Re: 105 Big Brake Conversion

[Simon Favre <simon@domain.elided>]

Wille R wrote:

>We also have an interesting but very easy and effective mod on the 
>105-series, namely big BIG 4 pot callipers on the front brakes 
>that just bolt on. For this we get the ATE callipers from the 
>upper end 3 or 5 series BMW or off the 7 series. 
... {SNIP}
>
>You will also have to split the calliper and remove the spacer, so 
>that the calliper will fit onto the solid disc of the Alfa, as 
>apposed to the wider ventilated disc off the BMW. You will also 
>find that you will have to use shorter bolts to hold the 
>calliper's two halves together, as the original ones will be too 
>long with the spacer removed.

If you're fitting a monster caliper from a car that used ventilated
discs, why not put a ventilated disc on the Alfa? Putting a BIG caliper
on the old style solid disc sounds like a recipe for warped discs to
me. 

>UNFORTUNATELY this "BOLT-ON" modification will only work on the 
>later (possibly 1969 onwards) 105 series cars, i.e. those that 
>take the bigger front pad (ATE 112). On the cars with the 
>older/smaller callipers/pads, you will find that the hole spacing 
>of the callipers are too close together to take the ATE BMW 
>calliper.

Yes, but there is another alternative for the 67-68 cars with Ate. You
can fit the Brembo off the GTV-6/Milano/75, which has the smaller bolt
spacing. You do have to fit ventilated discs which are custom made,
but the combination works quite well. Pre-67 cars with disc brakes
tend to have to update the whole front hub to fit a better caliper.

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