Bigger brakes

the larger cars got Girling brakes (most made under licence) for 48mm size the caliper is 791365 and 791366
Thanks Steve, that helps me know what to search for. Those Girling calipers that you pictured are the same design that VW used on 80's-90's models. Agree about the improved design for a typical road-use-only car. But the VW ones were for front wheel drive so the front and rear brakes were sized accordingly. However one nifty option with the front VW applications is they had models with thinner pads to fit a vented rotor on the same vehicle with no other changes needed. That was the only brake upgrade they deemed necessary for those higher performance models.

on the back, using 38mm piston rear calipers from 132/125
I've looked in the past for calipers from the 132/125 and they were not readily available. At the moment I don't recall if I was looking for front or rear, plus I was trying to avoid some of the "specialist" suppliers that have huge markups, so it might have been different. By chance do you have those part numbers so I can look again? Thanks.
 
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This is the Regata. In Sweden it was named Regatta as "Ragata" is a word for "an ugly bitch" in swedish. As you see it is a high quality car and you can clearly hear the Lampredi engine screaming. Even the breaks seem to be working.
The guy in the video - "I am Tolo" - looks to have a bomb strapped to his waist. That was fun to watch, but I couldn't help feeling bad for the transmission getting the **** beat out of it in reverse.
 
regata / ritmo / strada, all the same platform / mechanicals (basically) they are a Fiat 138 chassis / model designation, available in sohc/dohc/OHC 1600,/diesel variants.

Certain models used 257mm solid discs up front, 100s regata (1600 dohc engine) ritmo 105 (a ritmo is basically a regata hatch if you like) ritmo 125 all used this same setup, pad is larger than the regualr "DB29 - which is the Bendix reference - seeing as they ae Bendix made brakes.... shape the usual Fiat uses.

Rear of the race car is 257 solid, willwoods (but much smaller piston) and uses the exact same adaptor bracket, just without the spacer under the disc hat. Brakes on the race car are like ths as it's being built to go lemons racing, and has to last 24 hours of abuse...

Greg, Hot setup for your road registered street car would be (and given the reduced weight of your car I would be hesitant to laod the car with very heavy discs that are unsprung weight)

257 x 12 discs up front, regata 100 calipers / carriers and pads of a decent compount, if you look around I think you'll find you can get right up to the equivalent of DS11 compound material

227 x 11 on the back, using 38mm piston rear calipers from 132/125, use a front caliper carrier (the cast iron bracket) from a regata 85s (manual), as this lets you use a larger pad shape (it's the same as lancia beta rear will work on the back)

much more consistant brakes, slightly more rear bias than stock.... cheap enough for the discs to replace them often if they ever get too hot, and very little increase in sprung weight mass

If you really wanted 257 solids on the back and you MUST have a hand brake, then you could use the 100s front calper CARRIERS that will bolt to the rear hub, and then use rear calipers from alfa 164 / fiat croma / lancia thema like one of these, they are 36mm piston (like a lancia beta rear, whuich will also fit an x19)

(https://www.ebay.it/itm/PINZA-FRENO...572419?hash=item35eadc4b43:g:lX8AAMXQsoNRhfu~)

240mm discs don't give much increase in the way of brake torque, the differnce in the radius centreline of the pads when mounted is so minimal... and if you're not complaining about fading and cooking the fronts, then going to vented discs is simply adding mass for no good reason. The 257mm discs howver ... well thats enough of a %age difference in the radius of the pad centreline , plus with the bigger pad....

wilwoods will have a bigger pad, but also more piston area, which equates to pedal travel issues with the stock master cylinder setup... I also run a willwood pedal box / and seperate circuit master cylinders which is bias adjustable on the fly.... but I don't have to pass any road legality engineering requirements, your car is road registered and it does.... every component would need to have engineering approval / certification.

Jeff, they fit virtually everything Fiat made 1985 - 1999 when fitted with engines over about 80hp, they kept the "usual" one piece sliding wedge design caliper for many smaller engined models ... but the larger cars got Girling brakes (most made under licence) for 48mm size the caliper is 791365 and 791366 , they also come as 52mm and 54mm and look pretty much the same.

View attachment 36385

the reason that this is technically a far superior brake setup lies in the fact, and it is fact, that if you have the caliper fixed (in high performance situations) then usually you would set the disc up to be "floating" or self centering. The reason is "knock off" of the pads due to float / movement of the hub on it's bearings. Toodling around at pedestrian road speeds is hardly a test for brakes, and in that use, a fixed disc / fixed caliper could work perfectly adequately...but when pushed hard, the system will find it's limit

If the disc is fixed (i.e. bolted firm to the hub) then the calper is floating, i.e. able to self centre on the disc.

Look at almost every modern braking system and that's how it is.

