Machining drums to be used as hubs?
 

I recall a thread where someone machined down the drums (with 5x130 pattern) to fit inside or on top of a Porsche rotor to be used as a hub. What's the feasibility of this?

Better bet would be to machine down aftermarket Porsche pattern discs, they have the strength in thickness then and you could fit studs.
Rich

When you say Porsche discs, are you referring to VW disc brakes with the Porsche pattern? And are they available for the rear that way?

Yes, I was talking about Porsche 'bolt pattern' discs for a VW, they are thicker around the mounting area. Porsche made the rear hubs already (they are on the 944 ;) )

Thanks ricola,

One of my goals is to keep possible width increases to a minimum... Ghia you know. My figurations are / were that I would only (possibly) get <10mm increase per side which would be a good thing for those of us who are a little lacking in wheel well space... Ghia you know:D Anyway, I figured that would be a good way to not widen things too much.

I've got some early 944 aluminum trailing arms with all the necessary components to mount them on my Ghia, as well as the front hub that needs to me modded to work (later style for the front hub), I've just got doubts about the 'relative ease' of making it all work... Ghia you know:laugh:

DORIGTT

Hi

You could use stock 4 stud drums instead of discs and do the same thing, the disc will give a slight track increase of the drum. If you then studded the brake drum to 5x130 that would work.

On my old 1302 I used 5x130 bug discs with the braking surface removed, then bolted the Porsche rotor on the back with a spacer to get the offset correct in the same manner that Porsche rotors fit up.

Steve

http://www.clubvw.org.au/images/pb_1.jpg

http://www.clubvw.org.au/images/pb4.jpg

How well did that method work for you?

Hi

They worked fine, I will be using them on my next car as well.

Steve

Cool, thanks.

Why not just go with the CB chromoly hubs? (from their race strength disc brake kit)

BTDT on machining down some drums. That cast iron is hard material, requires carbide tooling. A lot of work involved, you have to make a good fitting mandrel to hold-em while machining, lots of cutting and machining time, etc. If you were paying someone to do the work you'd likely be much $$ ahead getting the CB hubs.

Jeff

I just looked at their website per your suggestion and didn't see any front hubs as you mentioned.

Oops, didn't seen any specific references to front hubs. :D
I was referring to the rear CB hubs.

I think the only aftermarket front VW hubs I've seen are Vdub Engineering and Airkewld.

O' Tay I got it now

Steve ,your a genious .I reckon i am going to nick your idea for the back of my bug as the 944 rears are way to widefor my 66, but reckon i can use either the carriers or a beetle drum to keep the stock offset.sorry to crash your thread Dorigtt

Hi Skeeter

You could use Type 3 rear drum centres for that, or buy some 5x130 rear drums or another thing I looked at was cutting the back of the steel arm 944 flange down to narrow the track, you would end up with less spline area, I'm not sure how that would go with high horse power.

Steve

I have also done something similar.....on the front of a type 3, i used the front discs with 5x100 bolt pattern then machined off the brakesurface so they would fit in a rotor from a 2001 jetta 2.0 then fabbed up brackets and used a caliper from a 96 jetta 2.0 and voila........bigger brakes w/floating calipers using al stock vw parts! (except for the custom bracket) http://www.franklinsvwwerks.com/phpb...760&highlight=

hey guys,
would this work?

if i used a stock vw 4 stud disk or drum machined down to use as a hub with a porker vented disk, then have the 4 stud vw pattern put into the disks. a early 944 caliper and mounting bracket.

i want to keep 15" vw pattern wheels...

cheers
mabbo

Hey Mabbo,

I've got a set of early single-piston sliding calipers if you're interested.

hey dorigtt
i guess the postage from america would be a fortune, im in the uk so would probrally be easier/cheaper to get some from over here...
cheers for the offer though.
mabbo

Naw! Postage is nearly free... I'll just scan them and email them over to you:D

Is this the one you're on about? My mate did it to his Baja and it works a treat. The vehicle gets some hammer too and it seems to be holding up well.

http://www.airsouls.com/how-tos/rear_discs.htm

:)

can anyone see why this wouldnt work?

vw 4 stud drum or disk machined down to use as a hub
get a 944 disk re-drilled to 4 stud vw pattern
bolt the 944 disk up to the back of the "hub" like Steve C's method
regular 944 mounting bracket and single slider caliper

this should give me vented disks and still use vw 4 stud wheels?

mabbo

Steve your set up looks nice :)

can i ask - are the studs fitted to the hub, or to the disc, then go through the hub?

And what studs did you use?

Thanks

Dean

Hi

If you look closely at the top photo you can see the outer piece is a stock beetle disc with its braking surface removed, then you can see a thin aluminium spacer between the cut-down stock beetle disc and the Porsche rotor.

So to answer your question, I just used high tensile studs screwed into the threads in the cut-down stock beetle disc with a dab of Loctite to hold them in.

Steve

PS, there is a seller on Ebay Australia who sells these high tensile studs called "vforceracing".

thanks for that info - so the wheel studs are just put into the old beetle disc - awesome. you have been very helpful - thanks. oh 1 more question - which disc would you suggest is best to use as ive noticed they come in different heights!

Hi

No worries. Those discs are from an early 911, they also fit 944 (1982 - 1989), 911 (1969 - 1983) E,T,S,SC & Turbo.

You can download a brake rotor catalogue from here www.dba.com.au It has all sizes and heights listed

Steve

dont suppose anyone has the dimensions you need to machine the beetle disc to get the same as the 944 T hub?? and when i have it machined what i needto shim out by?? Cheers anyone

Interested in that info too.

i have been working on a conversion fitting 944 late discs to bug hubs and am keeping 4 stud bug pattern. you need to fit a spacer between the hub and the inside of the 944 disc depending on your application ~5mm.

i had a bloke i know machine 4/130 into the porsche disc - fits ok and you only end up with 1 hole with a thin land ~5mm. i made press fit spacers to the hubs which align the disc concentrically ensureing no issues.

haven't finished the caliper bracket yet......

using ibiza cupra calipers on mine 54mm pistons.