Re: Brakes GTV6 and Alfasud Racing/Binding

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@domain.elided>]

In AD-568, Nathan Wong wrote:

> The Alfetta calipers have the automatic handbrake adjustment mechanism on
> them where the 115 (and 105?) do not. Apparently this is one of the sources
> of binding rear brakes, which leads to them overheating and becoming
> ineffectual.

I am not clear why the handbrake mechanism should cause binding, but it does
seem to be a common problem with the integrated handbrake calipers.  My Alfasud
1.5 suffered from binding front calipers on occasion during aggressive street
driving.  (Those unfamiliar with the Sud should be aware that it has inboard
front brakes and the handbrake acts on those rather than the rears).  Numerous
attempts to correct the problem by resetting the pad-to-disc clearance failed.

Later, I picked up a pair of front calipers cheaply at a dealership that was
closing down.  I had read that Alfa had modified the caliper design to prevent
binding.  The dealer assured me the calipers were of the post-modification
type.  I installed them, and sure enough, no more binding brake problems.

These calipers (in my fading memory from the dim past) look very similar in
design to the GTV6 rear calipers.  I would be interested to know if they are
closely related designs, and I would welcome any further information about the
design change.  It could be that the binding is more of a problem in the
caliper when installed in the heavily stressed front brakes.  Even so the
Alfetta, GTV6 and Sud were more or less contemporaries, and I have not heard
anyone talk about modifed transaxle calipers.  It is also odd that Alfa did not
modify the caliper until after 1983 (when my Sud was built), when the Sud had
been in production for many years.  Perhaps the problem only arose with the
later Suds, which were heavier and more powerful?  It never happened on my
earlier '78 1.3 Sud <shrug>.

Dave J.
1982 GTV6

- -- 

------------------------------