Just a thought........ Porsche 356 C Disc brake conversion - Whats involved???

[Lee.C]

Well as always guys - As the title says......

 Whats involved in converting a King & link-pin car (ie Pre65) over to Porsche 356 C Disc brakes FRONT & REAR  Has anyone on here done it 

As far as I can tell the fronts are a pretty much "bolt on" affair but what about the rears

Also didn't the Goss Chop Top have 356 discs (up front at least)

[speedwell]

i know that mike from the  DAS have them on his blue oval may be sent a PM to him   

[Lee.C]

i know that mike from the  DAS have them on his blue oval may be sent a PM to him   

Cheers dude but whats his sign on name as your link aoden't work 

[JS]

MacRavens.

[Lids]

i know that mike from the  DAS have them on his blue oval may be sent a PM to him   

Cheers dude but whats his sign on name as your link aoden't work 

Its an email link, just get rid of the the html code in the address bar when it loads.

[So.Cal.Life]

    If you have the spindles, its a simple bolton . I had B model rears, also a bolton, with" early" axle bearing caps. Monkiboy, you have a PM.        KG

[Lee.C]

cheers guys 

[Jim M]

I recently took the fronts off my car after 24 years. I had the rears but never put them on. I have some pics of them installed if needed. The rears need the shock mount cut/turned to work.

[Zach Gomulka]

I recently took the fronts off my car after 24 years. I had the rears but never put them on. I have some pics of them installed if needed. The rears need the shock mount cut/turned to work.

Could you use the Porsche axle tubes/end castings?

[Lee.C]

yeah  have been thinking about the rears  Could you not use 356 "axle tubes" with the caliper mounts 

[Jim M]

You have to use the porsche axle tubes. the caliper mounts ithem.The problem is the shock mount.It will not work with a vw. I have seen 2 cars over the years with the conversion done. The mount needs to be cut, maybe shortened and turned.Then reweld.I will post some pics when i get a chance.

[hotrodsurplus]

Super-good info, Jim. I considered C brakes before I committed to drums but the rear-axle issue sort of stopped the project, so to speak.

Are the 356 caliper tabs pretty simple? In the early '90s I helped a few friends install 914 calipers/rotors on both swing and IRS cars using Type III hubs that we had turned down. The mounting pads were flat so we just cut them out of plate (I want to say 1/4") and tacked them to the bearing housings using the calipers as jigs. Would it be similarly easy to do the same with the 356 parts?

As a humorous side note, we were doing that work with a flux-core welder that we got from Home Depot. My friend who owned the welder didn't have any more dough after he bought the welder so we had to use the crappy little hand-held welding shade that came with it. We had to chamfer the hell out of the tabs and castings and pile in the filler to get adequate penetration. We'd have to remove the calipers and rotors in order to get a full weld around the tab. We'd put so much heat into those castings that the bearings would fall out. The first time it happened that hot-assed bearing fell into my friend's lap. Good times!

[Lee.C]

Hmmmmm interesting..... so its just a case of the original Porsche bottom shock mount not lining up with the original VW top mounting position 

I am sure this could be rectified 

Any more thoughts or pictures 

[Lee.C]

Just found this picture/thread that should give everyone some idea of the problem with the shock mount  

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=132572

[hotrodsurplus]

Just found this picture/thread that should give everyone some idea of the problem with the shock mount  

That doesn't look difficult at all. Just swap the damper mounts with VW items. I suggest a torch cut and lots of chamfering to get good penetration. Cast iron is a bear to weld but VW and Porsche cast those parts from steel. They should weld just fine. Hell, you could probably even braze them.

But it might just be easier to make caliper tabs from steel plate and weld them to the VW housing. Don't braze those, though.

[Lee.C]

Just found this picture/thread that should give everyone some idea of the problem with the shock mount  

That doesn't look difficult at all. Just swap the damper mounts with VW items. I suggest a torch cut and lots of chamfering to get good penetration. Cast iron is a bear to weld but VW and Porsche cast those parts from steel. They should weld just fine. Hell, you could probably even braze them.

But it might just be easier to make caliper tabs from steel plate and weld them to the VW housing. Don't braze those, though.

Thats what I thought..... Not toooooo hard to sort out 

And its funny you mention welding Cast Iron as I was speaking to a German "Master Welder" the other day about this, he welded up a broken piece of our workshop press that was cast iron and he did a beautiful job! He used "stick welding" apparently it work best due to the high carbon content   

[hotrodsurplus]

Thats what I thought..... Not toooooo hard to sort out 

And its funny you mention welding Cast Iron as I was speaking to a German "Master Welder" the other day about this, he welded up a broken piece of our workshop press that was cast iron and he did a beautiful job! He used "stick welding" apparently it work best due to the high carbon content   

Welding iron isn't impossible but it isn't the easiest either. It takes a good pre-heat and careful post-weld cool-down to prevent thermal shock and cracking. If you're working on a really big section or something that won't fit into an oven you often have to have another operator with a big rosebud tip on an acetylene torch follow you as you work to maintain consistent heat. I've watched it a few times--once at the Lincoln Welding school in Cleveland. Some of those pipefitters do incredible work in the most awful places.

Many of the iron-specific filler materials (sometimes pure nickel) are available only in stick form.