Close, but no cigar... yet ;o)
Discussion
My mate asked me to sandblast a rusty brake caliper for him. This one in fact (no longer rusty, obviously):
Look familiar?
Can you guess what it is yet?
Well if you thought it was one of these
you'd be wrong, but it's clearly from the same maker and family.
VERY similar... just a bit bigger...
Pistons are bigger:
...and if you line up the joint faces, the relationship between mounting plane and disc is virtually identical (no more than a millimetre I reckon):
The slight discrepancy is the distance between the mounting hole centres: about 6mm although it doesn't look like it here...
As the Princess caliper has larger mounting bolts, a subtle bit of machining could open out and reposition the holes in the mystery caliper to suit...
Now I'm thinking that the mystery caliper is already designed for a ventilated disc so would perhaps need no widening to suit the Granada discs. Off the top of my head I don't know what effect the larger pistons would have: longer pedal travel for same braking effort maybe? The matching pads would be larger, so maybe more contact area would give better braking... discuss
So... anyone care to hazard a guess as to the the donor vehicle?
Look familiar?
Can you guess what it is yet?
Well if you thought it was one of these
you'd be wrong, but it's clearly from the same maker and family.
VERY similar... just a bit bigger...
Pistons are bigger:
...and if you line up the joint faces, the relationship between mounting plane and disc is virtually identical (no more than a millimetre I reckon):
The slight discrepancy is the distance between the mounting hole centres: about 6mm although it doesn't look like it here...
As the Princess caliper has larger mounting bolts, a subtle bit of machining could open out and reposition the holes in the mystery caliper to suit...
Now I'm thinking that the mystery caliper is already designed for a ventilated disc so would perhaps need no widening to suit the Granada discs. Off the top of my head I don't know what effect the larger pistons would have: longer pedal travel for same braking effort maybe? The matching pads would be larger, so maybe more contact area would give better braking... discuss
So... anyone care to hazard a guess as to the the donor vehicle?
Yes mate, must catch up soon.
Been busy extending house for now what seems a lifetime. 400 under a tarpaulin, four flatish tyres, only been started once in six months. Steve' s got both cars off road. 400 needs new cam and 350 won't start at all since he boiled it......
We did take engine back out of our project 350 last week with a view to changing the gearbox.
Just not enough hours in the day ....
Hows things with you?
Been busy extending house for now what seems a lifetime. 400 under a tarpaulin, four flatish tyres, only been started once in six months. Steve' s got both cars off road. 400 needs new cam and 350 won't start at all since he boiled it......
We did take engine back out of our project 350 last week with a view to changing the gearbox.
Just not enough hours in the day ....
Hows things with you?
1 Finger Bandit said:
Yes mate, must catch up soon.
Been busy extending house for now what seems a lifetime. 400 under a tarpaulin, four flatish tyres, only been started once in six months. Steve' s got both cars off road. 400 needs new cam and 350 won't start at all since he boiled it......
We did take engine back out of our project 350 last week with a view to changing the gearbox.
Just not enough hours in the day ....
Hows things with you?
Ah good, glad it's not just me getting no time in on the car Been busy extending house for now what seems a lifetime. 400 under a tarpaulin, four flatish tyres, only been started once in six months. Steve' s got both cars off road. 400 needs new cam and 350 won't start at all since he boiled it......
We did take engine back out of our project 350 last week with a view to changing the gearbox.
Just not enough hours in the day ....
Hows things with you?
Think I have a visit to Michelin coming up soon, I'll give you a shout for a jar if you're around
My car did about 30 miles after its last MOT before seizing the rear brakes again (after a £150 rebuild, I wasn't impressed). Dropped the entire rear end out, new oil seals and a repaint for the diff, all new wheel bearings, UJs, replacement tie-rods
... still working on the A-frame bushes 
The more I look, the more I think I should drop the fuel tanks for an overhaul/repaint and the silencer could do with being cut open and repacked...
Getting back to the caliper the mounting area takes the braking force and transmits it to the axle, so I would be wary about any machining, however it looks like it'll be inside/between the holes so you might get away with it.
Yes the larger pistone mean more pedal travel before engaging, but after that it should equalise as the braking force is amplified by the piston diameter too, so the travel should be about the same for the same effort.
Go on then - what are they off?
Yes the larger pistone mean more pedal travel before engaging, but after that it should equalise as the braking force is amplified by the piston diameter too, so the travel should be about the same for the same effort.
Go on then - what are they off?
It is indeed from a Discovery. However after further discussion with my mate, the vehicle has solid discs - some Discos have vented discs and the same caliper is used, fitted with spacers. I suspect that by the time you had spacers in, the caliper wouldn't fit inside the wheel on a Wedge.
Wedg1e said:
It is indeed from a Discovery. However after further discussion with my mate, the vehicle has solid discs - some Discos have vented discs and the same caliper is used, fitted with spacers. I suspect that by the time you had spacers in, the caliper wouldn't fit inside the wheel on a Wedge.
Yes, we use them with 270 x 14.4mm solid discs and no spacers.eesbad said:
Yes, we use them with 270 x 14.4mm solid discs and no spacers.
Cue a rush of people heading to Ebay to see how much Disco calipers fetch... When I get chance I'll work out if they could be made to fit inside a Wedge wheel: a piston and seal set is about £11 on Ebay, far less than for the Princess caliper. If all it needs is the holes redrilling (and the centres are less than 6mm different, I've checked
) then who knows, could be a viable alternative...adam quantrill said:
How wide is the slot that the disc goes into - as it seems no wider than the AP slot in the TVR-fitted caliper - that would have spacers inserted to make the slot wider...
It is a midgie's part wider but not much... probably still not enough to get a vented disc in, so as you were, dream over Some have vented discs ! They have less meat on the pads though to start with !
adam quantrill said:
Can it be machined out hough - the LR calipers are only 15 quid for old ones on the flea so it wouln't take a lot of £££ to find out... for this operation all you need is an angle grinder ;^)
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