Mk1 Commodore Caliper, 278mm Magna rotor conversion

[golfnutracing]

Okay for this conversion what you need is:
2 VB-VP Commodore Calipers
2 Manga 278mm Vented Rotors (undrilled, dba supply these)
2 Rings made up (difference between mk1 disc ID and magna disc ID, about 3mm)
4 Washers made up (to space caliper for right offset, apparently the washers from the seat belt bolts work)
2 Brake lines to suit commodore brake fitting and golf line fitting (same as for camira conversion)
4x 8mm-10mm shoulder bolts, or 4 bushes with 10mm OD and 8mm ID (commodore caliper has bigger bolt holes)

Here are the parts laid out:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wo1fpac@iinet.net.au/golf/Rally/Brake1.jpg

As you can see i have had the discs drilled to 4x100 pcd, and there is a copper ring in the disc, so that it fits up on the hub nicely

The washers you need are about 4mm thick, i will measure and edit this post very shortly with size.

Here are the bushes:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wo1fpac@iinet.net.au/golf/Rally/Brake2.jpg

The commodore caliper runs 10mm bolts, so you can either get a shoulder bolt which will have 10mm od with 8mm thread or get bushes made up, i had these in the camira stuff that came with the car.

Washers/spacers:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wo1fpac@iinet.net.au/golf/Rally/Brake3.jpg

I had these spacers made up, washers is an option, but i felt safer with a larger surface area to work with (will post sizes!)

Final:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wo1fpac@iinet.net.au/golf/Rally/Brake4.jpg

And that is how the caliper fits up!!

Brake lines:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~wo1fpac@iinet.net.au/golf/Rally/Rcar2.jpg

Not a good picture, but you will need a joiner from this fitting to the brake, pirtek or someone like that could knock em up for you.

That is all i can realy think of at the moment, quite an easy conversion, they stop so bloody hard, i recomend that you run genuine vw brake light switches off the master cyliner, or piss it off and run a pedal switch. My dad is always killing switches on his road car.

-Jamie

[vee_dub]

awesome article. Nice work Jamie!.

Just wondering would it work on golf Mk3? I really want a bigger brake, but bremebo and others cost arms n legs.


Thanks
Fred

[imported_brackie]

Excellent article! Old Commies are a dime a dozen. There's one at our local tip with the struts and brakes intact. I'll take my tools next time I go :wink: Magna discs could be a bit harder to source. Anyway, our knowledge base is growing.

[worm]

Mate, your a champ! That is a great article... god bless the interweb *kiss*

Where would you get the washers/spacers/rings made up? What type of shop makes such things in small quantities?

Also, how much would it cost buying all the parts new? discs are quiet expensive yes? Under $500?

[worm]

My dad is always killing switches on his road car.

-Jamie

I broke one of these about every 3 months. At least they only cost me $12 for a new one, and u only need to replace the one not both.

[golfnutracing]

Any machinist/apprentice can knock up these parts, places such as engineering shops, but i would suggest going to small ones. I had a bloke knock up the 4 washers, the 2 bushs that go on the disc and press in my wheel bearings for $50

the discs were brand new about $235 all up i think, and the calipers i got were new at about $250 i think. I had a mate drill the discs for nothing which helped, but a small machine shop would probably charge $30

so with brake lines etc it could probably be done with all new parts for $600

[Golf Loon]

Thats Gold mate, exactly the sort of project I want to read about, and pics. Nice one.

Yeah guys find a local small machine shop, prices are less than you think for getting stuff made, especially if you are not in a hurry for it.

[roccodingo]

Thats Gold mate, exactly the sort of project I want to read about, and pics. Nice one.

Yeah guys find a local small machine shop, prices are less than you think for getting stuff made, especially if you are not in a hurry for it.

Why find a machine shop when at least one of your subscribers has a machine shop...

When you can confirm the thickness of the washer I will get these made on one of the CNC lathes..

The sizes of the disc spacer would be cool also guy's then I can send em off as a total set..really the way to do it...

Need accurate sizing tho, tape measure wont cut it I'm afraid..LOL

Good upgrade too Jamie... :wink:

[golfnutracing]

I will take the stuff to work on sat and get the mics over the ring, i cant confirm the spacer thickness yet because i am waiting on a die to make some wheel studs and then i can get the hub in and caliper bolted up and confirm the spacer size. Hopefuly i get the die thursday and calipers fit up mon/tues.

