc, there's a wide area near the hub that has no pad contact. Or is this how the upgrade is?

Edited by Barkychoc on Sunday 7th June 21:18

A mistake I also made, rather than use the standard V6 pads you need cosworth pads which do fill the whole disc. Thanks to Neil Garner for putting me right on that one ! I can look up the exact fitment if you are interested.
Roy.

[AlexB]

daz the plumber said:

what wheels do you have , don`t think 282mm discs will go behind the 15" wheel.i have a cosworth conversion, not sure what they are as i purchased as a kit ,they are 272mm discs.i did not need to do any drilling .

Austec fitted the parts that I supplied - 283mm discs and the Cossie calipers - all behind the standard Chim front wheels. I got Red Stuff pads to go with the caliers - pads for the Granada Cosworth and the effect, combined with new braided hoses, is a much more confidence in the brakes. I only picked this up on Saturday and didn't really have a chance to give the car a decent run over the weeked - Hopefully next weekend.
Alex

[AC BILKO]

Your absolutely right about the pads. the ones in the pic are the old standard TVR ones from my old calipers that I'd removed. at the time of taking the pic i had just temporarily fitted them so i could carry on and bleed the system, i got the proper pads the next day which do cover the whole sweep of the disc.

This conversion fitted easily under the standard 15" front wheels that i was running at the time, got 17" now.

As for the year of the car the calipers came from, i really haven't a clue. i spoke to the bloke on the phone and just asked if they had the right casting numbers, met him in a car park to pick them up so never got to see the car they came from. the guy had advertise them as being off his V6 Mondeo that he was scrapping.


Here's a pic of those pads still fitted to the original discs, you can see the amount of extra sweep you get with the conversion by comparing the pics. They cover the whole of the original discs but look tiny on the new discs .

[350Matt]

Prices have gone up a bit on that site now £35 a disc, still not bad tho' musty get around to fitting mine had the calipers almost 2 years now....

[AC BILKO]

The 283mm discs for the Ford RS Cosworth 500 ltd edition (part # SG2536) are still showing on that site at just £14.65. maybe you were looking at the EBC price list instead of the standard range disc price.
https://sslrelay.com/buypartsby.co.uk/brake-pads-n...

[350Matt]

Well I've just tried fitting my new shiny 283mm discs together with the calipers I have and they don't fit.....

The clash is the calliper carrier with the disc, and now I've checked they don't have teh 887 and 888 casting numbers on them .... seller told me Granada cosworth but obviously not....

so what fitment do I need for the 272mm disc, as I'm happy to use calipers I have, just need a bit of clearance so it means a slightly smaller disc.

Another flavour of sierra disc is it?

[350Matt]

Well I decided after a bit of measuring that I need the 260mm disc as fitted to the 500's its also the same disc as for a 86-89 2.0 ltr sierra with ABS, hi ho its off to halfords I go

[ianwynneuk]

Hi all,
Sorry to resurect this old thread but I am trying to plan my conversion. I haev found the discs required from the link but am not sure which pads and callipers to get?
Could someone point me in the right direction for cheap parts and the rigth parts? I really don't want to buy the wrong ones! If possible it would be good to get all from "buypartsby" - is this possible?

Thanks.
Ian

[AlexB]

The calipers and carriers are the ones from a Granada Cosworth - the ones with the casting stamps 888 & 887.
I got the calipers and some braided hoses from e-bay, but I got all the rest of the parts (discs and pads) from buypartsby - I got EBC redstuff pads front and rear. The fronts were the ones for the calipers - so Granada Cosworth front pads.
I left the rear discs standard and just upgraded to the braided hoses and EBC redstuff pads from buypartsby.
Good luck with the conversion
Alex

[Bomber Denton]

What is the part number for the rear discs, I have done the front conversion but used EBC grooved and dimpled discs with Red Stuff pads, I also have a set of Red Stuff to go in the rear. My rear discs are fine but at that money I might as well do them at the same time.

Cheers, Corin