390/400 front brake spring clips

[tweety]

my brake calipers are the spaced type with vented discs, I've just noticed the spring plate clip type thing that holds the pads in is quite corroded, where can I get replacements?? I assume they aren't standard Ford because of the spacing so must be wider??

Cheers, Al.

[The Hatter]

If you are talking the Ford Granada vented brakes, then I don't believe the calipers are widened and the standard 2.8i/estate brake pad fitting kit is what you want. It fitted my SEAC.

[tweety]

Thanks for the reply..As far as I know the brakes are standard 4-pot calipers as fitted to an '88 390SE, just looked like they were spaced to me...???

Cheers, Al.

[The Hatter]

Ah; 4 pot calipers are Austin Princess and are widened to suit the Granada discs. Can't help you on the pins/springs/shims there...

[tweety]

OK thanks....anyone else know where these might be available from???

Edited to add:- no worries found some on fleabay from Bigg Red who do a kit..excellent..

Cheers, Al.

Edited by tweety on Thursday 28th February 22:33

[Wedg1e]

The Hatter said:

If you are talking the Ford Granada vented brakes, then I don't believe the calipers are widened and the standard 2.8i/estate brake pad fitting kit is what you want. It fitted my SEAC.

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure my Ford calipers have spacers in them to fit around the vented discs... otherwise Ford would have had to have a new pair of castings made to suit.

[The Hatter]

Hi Ian,

I have the non vented discs on my 350 and the vented ones on the SEAC. The calipers are different (different pads) and neither have spacers. I bought pads and a fitting kit for the 2.8i granada, these fit the SEAC calipers perfectly; and I've also bought 2.0 granada pads/fitting kit for the 350i; again fitted the 350i perfectly.

Rumour has it that the non injection 2.8s and diesels had non vented discs and all estates had vented but I'm not sure of that. Maybe Ford themselves used the smaller calipers with spacers for some of those variants. It's also possible that some of the vented disc wedges had the 'non vented' type calipers with spacers fitted by TVR?

Which pads do you have on your 390, the 2.0/diesel version or the 2.8i?

Martin

[tweety]

Oh well too late now, I'll have to see if they're correct when they turn up...the spring clips look like the pics I've seen of Princess ones more than the do the Granada ones..fingers crossed..

Cheers, Al.

[Wedg1e]

The Hatter said:

Hi Ian,

I have the non vented discs on my 350 and the vented ones on the SEAC. The calipers are different (different pads) and neither have spacers. I bought pads and a fitting kit for the 2.8i granada, these fit the SEAC calipers perfectly; and I've also bought 2.0 granada pads/fitting kit for the 350i; again fitted the 350i perfectly.

Rumour has it that the non injection 2.8s and diesels had non vented discs and all estates had vented but I'm not sure of that. Maybe Ford themselves used the smaller calipers with spacers for some of those variants. It's also possible that some of the vented disc wedges had the 'non vented' type calipers with spacers fitted by TVR?

Which pads do you have on your 390, the 2.0/diesel version or the 2.8i?

Martin

I tried to get some pics of the front calipers with the wheels on but couldn't get access, so I resorted to jacking up the front (rear of car is already on axle stands) and whipping a wheel off; here's what I found:



Here's the spacer, obviously steel/ iron rather than aluminium:



... and it's this thick:



I'm assuming they're standard Ford calipers, of course if they turn out to be from the space shuttle we shouldn't be too surprised

Not sure I've ever replaced the pads without going through paperwork I don't have to hand... pads, springs etc. look like this:

Edited by Wedg1e on Saturday 2nd March 18:11

[pjtvr390se]

I confess that it was me that re-fitted those 'W' shaped corroded brake pad anti rattle springs, I couldn't track down new ones at the time and it was due its MOT.

As far as I remember, the pads I fitted were green stuff pads for Austin princess calipers but the discs are, I think, AP disc on aluminium bells, the posh and expensive discs if you needed to replace them!

You will find that the caliper spacers are thicker than the standard Princess caliper spacers fitted by the Ford boys, if memory serves they are at least 10mm the Ford spacers are only 8mm.

Having looked at Wedg1e's pictures perhaps that should be 12mm.

Edited by pjtvr390se on Saturday 2nd March 22:06

[tweety]

Hi Phil, good to hear from you, thanks for the info, yes w-shaped is a good description, wish I'd thought of that...I've got a kit now for vented disc Princess calipers and they look right, just got to fit when I take the nearside wheel off to replace the exhaust manifold, unfortunately the Wedge is on my girlfiends drive and blocked in by a non-running Mondeo, but hoping to sort it this week coming....i've got a couple of other questions I'll mail you with....

Wedg1e, thanks for the pics and info, but as Phil said mine aren't like that, I'll try and get some pics when I pull it apart and fit the new ones..hopefully...

Cheers, Al.

[superwedge]

put my springs in today,left them out,but seeing you do your one;s made me put them back,was just going to not put them in,

[superwedge]

disc are light rust on them ,as not on road yet,

[The Hatter]

I'll have to retract my comment above that the SEAC calipers don't have spacers... I double checked and they do, same as your photos Ian. I think they are original 2.8i granada calipers, so I assume the calipers had spacers when fitted by Ford to the Granada?

[Wedg1e]

The Hatter said:

I'll have to retract my comment above that the SEAC calipers don't have spacers... I double checked and they do, same as your photos Ian. I think they are original 2.8i granada calipers, so I assume the calipers had spacers when fitted by Ford to the Granada?

I've always thought/ presumed so; the fact that the LandRover calipers in my other thread are used by LR with solid or vented discs, i.e. without or with spacers, means it must have been common practice down the years.

Both previous owners of my car kept detailed records (back to about 1990 IIRC) of the tiniest thing done to it; I'm sure that if either of them had had a brake conversion done, there would be chapter and verse with receipts to prove it!

As an aside, the immediately precedent owner to me used his local indie garage (Carshalton?) for everything... even when he went to Demon Tweeks and bought a shiny oil filler cap, there's a receipt for £15 for 'Fitting oil cap' Open bonnet, unscrew filler cap, screw on new filler cap, fifteen quid please. Unbelievable.

[tweety]

Right, after getting the replacement kit, even though it has the correct style of Princess spring clips they aren't wide enough, they are for calipers with an 8mm spacer whereas mine has approx 14-15mm, so where can I get the correct spring clips from??...Any ideas??

Cheers, Al.