rear disc conversion

[bbob203]

there's a vr6 @ the local pull apart with disc breaks what should I swipe off of it.

[Fatmobile]

VW rear discs are crap.
The emergency brake freezes up and calipers are expensive to replace.
Stick with drums.

[coke]

2nd on drums. Easy to fix and cheap to boot!

[bbob203]

is there anything I can do to improve my drums? my brakes feel like trash I do have stainless braided lines but is there any " performance" shoes?

[CarlosA]

Rear brakes account for like 20-30% of braking power and even less on a light car. The other day I crossed some water about 1 ft deep and totally lost front brakes, the car would still stop but just barely. If I had rear discs i`d have zero brakes in that situation.

Some guys have drilled out rear drums in the Jeep crowd (and probably others) to deal with big tires, maybe this would work for your situation. The braking power increase is impressive.

[bbob203]

my pedal also feel is super hard its like a sponge for the first bit of the pedal push then its hard as a rock almost.

[Quantum-man]

is there anything I can do to improve my drums? my brakes feel like trash I do have stainless braided lines but is there any " performance" shoes?

Clean the shoes and drum with meths. If impregnated, heat shoes [on the faces] with a little butane flame until they just start to sweat. Don't over do it, as the good old days of setting fire to them are long gone unfortunately, and you only need to clean a mm down or so.

My shoes grip after one click on the handbrake. My local tester is always impressed with the brakes on my old Quantum.

[bbob203]

mark is that something I should do with brand new shoes? what exactly does it do to make them better?

[Quantum-man]

mark is that something I should do with brand new shoes? what exactly does it do to make them better?

Unless they are made with some kind of poor material, [there does seem to be variation these days], then first issue with new shoes is that they don't fit the drum. I tend to bring the car to a halt with the parking brake to bed them in for a while. If they look like they are coated with anything, then wiping with meths will clean and dry them out. Check after a week or so. Lock wheels when driving on gravel to see if they are balanced. Do this for hydraulic as well as parking brake. Wipe with the meths. to unclog, and help wearing in.

Whilst installing new shoes, take the parking brake cable off and run grease up the two outers. The trouble with a new cable, is that it can be quite elastic.

Sorry I think I've just about answered your question, even if a little waffley

[bbob203]

does the adjustment of the ebrake have anything to do with how well the rear brakes work? could putting a new brake booster in improve my pedal feel?

[Quantum-man]

does the adjustment of the ebrake have anything to do with how well the rear brakes work? could putting a new brake booster in improve my pedal feel?

Well maybe...

A little test to see if there is room for improvement in the rear braking, is to sit in the car and apply the foot brake. Then put parking brake on one notch and repeat. If there is a significant improvement [reduction in pedal drop], then there is room for the shoes to be brought closer at rest.
If no improvement, with the foot pedal, then there could be a booster issue. More symptoms please

To alter the ratio of the general power split requires adjustment of the rear regulator, via it's arm. Clearly you would never want the rear to lock up in preference to the front with the footbrake, which would be possible if car lurches forwards onto the front suspension under hard braking if too much to the rear. I can't remember is it 3:1 or even less?

[vwtyp133]

[#1] does the adjustment of the ebrake have anything to do with how well the rear brakes work? [#2] could putting a new brake booster in improve my pedal feel?

[#1] No, but the oem VAG rear brake 'self-adjusters' have been known to lose their adjustments, requiring the wheel cylinder to have greater travel, and potentially, even puke out a piston... ugly!

[#2] Yes, if yours is dysfunctional, i.e. torn diaphragm, damaged by a leaky m/cyl, etc.

Possibly the height-sensing rear brake pressure regulator needs adjustment, or is trashed, and not passing enough pressure to the rears. (see the Bentley manual for adjustment)

Once the rest of your system is known to be in good condition, if you really do need bigger braking power in back, please note that VW thought it important to fit the Rabbit "Caddy" pickups with the slightly larger rear drum brakes of the Dasher (or Mark's Quantum!). Golf/Rabbit = 180 x 38.5mm drum friction surface. Caddy/Dasher/Quantum = 200 x 49.5 mm. Obviously the easiest way to go would be to swap in the entire spindles-to-drums assemblies from a downed Caddy.

According to some of the stock class VW autocrossers, brake shoes by "Jurid", one of the oem VAG lining suppliers, are sometimes said to be more effective then the also-oem "Pagid"-lined shoes. No personal experience on that myself.

[Mk1Ultra]

Stick with the drums. I put quite a lot of research into discs but came to the same conclusion...not worth the hassle. The rear drums are upgrade-able though. If memory serves, the Sciroccos had larger drums, did they not? The number 10.1 comes to mind...can't remember if that was for front rotors or rear drums, it's been awhile.

[vwtyp133]

AFAIK all the '74-'92 Sciroccos' rear drums were the same as the Golfs/Jettas (180 x 38.5mm drum friction surface). Of all the Mk1s, only the pickup (Caddy) got the up-size, presumably for carrying larger loads in the pickup's cargo bed. Mk2 drum-braked iterations followed the same spec, but of course the U.S. didn't get a Mk2 Caddy. IDK if Mk3 drums got upgraded, but probably not(?).

[Quantum-man]

It would appear that indeed Sciroccos Euro or US had 180 x 30 shoes.
Dasher US had 200 x 30 'uprated' from Euro as standard, then in 1980ish uprated further to 200 x 40 for automatics, and then to 200 x40 for all.

Euro was similar except 180 x 30 for 'fastbacks' manual g/b.

Quantums carried on with 200 x 40 in USA

In Euro, Mk2 Passats had 180 x 30 carried on for Sedan/fastback, but only for manual gearbox, and only non pressure regulated. All other was 200 x 40