Another consideration is that the ring is an interferance fit, the hubs when machined at vw would have a tollerance of say +- 0.1mm, the type of fit i wanted was about 0.05mm, so making up kits may not work that well. 1 of the rings on my dads setup is a little sloppy and it picks up a little vibration at 100+kph. Plus there would be a tollerance on the disc as well, so making them a custom fit would be a better way to go. So that would give an overall uncertinty of 0.4mm which would be nice and sloppy.

I am actualy a full time uni student and machinist part time, but unfortunately i dont get any time at work to knock anything up, or else i would make some kits.

-Jamie

[82cab]

excellent work!! Just a quick question what model or year do the magna discs come off?
Also just as a quick suggestion, you'ld be better off incorporating the bushes and the spacers into one piece and pressing it into the caliper holes that way you won't loose the washers when you're changing pads.

[roccodingo]

excellent work!! Just a quick question what model or year do the magna discs come off?
Also just as a quick suggestion, you'ld be better off incorporating the bushes and the spacers into one piece and pressing it into the caliper holes that way you won't loose the washers when you're changing pads.

would have done that anyway ( top hat bush, flanged bush waddever you wanna call it..)

[gldgti]

excellent thread guys!

[william]

best and cheapest caliper and disk conversion since baked beens on toast lol that rocks

[worm]

Not really that cheap mate... new discs cost heaps... 150 each... u can get mk1 gti front breaks for cheaper me thinks

[GoLfMan]

Not really that cheap mate... new discs cost heaps... 150 each... u can get mk1 gti front breaks for cheaper me thinks

but would it be the same stopping power, condidering the brake set up shown here is designed to haul up cars twice the weight of the mk1?!?!

[Pete Mk1]

Does anyone actually know which model Magna these disks come from?
If so please put up model and any relevant info?
Also some feed back from a finished working conversion would be nice.

[Nick_80]

can any one update on magna model/year the disks come off?

[Golf Loon]

Bump. Someone was asking me about this thread.

[Jmac]

Man i think that coversion is awesome mate very well done. I thought the days were gone where guys were innovative enough to try such a thing, im glad this kind of thinking is still alive. I know myself im too busy fixing peoples problems with their vehicles that you forget about the fun on the other side of the coin.
Great work man!!!!
I would love to get hold of an old Caddy( blame Loon for that!) and i would consider that mod mate.
CHeers:D

[Preen59]

Still no info on what model magna those discs were off?

I'd like to know considering i could get all the parts at trade price and do all the machinework myself... :D

It would be a very cheap big brake conversion for me.

[Pete Mk1]

Have started doing some comparison research on this conversion,
Sourced this information from DBA brake disc catalogue.
I have found that the magna 1985-91 models TM,TN,TP,have discs that should do the job,
and when fitted with calipers ill provide significantly improved stopping power for budget cost.
The discs can be sourced from most wreckers for about $30ea. The centre hole in the disc that goes over hub is 4mm larger but should not present a problem.
The disc needs to be drilled to 4 x 100 to suit, am having some done at present.
Thats all info for now,hope this helps
pete mk1
A = Diameter
B = Original Height
C = Original Thickness
D = Min. Thickness
E = Centrel Hole Diameter
F = No. of Bolt Holes

GOLF MK1, 2
1.5, 1.6 Petrol MK 1 1975 - 82 FRONT 240 3 Solid A=239 B=35.2 C=12 D=10 E=65 F=4
Diesel 1975 - 82 F 242 3 Solid 239 39 10 8 65 4
GTi 1991 - 92 F 444 3 V ented 239 38.5 20 18 65 4
GL 1994 - 97 F 446 3 V ented 256 39 20 18 65 4
All models rear disc 1991 - 97 R 832 3 Solid 226 71.2 10 8 39.8 4
MAGNA
TM, TN, TP 1985 - 91 FRONT 22 1 3 Vented A=266 B=45.5 C=24 D=22.4 E=69 F=4

R 222 3 Solid 251 49 10 8.4 Hub 4

[golfnutracing]

Great work pete, i do seem to remember the discs being larger diameter tho, for some reason i thought 278, would be worth testing with one from the wreckers.