Now the sliding wedge that Fiat used does a good job for it's cost, but it is right down at the economy end of the scale of what's available as production parts off the shelf, Fiat saved that for the low perfomance end of their range... the system would have been adequate, and in ways was ground breaking when introduced on the 1100 range back in 1966 on the 1100R, slightly upgraded and used on the Fiat 125 and Fiat 124 sedans in 1967/68... but again the biggest problem is actualy just simple deflection that makes the pedal feel soft / inadequate/ travel. To prove my point take a wheel off the car, have someone else press the brake pedal as hard as they can and watch how much the caliper "bends" in it's holder.

The Girling system with the sliding pins, simply has far less delection. The mount / pins / caliper body are all much later design, probably with a ton of CFA testing on computer, it works better and is simple to service, and has kind of become the industry standard as most "mid sized" cars are like this.

SteveC
Lots of info there Steve.
I already have 38mm 125 calipers on the rear, so no great benefit changing to Beta rear pads.
I see there are a few pad options for the Regata 257mm discs as Lancia Delta II and some Alfas use the same pad, so that's encouraging, but I'm not sure if they will fit with my 13" wheels, I would have to try them.
I have recently fitted slotted 227mm discs, so if they handle the heat and don't crack like the plain ones did I may stick with them.
Do you know if there is a Fiat combination that would fit using 251mm Fiat 132 discs, F & R, better chance of fitting with 13" wheels.
 
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Actually there is a 251mm disc, used on a 132 2000 (that will mean nothing to the guys in the USA)

I'll dig out a drawing with measurements. I used to use them for a brake upgrade once upon a time before the regata option became available, I have a pile of discs.

The trouble is I have no idea what the Fiat / Griling "carrier" is to suit anything other than 257 on x19/regata/ritmo front hubs, and also 124 hubs to 257 mm to girling calipers are... and there are heaps of variations.

The girling system is very modular, they make several caliper bodies (which can take a variation in piston sizes) to suit hose inlet orientation mostly, and then adapt these to varied diameter discs onthe same model / caliper type.

For example the tipo comes with 257 x 12 discs... and uses girling system calipers... the same caliper is also used on 240 x 11 discs (on some models of tipo that surprise still use 13 inch wheels) so somewhere out there are a pre made girling cast carrier bracket, but I don't know what the part number for that is... it's something we don't get here in australia so I have no info / microfiche / interchange number to look up....

some fiat 500 use 240mm discs, and some use lucas / girling calipers.... same 98mm pcd ... I havent needed to go down that route so havent done the research

The Vics option is no doubt a combination of standard Fiat components that are likely south american market sourced... if they are not 500 then probably fiorino / 147 which is sort of a cross between an Uno and a 127.

SteveC
 
Thanks Steve, that helps me know what to search for. Those Girling calipers that you pictured are the same design that VW used on 80's-90's models. Agree about the improved design for a typical road-use-only car. But the VW ones were for front wheel drive so the front and rear brakes were sized accordingly. However one nifty option with the front VW applications is they had models with thinner pads to fit a vented rotor on the same vehicle with no other changes needed. That was the only brake upgrade they deemed necessary for those higher performance models.

If you look closely you will find the calper BODY is the same for vented / non vented discs on a lot of cars, and yes on some they use a thnner pad to take up the 7 or 8 mm difference in disc thickness by dropping the pad material from 11 to 8.5mm each... but with the girling system the caliper CARRIER (the bit that bolts to the hub and the caliper slides on) is very often a different casting... it certainly is with various Fiats ... the Uno T caliper is the easy part to find... it's the wider uno Turbo carrier to suit the wider vented disc that is the difficult part to find.

SteveC
 
there are heaps of variations
it's something we don't get here in australia so I have no info / microfiche / interchange number to look up.
Indeed, there are MANY variations with OEM brake applications. And imagine how difficult it is for us in America that got way fewer Fiats than you did in Australia. Especially with your fortunate access to so many random parts to actually experiment with. So naturally you can understand why I appreciate the info to assist with searching by part numbers (which I've found to be the best way to find obscure parts online).

On that note, I am interested in the following "street" upgrade combination you described earlier:

257 x 12 discs up front, regata 100 calipers / carriers and pads of a decent compound, if you look around I think you'll find you can get right up to the equivalent of DS11 compound material

227 x 11 on the back, using 38mm piston rear calipers from 132/125, use a front caliper carrier (the cast iron bracket) from a regata 85s (manual), as this lets you use a larger pad shape (it's the same as lancia beta rear will work on the back)

You've mentioned the part numbers for the front calipers: "48mm size the caliper is 791365 and 791366". Could you please assist with the part numbers for the rest of the components? For example the front and rear rotors, carriers on front and back, and the rear calipers (all as described above). Thanks Steve, this will be most appreciated and a great help for us to source all the needed parts.
 
