foc64 Posted November 12, 2006 Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 Hi All, here's my first how to, not sure if the pics will work but here go's. Cheap brake upgrade for RWD Corollas (AE71 or similar). After looking through endless web pages for information on a cheap brake upgrade, and not finding anything useful (some people have a different view on what “cheap†is – my definition is as cheap as possible) I've decided to throw this article together. My set up (not yet cleaned and painted) http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/fo.../Image00002.jpg Close up: http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/fo.../Image00003.jpg I've used T18 struts as the basis of my upgrade as they are fairly easy to find (compared to AE86 struts) and they're 51mm in diameter and this means strut inserts that fit AE86's, Celica's, Coronas etc will fit these. Parts needed: Suitable front struts, in my case from a T18, but you can use the existing struts. VB to VK Commodore Girlock brake callipers – cheap and easy to find, rebuild kits are dirt-cheap and you can take your pick of brake pads (from cheap and nasty to race spec pads). New or good used brake discs from a Mitsubishi Magna – TN, TM or TP – the early model before the V6 Magnas came out and 24mm Thick!! – they look big and meet on the work bench! Depending on the type of calliper on your standard struts, you may have to make or get made up an adaptor to bolt up the Commodore callipers. If you're lucky, your standard brake callipers will be Girlock with a 75mm mounting distance between bolt centres. If this is the case you probably won't need the adaptor as the Commodore calliper also use the same bolt spacing and already have a bigger offset built in to cater for the original Commodore (disc) set up. You need to slightly mod the calliper slider (the part that bolts to the mounting bracket) as it catches on the edge of the strut when you try to bolt it up, you'll see what I mean when you try it on the strut for the first time (look at the photo to see how I fixed mine) I ground off a little metal with a bench grinder, taking a little off at a time so I didn't remove any more metal than I had too. The slider is very solid and the small amount of metal I removed won't affect its strength (but check with your local transport organization if you're concerned). Calliper mod: http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/fo.../Image00005.jpg One last thing you will need is 4 x 4mm wide spacers to suit 12mm bolts. I got some made up out of alloy but you may be lucky and find a suitable washer off the shelf some were. Just remember if you use second hand discs you can get away with thinner washers (just) but if you upgrade to new discs latter on you'll find your calliper mounting brackets rub on the outside of the disc (trust me – I used old discs to set up my brakes to start with and found this out once I installed my new discs). Calliper slider, adaptor bracket and 4mm spacers assembled: http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/fo.../Image00001.jpg Brake building 101: If you have one, mount your strut on a bench in a strong vice and unbolt the original brakes and hub assembly. Once the hub is off the strut you need to unbolt the disc from the hub – only 4 bolts and a gentle tap with a hammer to slip them off – if you can't get them off with a gentle tap you haven't undone all 4 bolts so check again. Now degrease your hubs, if you intend on using longer wheel studs now's the time to remove the old ones – early model Hilux 4wd and drum brake Land Cruiser studs are about 8mm longer and fit with a small adjustment (plus there cheap – mine cost $4 each for new studs from a 4wd shop, they do need about 3mm of the spline ground down so the studs will fit in to the hubs) Now you need to get your hubs turned down to 142mm outside diameter so the new discs can slip over the top of them. Don't worry about the centre hole being too big, the studs and the slip fit over the hub will keep the disc in place once the wheel and wheel nuts are fitted. Mounting brackets. I made my bracket from a length of steel bar: 10mm (thick) X 40mm (wide) X 150mm (long) ($6 from Sims Metal for a 1 mtr) with 4x12.5mm (or ½†in old measurements) holes centred on the bracket to give the correct mounting points (look at the pic of the bracket for a better idea). As there is a slight difference in mounting offset with the new calliper, you need 2 x 4mm wide spacers (per calliper). The ones I have are made from Alloy but steel will do just fine, the only critical dimension to note is that they must be 4mm wide. Any less any you run the chance of new disc rotors rubbing on the inside edge of the mounting bracket (new discs are 24mm thick!!). http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/fo.../Image00004.jpg Calliper hose: If you're car has Girlock brakes already you can run the same hoses on the new brake set up (threads should be the same & the calliper to hose mount should be fine as well). Master cylinder upgrades: I haven't looked in to this yet but the ex-Commodore callipers should be a similar bore size to the old Corolla ones meaning the brake pedal feel and travel will be the same as before (except the car will pull up significantly better with no fade). Other things to think about: If you've gone this far why not spend a bit more and replace the wheel bearings, ball joints and bushes? All up these parts won't cost that much but worn parts will effect the ride and handling significantly and any wear problems you had before will be increased once you bolt up the bigger and better brakes. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted November 12, 2006 Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 ;) thats tops! so the magna discs have the same 4 x 114.3 stud pattern do they? great write up, plus rep for you :lol: :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foc64 Posted November 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 Yes, early 4 stud Magnas have the same bolt pattern, just a difffrent off set for the front wheel drive arrangement. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo_rolla Posted November 12, 2006 Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 Awesome write up mate. Good work. You mentioned you used t-18 struts, but you could use "existing" ones. Would this be the case for a ke70 strut, or just ae71? Lookin to upgrade brakes when my 4age goes in, so this might be the way to go! Cheers :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas_ae71 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 (edited) are series 1 and 2 t-18 struts the same? cause I'm fairly sure the brakes are diffrent. edit: could use "existing" ones i think i idea if using t-18 ones is that you have a wider choice of springs and shocks with the 51mm struts, ke70 has 45mm. Edited November 19, 2006 by tas_ae71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHR32 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Good conversion, I've been thinking about doing something like this for awhile. The only thing is, when mounting the disc over the front of the hub, is there enough hub sticking out to locate the centre of the wheel still? It's pretty important that the wheel is located on the hub which takes all the load and not just held on with the studs which only should stop the wheel from spinning. http://planetsoarer.com/offset/studs.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas_ae71 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 (edited) wow, i didnt have time to read all that but it looks fairly hard core be the pics VHR32 foc64; if you could make the mounting braket (for a few $$), I'm sure a lot more people would go this option, as it sounds a good, cheap (slight gettoness) upgrade. Edited November 19, 2006 by tas_ae71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7shades Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Good conversion, I've been thinking about doing something like this for awhile. The only thing is, when mounting the disc over the front of the hub, is there enough hub sticking out to locate the centre of the wheel still? It's pretty important that the wheel is located on the hub which takes all the load and not just held on with the studs which only should stop the wheel from spinning. http://planetsoarer.com/offset/studs.htm Dude.... thats scary shit In 15 years of exhaustive thrashing I've never had a wheel shear off, and I've almost NEVER used the proper sized rims for my hubs... I dunno if Ive just been lucky or not but I think in future I'll be getting some spigot rings made up! Cheers for the link... you never know it may have saved my life some time in the future... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHR32 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 I know! Imagine coming down a hill full noise into a corner with all that load on only the 4 front studs- worries me sometimes. I know KE10's don't have the centre locating bit on the back of their axles but the front is way more important. I make up a few bracket for Commodore brake conversions and possibly will look into doing some for Corolla's soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 thanks for the info on the brake conversion i have a 12a turbo,corona 4 speed,hilux diff and front brakes were the next issue for a ke70.would be interested to know what master you would use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foc64 Posted November 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 VHR32 - There is still plenty of hub "sticking out" to locate the centre of the wheel, I haven't measured it but the disc centre (at a guess) would be 4 -5 mm. Most hub/wheel combos rely on the wheel centre sitting over the hub just right and this shouldn't chage because of the disc width. Just remember that wheels not intended (originally) for a toyota may have a larger centre bore and may not sit on the the hub (as intended). One thing I didn't say in my first post is that I'm using longer wheel studs (for adisc brake hilux 4x4). Hilux studs are 8mm longer and have the same spline and thread size (12mm x1.25mm) The only thing to keep in mind is the spline at the base of the stud is longer and this will need carful grinding back to shorten it before you install the new studs. From memory the Corolla stud's spline is 4mm wide but the Hilux on is around 7 or 8mm, and yes it is advisable to shorten the spline length as the stud won't seat properly other wise. tas ae71 - Haven't got any plans to make up the adaptor plates, but I have an idea to redesign them so you don't need the 4mm wide caliper spacers, just need tot time to look in to it more. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHR32 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 VHR32 - There is still plenty of hub "sticking out" to locate the centre of the wheel, I haven't measured it but the disc centre (at a guess) would be 4 -5 mm. Most hub/wheel combos rely on the wheel centre sitting over the hub just right and this shouldn't chage because of the disc width. Just remember that wheels not intended (originally) for a toyota may have a larger centre bore and may not sit on the the hub (as intended). Thats good! I thought they only have around 5mm of machined area to locate the wheel and when you slide over the disc it dissappears, but its been awhile since ive taken any notice of a Corolla hub! When you fit wheels with a larger centre bore, you should fit hub rings. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHR32 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 (edited) Plenty of good pads available for these calipers and they are a pretty slimline design to fit under smaller rims. Edited November 19, 2006 by VHR32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camerondownunder88 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Hi, Nice work on the How to. One question you used T-18 struts for easy upgrade for ae86 inserts etc. I have a KE30 I know the difference on my model to a KE70 or Ae71 is there disc are wider by a few mm other wise there the same. So would this upgrade work on a KE30? Eg use same strut on the 30 and do what u did? As I don't know if a T-18 strut will fit a 30 and prefer to keep original as it works and just then go installing the new rotors and calipers. Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camerondownunder88 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Oh just another fast question was re-reading your article and I couldnt find the rim size this setup fit under. So will this setup work in a standard size corolla rim? Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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