Unfortunately i cant help a lot anymore, my rally car is off to its new home in QLD. If it does help, i didn't know what size caliper spacer i needed when starting, it was a matter of sit the caliper on the disc, pack it with washers until it fit well, critical thing is to make sure it dose not rub too much and that the disc runs true.

The stopping power is far far greater than mk1 GTi (mk1 gti setup on the rear of my rally car was not good enough for gravel! i used camira front calipers with mk1 gti vented discs on the rear, i would go quite a bit larger for tarmac racing)

[golfnutracing]

This appears to be the disc, 5 stud, vented, 278mm

TR/TS v6 1993-on DBA #425
also
TF/TH/TJ/VR-X/SPORTS V6/TL (ES/LS/VR/VR-X V6) 6/1997-on

page 89 DBA catalogue
http://www.dba.com.au/2006/PDF_CATALOGUE/Catalogue_AUST/2007_AUSTCatalogue_17122007.pdf

you can buy them brand new with no holes drilled, i would personaly get second hand and have holes drilled.

[Pete Mk1]

Thanks for reply, the discs you mention are 278mm dia but in light of wanting to run 14" rims i thought the 265mm would be a better option.
Have my discs drilled and ready to fit but just need time to do.
Discs owe me $78ea purchased,drilled and machined. they look to be a much better casting than the golf disc.
so i will continue with the exercise.
Pete Mk1

[Preen59]

Great info guys. I'll be doing this mod for sure some time in the next few weeks, so i'll post how mine goes aswell if there's anything interesting to say.

[golfnutracing]

The biggest problem is the commodore caliper does not fit under 14" wheels, but if you go thru the dba catalog and spy out something with similar offset (or more) to the golf disc and similar diameter to the magna disc you will be okay.

I got my commodore calipers + 278mm dics under 14" alloys, you need to grind down most of the bleed nipple, you need to space the wheels out 7mm (or more) and get happy grinding the front face of the caliper (paint the inside of the rim, or use bearing blue and test fit, give a spin and take off where ever there is a mark left). Because it was a rally car i also made adapters to extend the hub and welded them in and turned down the weld, because the hub takes the bulk of the load.

Great to see people picking up where i left off, soon we will see a mainstream budget big brake conversion for the mk1 using local parts!

[Preen59]

Great to see people picking up where i left off, soon we will see a mainstream budget big brake conversion for the mk1 using local parts!

As soon as i've done mine and worked out all the issues, if people are interested, i'll start making some kits up..

[dom123]

does anyone know if this coversion would suit a mk3???

[Preen59]

does anyone know if this coversion would suit a mk3???

Don't 'quote' me on it.. But i think the Mk2 and Mk3's have a different setup. I'm pretty sure the Mk2 calipers have a cast 'arm' that goes around the disc and mounts differently.

[static1800]

As soon as i've done mine and worked out all the issues, if people are interested, i'll start making some kits up..

I'll be up for that one :)

[Preen59]

I'll be up for that one :)

No wuckers. I've got a friend that's an EBC dealer, so i'll even hook the kits up with some EBC green pads. Or red, if they're strictly for racing.

[aliasmk2]

Hi guys,
I have just been looking at this thread & thought that it might be a lot easier to do a g60 280mm coversion. That way you can use all VAG component with no engineering to be done except for instalation on a mk1, which there are some very good adaptor plates for the hub to fit the caliper carrier.
Another caliper called Girling 60 ( not the g60 which is made by Lucas) that was used on top end audies in the 1980-90's which is a 2 piston, 280mm. Its carrier will fit onto a mk3 & mk2 16v hub with no enginering needed.
I landed the Girling 60s from ebay motors for $250aud including postage
(Audi Auswant $4300a set new) & there are always a few sets going

[peedman]

As soon as i've done mine and worked out all the issues, if people are interested, i'll start making some kits up..

Any word on these preen??

[Mischa]

anyone else done this since?

[sports racer]

Lots of talk here but did anyone ever build up any kits?

[roccodingo]

Never saw any of the components or drawings thereof, So I just stick to the VAG parts bin