S2 brake upgrade

[TonupS2]

As I am rebuilding the car it makes sense to consider upgrading the brakes at this stage. I note that the V8's have discs all round and because of this I thought this upgrade should be reasonably easy! Has anybody already done this (changed from rear drum to disc). Barkychoc has already been very helpful and I have noticed previous posts which recommended upgrading the front discs to 260mm diameter 2 wheel drive discs and using the XR4x4 calipers. Regarding the rear disks I believe I will need 273mm diameter sierra disks with the matching hubs and hub carriers? I think the master cylinder needs to be changed to fiesta XR2i (as V8S). Then I guess the hand brake cable may need to be changed (and form other posts I think getting a cable may a problem in itself). Can anyone confirm or add details or of what I need to look out for on ebay or breakers?
Thanks guys
Tony

[Jaye R]

Tony

When I asked a similar question on converting my rear drum brakes to discs on my S3 I was advised not to as it may lead to causing the car to be over breaked - swap ends basically under hard breaking. Have therefore left them as drums.

Cheers
Jaye

[TonupS2]

Yes I can understand that, but if carried out in the same manner as the V8S then you would have thought it should be a pretty well balanced set up?

[Bonefish]

Tony, I don't honestly think you'll need to convert to discs at the rear. I've got the 260 dia disc and caliper set up on the front of my S3 and there's never any problem stopping - you'll be able to out brake many a standard chimera or griff when you've basically got griff 500 front brakes. I do think it would be an interesting engineering excercise, though perhaps not one that will gain you much more in the way of useful braking.

[TonupS2]

Well guys I have gone for it and i'm in the process of upgrading the rear drums to disks as well as upgrading the fronts to the 260mm dia. option. I would have had to spend money on the old rear set up, on bearings and drum dust shields, shoes etc. so in for a penny and all that. I took on board the PHers comments and direct emails many thanks. HansDaal has sourced the bits for me. Now it's the fitting. My rear trailing arm has not got the outer clip to hold the flexible union so I will probably make up a couple of stainless clips that I intend to bolt on to the arm (thanks for the proprietary clip info you emailed Chris I still might use), as I don't want to weld to the new powder coat. Chris (Barkychoc) did you make a note of the length of the rear hoses that you recently fitted? Who did you buy them from? Sorry a bit of a cheat, but I know you have done all the work finding a good supplier.

[Barkychoc]

Here you go - all you need to know is hopefully here - it is filed under PH FAQ which has a link from useful links.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[TonupS2]

Thanks thats a great help. I had been to the brake section of useful links and found Normans S3 brake pipe guide but didnt find the link to your V8 pipes.

[Mr Plow]

TonupS2 said:

I think the master cylinder needs to be changed to fiesta XR2i (as V8S).

Can anyone confirm if the V8S uses the same master cylinder as the XR2i, I can't find this in the parts list details?

Thanks

[mep12345]

KeTVRin is your man - he sent me the details although I deleted them in a recent clean up of my inbox. I believe the servo is off any Mk 3 fiesta (without abs) as these were the same irespective of model and the master cylinder is off the XR2i (and a few other models, 18D I think). Basically the MC needs to be the 22.2 mm diameter cylinder not the standard 20.6mm diameter.

I have a new master cylinder (cost £9.99 off ebay and I have the seller details if you want them as he often seems to have them for sale) in my spares and am in negotiations on a good second hand servo/master cylinder to replace my rusty one. When I do the work I'll post the details on my website and add to the alternative parts list but until I am sure would not want to mislead, albeit inadvertantly.

My car is an S3 but with the later Ford brake setup as per the V8S.

Mark

[Mr Plow]

mep12345 said:

I have a new master cylinder (cost £9.99 off ebay and I have the seller details if you want them as he often seems to have them for sale) in my spares and am in negotiations on a good second hand servo/master cylinder to replace my rusty one.

Hi Mark

I would be grateful if you could PM me with the guys details?

Thanks

Liam