280mm mk1 brake upgrade

[Volksee77]

Guys awhile ago i installed a TSR 280 brake upgrade into my mk1 rally car and it works mint. Now i'm upgrading to VR6 280mm brakes and am trying to figure out what to do with the near new 280 upgrade kit. The Kit uses STD MK1 GTi calipers with special offest black diamond combination discs and a machined adaptor plate. Just seeing if people here are interested in getting some more adaptors machined up (probably donate the design to roccodingo) and i'll get in some more discs. Beauty of this package is excellent stopping power without needing to upgrade the master cylinder or booster to get the most out of it (for the record i did both as it is a rally car but works great on my dads diesel right now which is stock). This is a great low cost (about $350 ish) upgrade which really performs on the street and at the track. Let me know what you think.
Luke

[h100vw]

I had a 270mm kit form TSR years ago. Awesome brakes. Are the discs not plain 280s, G60?

Gavin

[Volksee77]

yeah pretty sure the tsr caliper offset bracket requires a diff disc offset but i will investigate with stock 280mm cordoba discs and let you all know, much cheaper then if that works

[static1800]

Does this make a big difference considering you are using the stock gti caliper setup?

[h100vw]

Does this make a big difference considering you are using the stock gti caliper setup?

It makes a huge difference, the brakes pedal feels weedy still but you can stop hard.

Gavin

[GRN_VAGN]

I cant understand how though? your still using the same amount of contact area on those bigger disc's as you would be on a stock vented disc..
Maybe there is a different caliper you could use to increase the contact area?

[Volksee77]

OK time for a physics lesson guys, it is called moment of inertia or torque. The same force applied over a longer distance from the pivot leads to a greater torque being applied hence spacing the caliper further from the hub whilst applying the same force increases the torque, in this case braking torque, Think of it like using a spanner then putting a breaker bar on the spanner, much easier to apply greater force isn't it. This is the principle behind this brake upgrade as it spaces the caliper 50 odd mm further from the hub than stock. Yes the braking surface area doesn't change but hey it is like max spend of $300 odd and great bang for your bucks for almost twice the stopping power (well don't know for real but these things pulled up nothing like a mk1 GTi brake setup, pissed all over them. Proven to work so much better in competition.
Yes putting bigger calipers on will again improve things but that adds big big cost as you have to custom machine your hubs, source calipers and then upgrade the booster and master cylinder. I'm trying to help out and give all mk1 golfers a cheap upgrade which will revolutionise the mk1 braking capabilities. The only reason i'm upgrading is to use that bit more of a braking surface area as my car is purely for racing and there a bigger still gains to made and hence time to be saved.

This kit requires only mk1 GTi calipers to work and nothing else.

[Jarred]

I was just about to do some study (for uni), but it seems I've learnt my new thing for today already! (never actually though as to why bigger brakes were better)

Was the $300 odd including the new discs and the spacers?

[velly_16v_cab]

bigger mastercylinder also helps massivly with brake travel

[Golf Loon]

Can we use stock 280mm Cupra disks which have the 4 stud holes?
I`d buy a couple of sets of adaptors so these disks can be made to fit a Mk1.

I also have lots of those GTI calipers as they are used on SEATs and Mk2s, but I have no carriers for them.

[Peter Jones]

An adaptor that used the Mk3 calipers would be ideal. There's heaps of options once you've got the MK3 bolt spacing.

I reckon it'd be possible to make an adaptor that has both MK1 and MK3 bolt spacing.

Pete

[GOLFBALLS]

yeah pretty sure the tsr caliper offset bracket requires a diff disc offset but i will investigate with stock 280mm cordoba discs and let you all know, much cheaper then if that works

280mm cordoba discs???? Normal stock cordoba discs are 239mm. Maybe you meant 'corrado'? Grant still has a set of the 280's there i think if you wanted to try them...

So Luke why are you going from this tsr kit which is already 280mm to a VR6 setup of the same size? Is it just for the bigger calipers/pads?

Also as far as I know all the 280mm discs found on Golf and Corrado G60's, and Ibiza Cupra's are the same offset/bell height. I think maybe even the 280 VR6 are the same - except they are 5x100. There are some Golf 4 280mm discs in 5x100 too, but they are a different offset FYI.

Also Loon, which mk2/seat calipers are you talking about? The post 1989 16valve GTI ones are the only mk2 brakes that have removable caliper carriers. All other mk2 hubs and calipers have fixed carriers to the hubs and are completely different to the mk1 setup aren't they?

All the mk3 calipers will definately work with an adapter though.

I'd be very keen to get something made up like Pete says to give you the option to either extend the original mk1 GTI caliper out, or just use the mk3 calipers with a 280mm disc!

Cheers,
Wade

[Jarred]

280mm cordoba discs???? Normal stock cordoba discs are 239mm.

I"m sure he meant Cupra. are the cupra and VR discs the same? (bar the 4 and 5 stud difference??)

[GRN_VAGN]

Cheers Volksee!

Sounds like a worthwhile upgrade then

[GOLFBALLS]

I"m sure he meant Cupra. are the cupra and VR discs the same? (bar the 4 and 5 stud difference??)

Actually, I'm not so sure now... because the VR6 is wide track and the hubs have differences in the arm lengths and lower ball joint position, and also where the caliper mount is set back a bit. So they might be a 'flatter' type disc bell height on the VR6.

Thing is, I went and sourced Corrado G60 hubs for my mk2, and when i got them i noticed they are the same as standard Golf 3 GL/CL hubs! Then I'm using (early) VR6 calipers and the Cupra/G60 discs, and it all fits together perfectly.

Ah i dunno!