Article DiscBrakeInstall

So I wanted the buggy to stop better....that and not have to adjust the brakes. Well OK, disc brakes are cool and I wanted them on the green Manx! I ordered a set from Hawkeye. Now my garage is now full of "stuff" we "salvaged" from my dad's house so there's precious little room for the buggy...and anything else. No way do I have have room to install brakes.

David and JD finally figured out the secret. There are 2 very tiny tabs on the wheel near each bolt hole. Get the wheel on the studs, get a washer in position, hold it tight against the wheel and trapped between those tabs. Spin your lug nut down as far as you can, but don't torque it yet. OK, finally got the wheels on. But wait, remember that "fabbing you hadn't counted on business?" Well here it is again. On the front calipers there's a little bump that was hitting the wheel so, wheels off and get out the right angle grinder. Fix that little hummer right up...or off as the case may be. Now, front wheels back on and down she comes off the jack stands.

Started the buggy up, backed out of the shop on went down Hawk's drive...stepped on the brakes. OK, it stopped, but it seemed to take a while....longer that before. Continue down the drive to the road. Get on the road...Hey these are pretty good, they'll lock all fours up no sweat. The sponginess I felt was the "new" getting worn off the brakes. All I can say is...I like 'em. Thanks guys for all the help!

So Hawkeye graciously let me come down and use his shop on a sunny January Sunday. I pulled into Hawkeye Buggies about 8:30am. We swept out an area in his shop so there'd have a clean place to crawl around...er, work. I unloaded the buggy from the trailer and brought it inside. We got her up on jack stands...3 actually and a jack...we couldn't find the 4th stand (sounds like my garage!) and pulled the wheels. Hawk told me to pull the front brake lines. I asked him if he had a pan or something to drain the brake fluid into. His response, "nah, it'll dry." Hey, we can do this AND make a mess! Now this IS going to be fun!

About 9am David Head drove up and jumped smack into the middle of things. Shortly after that JD came and yup, jumped in the deep end with the rest of us. Hey, we're getting quite a crew that knows what they're doing started here. Johnny Bridges came as did Russell Christian. Didn't take long to get that buggy apart. Wheels off, spindle nuts off, righty, tighty, lefty, loosey, right? Well, one sides not... remember? Ok, spindle nuts off, backing plates off, where's the hammer? Bang a few times on the tie rod ends, get them loose. Then come the upper and lower ball joints. Spindles are off, now put it back together with the new disc brake spindles. Those went on smooth.

Next the rotors. New bearings greased and installed. Rotors go on and spindle nuts follow. Next, the calipers...don't forget the pads and finally reconnect the brake lines. Do it again on the other side and front's done.

Now for the rear. This is a little different story. The calipers are actually from an Eagle Talon. Johnny B fabbed up a couple of cool brackets to get so they'd adapt to the VW rear and rotors. Before that though we needed to get the axle nuts off. Cotter pins pulled, something to keep the wheel from turning... man! that has got to be the biggest breaker bar I've ever seen. 270 ft./lbs.!? I laugh at 270 ft./lbs! OK, wheel nuts off, drums off, backing plates off.

Be sure to keep the spacer. Next we figure out which way the caliper bracket goes and install it. Rotors on, axle nut, uh-oh, here' that 270 ft./lbs again. But wait, we're at Hawkeye's. Sure enough out comes a torque wrench that will measure and is long enough to deliver at least 300 ft./lbs. So, NO PROBLEM! Cotter pins back in and it's time to mount up the calipers. Bump.....Bump....yup, this is a project and every project I've ever seen involves some combination of, every tool you own, multiple trips to Home Depot and some fabrication you hadn't counted on. Well the tools are covered ( I think we got Hawk's toolbox back together) and there's not a Home Depot anywhere close to Hawkins, so.....we had to fabricate...well, Johnny and Hawkeye got to fabricate. The rest of us watched.

The caliper brackets were hitting the rear of the trailing arms and not allowing the caliper to come down around the rotor. David Head crawled under and marked the bracket wit a Sharpie, Hawkeye then delicately (with a torch and grinder) removed the offending piece applied a little paint and reinstalled it. Worked like a champ. Old Ferdinand Porsche himself would be pretty impressed.

Now it's time to bleed the brakes. I get the order to hop in to be the pedal guy. David gets to keep the reservoir full and Hawkeye does the bleeding. Pump 'em up...right rear, left rear, right front, left front. Take a breather and do it again until we had a steady stream of brake fluid shooting onto the floor...I love that part..."nah, it'll dry." Let's put some wheels on it.

Now I have Cragar S/S rims. They're what Cragar calls uni-lug as they fit either 5 on 4.5 or 5 on 4.75 patterns. Johnny set up the rotors for the 5 on 4.5. I got the 1/2-20 lug nuts and eccentric washers for the wheels. Now this actually turned out to be the hardest part! Once you get the wheel sitting on the studs, you have to get a washer and lug nut on it. These washers don't have the hole in the center. That's how Cragar gets the pattern of the wheels down to 4.5.

So, Here we go, David and JD one wheel , I'm on another.....it's not long before we're all cussin' under our breath. The washers want to turn heavy side down. When that happens the studs no longer line up, you can't start another lug nut and the washer jams so NOTHING happens...AAAAARRRGHHH!