Alfa 33 front brakes conversion

[grale]

One of my cars is a Lancia Delta GTie.
This car brakes a lot better than any of my Alfas 33s.
I have a pair of front calipers and ventelated discs from a Delta HF Turbo on my garage, and I was thinking to put them on one of my 33s.
Did anyone tryed to do this conversion.

Regards

[evilgidget]

It doesn't take much to remove the disc & caliper from a 33; If you have a weekend spare, how about taking an hour or two out of it, remove the 2 caliper mounting bolts & solid disc & dummy up the Lancia items to check spacing & clearance? That way you'll know for certain whether it'll fit & you can let us all know.

The only conversion i've heard about is the fiat 20V turbo discs with earlier Vectra calipers, with spacers to get the caliper centered and I have a recollection the pads may have needed grinding a bit to make them fit?

[budweiser_sud]

I have a set of Brembo 4 pot calipers from a late model Alfa GTV in my workshop awaiting fitment to my 33 16v. They do not bolt straight on but I intend to create a mock up adaptor out of MDF. I'll then draw up the adaptor on autocad to then be CNC machined out of billet steel or aluminium (depending on required thicknesses to acheive the correct strength).

I just really hope they will fit inside my Ronal A1 wheels because I won't be buying a set of 17" rims for a while yet!

~Benjamin

[MarkAsh]

Hi there. Raced a Sud in New Zealand and did the following conversion which was very very simple, cheap and it worked. May be easier for the NZ/Aussie people as the parts I used are readily available here/Aussie. 33 front suspension, hubs and 33 vented discs with diameter machined down 1mm (232mm to 231mm I think). Aluminium Holden Commordore front calipers (think about a 1990 VN model) bolt straight on with no machining and all the spacings are perfect. result is a lighter caliper that has a pad area about 40% bigger than a 33 and a larger piston area. Sure they are only single pot calipers and that the diameter of the disc is still the same but its a very cost effective upgrade. I had some pad backing pads cut and brake material bonded on as the Holden ones didnt fit. Cant remember why but they didnt. Excluding pads it cost me under NZ$100 to buy & rekit the calipers, machine the discs down 1mm and fit. I did this in conjunction with using Sud rear calipers and a Alfa 75 Master Cylinder. Bias front to rear was greatly improved (no rear lock up) All this is from memory as I have now sold the car and now have a 16V Integrale & 74 Spider I am restoring. Hope this is of some help. All the best with it

[budweiser_sud]

The Comodore conversion is certainly an easier means of getting better breaking performance. Alfasud calipers are a relatively easy method to upgrade the rear, however you lose the handbrake - and have to go hydraulic.

Does anyone know if there is a difference between Alfa 75 rear calipers and those fitted to earlier Alfettas?

~Benjamin

[dave33]

Hi Mark,

A refresher for you. The Commodore calipers (VL?) come in two sizes one on the 6 cyl and another on the V8 Commode.

I picked up some calipers a while back, but haven't bought the disks yet.
It looks like the 257mm disk off the boxer 145/146 will work with one, and the 284mm off the later 145/146 with the other. (Std 33 = 239mm from memory)

The Commode calipers unfortunately foul my standard 14" wheels, but not by much, so I'm hanging on till I get some wider, lighter wheels. (You don't have anything left over there do you ?)

Cheers
David F

p.s. have got a pair of sockets to get back to you !! :-)

[MarkAsh]

Im pretty sure I used the 6 Cyl calipers as the maximum disc diameter was 1mm less than standard 33. The V8 calipers would certainally be worth looking at as i would expect the caliper bolt spacing is going to be the same but the caliper is suitable for a bigger dia disc. Is the offset the same from the mounting face the the centre of the disc?? Havent for gotton about the sockets, just havent neaded them. Mark

[GTVnut]

This sounds like a great mod, if only the pads would fit straight in as well. I'm interested in how you made pads work in that set up. Any more info there?

[MarkAsh]

Hi there. Cant remember exactly why the Comordore pads didnt fit but all I did was make up a template for a steel backing plate and had some custom backing plates cut out. After that I just got some pad material bonded on to them with the pad compound I wanted. Getting pad material bonded on is really common in NZ but I am unsure if this is available elsewhere. Plate thickness was the same as the standard pads and the steel was nothing special. Hope this helps. Mark

[77SudTi]

Sorry to seem sceptical....but...I dont see why the pads need to be changed if the backing plate is the same and the disc is -1mm what its meant to be... Couldnt you just cut the pad material to the right shape if needed, instead of going to the trouble of making backing plates etc (don't breathe the dust for those trying this at home!!)

Wouldn't this mod be improved by the addition of a larger diameter disc and spacing the caliper outwards?

Remember brakes are only as good as the master cylinder driving it all too!

[MarkAsh]

Hi again. Backing plate is not the same as original. Remember im going from memory with this and it was 3-4 years ago I did it. As the caliper was positioned a a different offset to the centre of the hub than originally the OEM pads hit the top hat section of the Alfa Disc. Additionally the OEM pads didnt alighn properly with the outside edge of the Alfa disc. Also the OEM pads didnt take full advantage of the area available. Im not one to spend money or time when i dont have to so I am sure that this was actually necessary Mark

[MarkP]

Your on the right track, V8 VN/VP Commodore Calipers (finned aluminium) and Magna V6 rotors (re-drilled to 4/98) and it all bolts straight on over 15" wheels or if you use the 6 cylinder non finned calipers they should bolt on over 14's. Takes standard DB1085 disc pads. Awesome brakes.

[85sprint]

ok so if using the 6cyl calipers what disk do you use??

[MarkP]

Still the V6 Magna (PBR425). The calipers are the same except for the fins. You can buy the PBR calipers new for about $160 the pair. The rotors you can used second hand because you need to machine some thickness of them anyway.

[KACK]

markp,

will this work on early 33 say 85-86 model with solid front discs?

who do you use to redrill the rotors?

cheers