Classic Alfa Forums

Hi folks,

I've never loved the front inboard calipers on the Sud. The race car for years has had outboard fronts, and therefore no handbrake at all. For our four-door I'd like to retain the front inboard calipers but find some solution to have a decent rear handbrake. Has anyone ever tackled this problem? Is there *any* rear disc with integral handbrake that's an easy mod?

alfa 33?

Did they come with disc rear end? I'd heard that there was a European model that had disc rear, but unlikely to find it in Australia and I think quite different arrangement for the rear suspension arms.

If Aus is anything like the UK, the only disc rear 33 was the P4.

There have been alternative solutions found, the simplest is probably to adapt a different caliper to your sud disc set up, or add a "spot" brake caliper by someone such as HiSpec or willwood etc etc


I have a different solution but better not go into that!

The solution on my car is mini rear drums, but the cable run is poor.

I am trying to improve it, oh and the brake cylinders are upside down so bleeding may be an issue later.

There were 33 16V with rear discs and handbrake calipers in germany. I use them at my sprint together with a 905 (33 8V) rear axle, but the calipers are quite heavy..
Ali

a couple of inexpensive methods of spot brakes

http://www.hispeccalipers.co.uk/spotv1.html

http://www.wilwood.com/calipers/Caliper ... ech%20Spot

Wow , never heard of spot callipers. Very interesting.

With a decent location to hang them the rest should be very easy and reliable.

Unfortunately spot calipers aren't very effective on saloon cars, they are mainly designed for "kit" cars, where "kit" has a very specific meaning. Locatorfields! Which only weigh in at around 550 kg.

One production handbrake caliper that has been suggested to me in the past is the Fiat X1/9, which is a single pot sliding caliper so is marginally more effective than the Alfasud caliper. Lancia Delta handbrake calipers have also been re-purposed in the past (probably a very similar design to the Fiat, if not identical)

A near identical type of handbrake caliper to the Alfasud (mechanical operation of the inboard piston only, with manual adjustment) is fitted to the Alfetta GTV (inboard) and the Ferrari 308 (outboard).

For best possible efficiency there are plenty of moderns that use handbrake calipers, Audis seem to be a popular choice.

Lauren

PS - Locaterfields = Locost/Caterham/Westfield, i.e. any old Lotus 7 clone

Spacenut wrote:Unfortunately spot calipers aren't very effective on saloon cars, they are mainly designed for "kit" cars, where "kit" has a very specific meaning. Locatorfields! Which only weigh in at around 550 kg.

Righto Lauren, lesson learned, not really up to the job of an E brake as such, and might not be up to scratch on an mot brake tester either then?



For best possible efficiency there are plenty of moderns that use handbrake calipers, Audis seem to be a popular choice.

Lauren

I have a pair of the VAG rear handbrake calipers that i bought to have a mess with myself some time ago, and they looked to me like a simple bracket and they'd work a treat. Similar to the ones pictured below, (only mine are red!) and up for grabs since i have a different plan now?

As a possible thought....I used the rear callipers from the 164 at the rear of the 6C (where it acted on the front discs - which was now at the back...). That gave a good cable operated handbrake.

Spacenut wrote:PS - Locaterfields = Locost/Caterham/Westfield, i.e. any old Lotus 7 clone

Like it

petrolhead wrote:

Spacenut wrote:Unfortunately spot calipers aren't very effective on saloon cars, they are mainly designed for "kit" cars, where "kit" has a very specific meaning. Locatorfields! Which only weigh in at around 550 kg.

Righto Lauren, lesson learned, not really up to the job of an E brake as such, and might not be up to scratch on an mot brake tester either then?



For best possible efficiency there are plenty of moderns that use handbrake calipers, Audis seem to be a popular choice.

Lauren

I have a pair of the VAG rear handbrake calipers that i bought to have a mess with myself some time ago, and they looked to me like a simple bracket and they'd work a treat. Similar to the ones pictured below, (only mine are red!) and up for grabs since i have a different plan now?

VAG REAR CALIPER.jpg

Yes, I think spot calipers might struggle on an MoT test, although in theory the mass of the car shouldn't make a difference on the rollers...

VAG caliper looks perfect for the job - single pot sliding caliper, just the ticket!

Spacenut wrote:

petrolhead wrote:

Spacenut wrote:Unfortunately spot calipers aren't very effective on saloon cars, they are mainly designed for "kit" cars, where "kit" has a very specific meaning. Locatorfields! Which only weigh in at around 550 kg.

Righto Lauren, lesson learned, not really up to the job of an E brake as such, and might not be up to scratch on an mot brake tester either then?



For best possible efficiency there are plenty of moderns that use handbrake calipers, Audis seem to be a popular choice.

Lauren

I have a pair of the VAG rear handbrake calipers that i bought to have a mess with myself some time ago, and they looked to me like a simple bracket and they'd work a treat. Similar to the ones pictured below, (only mine are red!) and up for grabs since i have a different plan now?

VAG REAR CALIPER.jpg

Yes, I think spot calipers might struggle on an MoT test, although in theory the mass of the car shouldn't make a difference on the rollers...

VAG caliper looks perfect for the job - single pot sliding caliper, just the ticket!

trouble is the hand brake needs to work to a % of the cars weight...so the heavier the car the more force it needs to register on the rollers, even though as you hinted at, more body weight doesn't equal more force necessarily

Quite right - which sort of rules out aftermarket spot calipers I think. However, a quick search of the Interweb has turned up quite a few viable replacements, how about the rear calipers from a 916 GTV or 147? With a bit of luck you should be able to adapt the handbrake lever and cables from a late model Sprint or 33...

I also have a pair of pug 206gti rear calipers which could be good,

Alloy caliper but cast pad carrier. They're not heavy at all and the mounts look quite close too

I doubt if I'll use either of them now, so holla if anyone fancies them

Down side with Peugeot calipers is the hand brake is useless when it's working properly and pads are very thin when new .On the plus side they are light and compact

Simonsud wrote:Down side with Peugeot calipers is the hand brake is useless when it's working properly

That could be true Simon