Lots of info there Steve.
I already have 38mm 125 calipers on the rear, so no great benefit changing to Beta rear pads.
I see there are a few pad options for the Regata 257mm discs as Lancia Delta II and some Alfas use the same pad, so that's encouraging, but I'm not sure if they will fit with my 13" wheels, I would have to try them.
I have recently fitted slotted 227mm discs, so if they handle the heat and don't crack like the plain ones did I may stick with them.
Do you know if there is a Fiat combination that would fit using 251mm Fiat 132 discs, F & R, better chance of fitting with 13" wheels.

Greg,

you might want to look at alfa 33 vented discs or solid discs if you want to keep your 13's.

239mm disc, available as a vented variety about 20mm thick, solids are about 13mm, 4 x 98 bolt pattern....never used them for this application myself (on the back of a 124 yes) but they are quite readily available in Australia, unlike uno turbo discs ... I think the QV gets the vented discs and the regular 33 gets solids from memory

SteveC
 
Yeah Steve, I have thought of them, I used to have an Alfa 33. I think the discs are 22mm thick, so quite heavy, and calipers unique to Alfa 33 and Sprint so may have trouble sourcing racing pads. I was thinking the 12.6mm thick solids from the less powerfull version with Regata 100S calipers, pads used by Lancia Delta 1.6 and Uno Turbo etc may be a go, if I can find or modify caliper brackets to fit. And Lancia Scorpion/Montecarlo series 2 rears should fit right on, 251mm discs and X1/9 style pads with 38mm rear calipers that I already use. The hard part will be finding a pair of Scorpion caliper brackets, anyone on here have 2 they are willing to sell?
 
Yeah Steve, I have thought of them, I used to have an Alfa 33. I think the discs are 22mm thick, so quite heavy, and calipers unique to Alfa 33 and Sprint so may have trouble sourcing racing pads. I was thinking the 12.6mm thick solids from the less powerfull version with Regata 100S calipers, pads used by Lancia Delta 1.6 and Uno Turbo etc may be a go, if I can find or modify caliper brackets to fit. And Lancia Scorpion/Montecarlo series 2 rears should fit right on, 251mm discs and X1/9 style pads with 38mm rear calipers that I already use. The hard part will be finding a pair of Scorpion caliper brackets, anyone on here have 2 they are willing to sell?

I think the montecarlo / scorpion is simply x19 rear discs setup, but with the larger bore piston in the caliper, 38mm , same as 125/132, i.e. what you already have.

That said, I've never worked on an S2 monte or have a monte parts book, so I coud easily be wrong...I believe the biggest change s1 to s2 for monte was losing the booster? which basically makes it the same as an X19, but with bigger wheels and a heavier car (so effectively worse brakes)

The BETA coupe / hpe / berlina uses 257 mm rear disc, but the disc centre bore and offset are not a straight fit, and the beta caliper carrier while able to take the Fiat sliding wedge caliper, is a different bolt mount width. It's is a shame as the bracket itself is nicely made, and much wider so it has much more purchase on the sliding wedges, so less deflection.

Some people think it's simply the sliding wedges that make the Fiat brakes "poor" but it's (once again) all about caliper deflection.... the Beta mount is much wider, so the caliper deflects less. PBS / BOIG etc used the beta disc / bracket as a G prod (??) mod back in the 80's, as I guess that was available... but the mod involves cutting and slicing the bracket to fit a new mounting ear, and re weldig... OK for racing, no good for the street (for all sorts of legal reasons)

SteveC
 
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Could you please assist with the part numbers for the rest of the components? For example the front and rear rotors, carriers on front and back, and the rear calipers (all as described above). Thanks Steve, this will be most appreciated and a great help for us to source all the needed parts.

791256 is the girling caliper carrier bracket to suit 257 rotors to x19/ritmo/thema/croma

257 disc ATE.jpg

the rest you can do your own research.

SteveC
 
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Finally got the parts back and mocked up with a 13" wheel and old hub. The callipers and mounting brackets are the MWB type. You can see from the pictures that all it took was a couple of spacers to centralise the discs and a couple more to take into account the larger disc. You will need new mounting bolts (we went for 12.9 up from the standard 8.8) to take take into account the changes, and note that the MWB calliper set up mixes imperial and metric threads. There is still good clearance to the inside of the wheel rim (Revolution 4 Spoke) , but I couldn't state that would apply to all types of wheel. The weather is foul in the UK at the moment and cannot yet report on any improvement
 

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So this is with the Wilwood calipers and 257mm "Tipo" solid rotors, as described at the beginning of this thread?

Glad it worked out, let us know how the upgraded master cylinder feels with the Wilwoods once the weather permits it.
 
Looks a little sketchy, IMO. It would be safer to use steel spacers with the proper ID mount bolt clearance, if you can't weld/fabricate the brackets to include the revised offset needed.
 
