Wilwood brake caliper

[Tim]

Has anyone got the experience with Wilwood brake products? The Wilwood Billet Dynalite calipers with 44.5mm 4-pot are light in weight and are very suitable for road racing. Do they work well with Beetle? One of the sizes of this caliper seems perfectly fitting the kerscher vent discs (20mm thick). I think the only problem is to fabricate the caliper adaptors.

www.wilwood.com/products/calipers/bdc/index.asp

It seems to be a good alternative to the heavier Porsche unit. Any comments?

Thanks
Tim

[kdanie]

I don't know of anyone using Willwood calipers on a VW. Some of us have talked about it. They make very good parts. If I need more brake than my 944 N/A calipers can provide, I will go with some Willwood calipers.
ken

[chigger]

I am almost finished going this route. Run a search on the GL forum on www.shoptalkforums.com. I would rather not write it all up again. The rear is easier with the Porsche calipers as they just bolt on. The front is about as difficult either way. The adapter being the big problem. I have a two piece design which is adaptable for either caliper with minimum machine work. The problem is all the different ways that it can be done and all the different parts you might use. I may eventually decide to make a kit. Anyway you look at it, it still would not be cheap. The Wilwood calipers are not DOT approved. Hope it helps.

[Tim]

Thanks Chigger.
I just read your previous post in the shop talk forum. The conversion looks more complicated than what I thought. To simplify the conversion, I will probably be using the Kerscher brake kit at the rear and CSP vent discs with Wilwood Dynalite II (1 3/8" piston) calipers in the front. Do you think this combination will match each other?

Another alternative which I can think of for the rear is to get some caliper brackets and hubs from CB Performance rear brake kit, and use Wilwood hats, rotors, calipers (single Dynalite?) with fabricated adaptors. Any idea that CB Performace sells separate parts for their kits?

Tim

[chigger]

For the easiest on the rear go with the early 944 ventalated disk brakes on the rear. You can use the 901 (bug) or 915 (thing, early 944) cvs and stub axle. The only pickle is matching up the emergency cable. There has been numerous threads on that. If you don't want the Porsche pattern or just need the bug pattern for your lugbolts, just go with the solid rear rotor CB kit. To be honest the whole Porsche brake thing may be way overkill unless you race alot. Since the fronts do most of the work they are the brakes most likely to over heat. Major improvements on the rear to solid disks would be using slotted rotors and cooling ducts. This would be a high performance rear brake without a lot of the hassle and expense of adapting something else.
For the front the CSP rotor, disk is the easiest. It also has any bolt pattern you may want. The reason I have had so much fun with the front adapters is that I wanted to make a commercially available kit which is somewhat universal in that it can be easily adaptable to different rotor, spindle, caliper combinations. Basically all you would need to worry about would be the rotor diameter, thickness, and the bolt pattern for the caliper. A mill would be required to precisely locate and drill the holes and to adjust the thickness of the adapter to center the caliper on the rotor. This is also the lightest combination for the cost. A lighter combination would be to adapt the Porsche hub or have a custom hub machined. Both much more expensive. Using slotted rotors and air ducts would also make big improvements.
Here are some pictures of a completed assembly.

[Tim]

My bug (1303) will be for racing only (circuit racing, not drag racing). Parking brake and DOT approval are not something to be concerned. What I am considering is unsprung weight, brake efficiency and of course my affordability. Also, lug pattern of pcd 5x114 (4.5") is more preferable because more choice of inexpensive, light weight Japanese made wheels are available here in Hong Kong. According to the information from Wilwood's website, it seems that their products are matching what I am looking for. Porsche 944 units no question are perfect for GL VW but I think are too heavy for racing and they are very very rare here in HK (could be very very expensive). That's why I have the idea of using Wilwood products and want to learn more whether it is worthwhile for the converion.

By the way, are CB or Kerscher rear brake kit lighter than type 1 stock drum? How about compare with a complete Wilwood rear conversion (single Dynalite calipers, solid rotors, aluminium hats) with wheel hubs fabricated from VW stock drums and custom made caliper adaptors?

Thanks
Tim

[chigger]

Humm! Location sure puts a bind on things. The Ghia rotor and assembly weighs more that a stock drum setup so the rear is probably the same. With the wheel pattern you want to use it would probably be easiest to go with custom made front and rear hubs and mount Wilwood rotors to them. Pretty expensive I am sure, but check around where you are at. Some one has done the 944 to 1303 front brake conversion. I think you have to change the spindle. Anyway that is still not a good answer for your problem.


Where there is the will there is a way. I have several ideas, but the parts aren't available to you and the machining would be quite involved. I have heard of some people using the parts off UGH! ricers to convert. Actually it might be the way for you to go. Look around at a junk yard at the highend stuff.
Certain models of Bilsteins can be mounted upsidedown which will also save some weight. I may not have helped you, but it may give you directions to search.