Lancia Thema Brakes

[rustybin]

Anyone know whether the Lancia Thema 8.32 (the one with the Ferrari engine) had upgraded brakes, paticularly rears? MTIA.

[justayellowbadge]

The 8.32 did have a different brake set up to other themas. In fact, it was the first Italian production car to come equipped with ABS.
What do you want to know specifically? I can have a poke around mine if you need parts info or the like..

[rustybin]

The question arose on the Alfa 164 Cloverleaf forum as these are pretty under braked compared to their performance and I gather standard Themas have the same set up thus an upgrade for the Thema should fit the 164. Principle questions I guess are:

Is the handbrake operation the same as standard Thema?

What degree of improvement does it bring?

Are mounting points changed from standard set up?

What's the availability / cost like?

Do you happen to know part numbers?

Thanks a lot for the help.

[justayellowbadge]

Those are some questions!
I'll get back to you on those once I've had a look. My gut instinct is that it wouldn't be a straight swap - The mods to the 8.32 were fairly extensive (Uprated suspension, 5 stud hubs as opposed to 4 etc) so it could be a largish job. Checked some parts prices and discs, at least, have different part no's and are a little pricier..(But then so's everything on this car!)
Not sure about the improvement felt, as I've not driven any of the 'cooking' themas, but I've always felt pretty secure with the setup on the 8.32. It's a big n heavy thing, so you don't expect to stop like a caterham, but it is a 150mph car, so you do need to trust the brakes...

>> Edited by justayellowbadge on Friday 30th July 08:54