Finally got the parts back and mocked up with a 13" wheel and old hub. The callipers and mounting brackets are the MWB type. You can see from the pictures that all it took was a couple of spacers to centralise the discs and a couple more to take into account the larger disc. You will need new mounting bolts (we went for 12.9 up from the standard 8.8) to take take into account the changes, and note that the MWB calliper set up mixes imperial and metric threads. There is still good clearance to the inside of the wheel rim (Revolution 4 Spoke) , but I couldn't state that would apply to all types of wheel. The weather is foul in the UK at the moment and cannot yet report on any improvement

I am with Hussein on this, now that you know what it needs to be you should strongly consider machining new mounts entirely. Yes it is a cost but having brakes come apart while driving is beyond scary.

I believe the mounts could still be aluminum which would be an easy thing to machine using the pattern you have. You would end up with much more meat to run threads into in both directions and the additional material would ensure more stability for the calipers.
 
So this is with the Wilwood calipers and 257mm "Tipo" solid rotors, as described at the beginning of this thread?

I drove a Tipo last year in the UK. Blech. And while I'm a huge proponent of Fiat expanding their offerings here (like the new Panda, new 500, and formerly the Punto Abarth) I'm kind of glad we don't get the Tipo here. Maybe they have a high performance version that would be better.
 
I am with Hussein on this, now that you know what it needs to be you should strongly consider machining new mounts entirely. Yes it is a cost but having brakes come apart while driving is beyond scary.

I believe the mounts could still be aluminum which would be an easy thing to machine using the pattern you have. You would end up with much more meat to run threads into in both directions and the additional material would ensure more stability for the calipers.
I will likely do this as I now have the correct dimensions for a bracket.
 
So what the hell is a Regata 100? Being facetious, but cars like that are not familiar to us due to never getting them here sadly. But seriously, what years were they commonly sold? I might be able to look up the parts from one of my European suppliers. Or better yet, happen to have the part numbers for those components?

And I might have got that reversed earlier about the Powerlite vs Dynalite Wilwood calipers in the popular X1/9 kits, sorry.
I think a Regata is a Strada (Ritmo) with a trunk.
 
Looking forward to the driving report, Speedy fiat. Do you know what piston size is used in those Willwood calipers? Have you upgraded the rears to 38 mm?
 
I think the montecarlo / scorpion is simply x19 rear discs setup, but with the larger bore piston in the caliper, 38mm , same as 125/132, i.e. what you already have.

That said, I've never worked on an S2 monte or have a monte parts book, so I coud easily be wrong...I believe the biggest change s1 to s2 for monte was losing the booster? which basically makes it the same as an X19, but with bigger wheels and a heavier car (so effectively worse brakes)

The BETA coupe / hpe / berlina uses 257 mm rear disc, but the disc centre bore and offset are not a straight fit, and the beta caliper carrier while able to take the Fiat sliding wedge caliper, is a different bolt mount width. It's is a shame as the bracket itself is nicely made, and much wider so it has much more purchase on the sliding wedges, so less deflection.

Some people think it's simply the sliding wedges that make the Fiat brakes "poor" but it's (once again) all about caliper deflection.... the Beta mount is much wider, so the caliper deflects less. PBS / BOIG etc used the beta disc / bracket as a G prod (??) mod back in the 80's, as I guess that was available... but the mod involves cutting and slicing the bracket to fit a new mounting ear, and re weldig... OK for racing, no good for the street (for all sorts of legal reasons)

SteveC
I just got around to doing an upgrade to the rear brakes on my track X. Montecarlo S2/late Fiat 132 discs, 251mm solids. Montecarlo S2 uses Fiat 124/125 caliper carrier brackets and an adaptor bracket (4447735 rear) to fit to the hub (same hub as S2 X1/9), with Fiat 125/132 rear calipers with 38mm pistons that I was already using. (X1/9 uses 34mm pistons on 227mm disc). They just fit inside the 13 inch wheels I am currently using. The Pininfarina 124 Spider uses a 257mm version of these discs, but they may or may not fit with 13 inch wheels, even 251mm won't fit with all 13". One downside of this style of disc is they weigh 4.5kg compared to 3kg for std 227mm discs, the wheel mounting face flange is 11mm thick and there is a lot of extra metal around the hub od, so I will be doing some machining on these to loose some weight. Those brackets, 4447735 are hard to find, I made copies using 10mm steel plate with a 9mm thick x 24mm od spacer/boss welded on at the caliper carrier mounting points.
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101_0246.jpgMonte S2 -132 disc.jpeg
101_0252.jpg
I am still using 227 slotted discs on the front, so I am hoping the brake balance will be about right on the track, otherwise will have to upgrade the fronts.
 
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