I am looking to find out the particiculars involved with switching to BMW brakes. I was told that the front calipers from a 3 series (year??) would go right on? Any idea what exactly I need to do this change up?

We've discussed this quite a bit.

Is this a street car?

Are you sure you need a brake upgrade?
I've got good stock brakes on fairly wide & sticky rubber and I can lock up the brakes. Also, fade isn't an issue at the track for my car.

Maybe you just need to restore the stock system. It works pretty well.

Our M3 does...




But seriously, bigger calipers on the same size rotors is going the wrong way.


The rest of the guys will add more detail.

I went 911T struts with M calipers up front on the teener

well you know....i have sc brakes on the front
and bmw brakes on the back.....
the bmw brakes where put on so i could have a vented rear...
i am taking the bmw brakes off!! and putting modofied stock ones back on with a spacers from Eric shea so i can keep the vented rotors on....an get my e-brake back!!
i see no real need to do either of these prcedures unless you want to upgrade to five bolt.....and have vented rotors...
but guys (trekkor)race with stock calipers... and stock rotors.....
my rear calipers came from (correct me if i am wrong) 77 325 fronts

I guess the main reason I am looking at the upgrade is because I am sick of the problems I have with the stocks. I have been all the way through the front calipers done a complete rebuild and still have serious issues that make it unsafe to drive. The damn brakes need to be pumped up if it sits for more than 3 hours, and then the passenger side binds causing the rotor to super heat. The car has a new master cylinder, and everything. I have turned too much hair grey on these damn brakes... I'm no rocket surgeon or brain scientist, but the front brakes on these things are kinda hard to screw up, maybe I need to break it down to parade rest again before I go extreme...

If the upgrade is for track duty...do yourself a favor and use the 4 bolt billet hubs, M calipers and SC vented front rotors...
If it is for a street/AX duty car then just rebuild the stock system...it is all you will need.

Chogokin, I have a set ready to put on your car pads and all. Let me know and I will bring them to P'cola Saturday. Save you a ton on shipping.
I can leave them at Barry's house you can pick them there.

I have calipers off a BMW 2002. 4 piston units. I only did this because I increased the contact patch, tire diameter, and unsprung weight. My goal was to increase the clamping force with out also increasing rotor diameter.

Try changing your rubber lines. They may have swelled up inside from age. This will cause all kinds of problems.

I agree that it sounds like brake lines. If they're not releasing pressure, they may have swelled. Get some nice new rubber ones.

None of those brakes will solve your problems.

914 brakes are serious-@$$ brakes. It will cost less money and less heartache/headach to simply fix them right.

Read the brake FAQ... tons of good info in there.

I put the BMW brake "upgrade" on my car when I first bought it.....Big Mistake! The piston diameter is larger and that increases the pedal travel and makes it feel like mush. It also increases the forward bias so the rears contribute less to the overall braking effort. I'm in the process of rebuilding the stock calipers so I can go back to stock.

Hey Eric, did you find any of them square caliper seals?

Nope. We've been using the regulars for about a year now with no complaints

Chogokin,

There's more to it than just the calipers. Search around here and on the pelican board. Pelican has a couple of tech articles that are REQUIRED reading before doing this conversion.

Alias: Thanks for the photo. I pulled a pair of 2002 calipers from a car in the u-pull lot down in Rosemount. It's help when I mount up mine.

Caution as always when working on brakes.

Fin

"Upgrade" They're not, by definition, an upgrade. Changed the hoses? Gotten all the air out of the system (obviously NOT)? You need to take care of the fundamentals first. I once had one in where one pad was resting on a poorly installed piston boot rather than the piston. The customer chased that one for weeks! Throw brains at it, not money! The Cap'n

You guys are not helping unload these Effin calipers.
As mentioned several times above. Don't go screwin with components that are designed to save your life if you don't know what you are doing.

All opinions and advices, but no straight reply. The calipers from a Bmw 320 i
are a straight replacements for solid dics. The caliper mount has to be machined
for later 914s that are newer than 72, to center caliper on disc. This brake calipers
are about the same bore as early 911. Dimitri

That's pretty close.
bore is the same as "S" calipers. the un machined 320i does fit early cars up to 1st half production 72.
Mine are un machined.

Still say get better pads. Oh wait buy my calipers and buy better pads.
19mmm M/C is required too.

Straight reply is "fix the real problem" not buy new brakes and new M/C's



Same as the M-Caliper, S-Caliper, A-Caliper and Carrera A-Caliper. A 19mm would, for sure, be in the picture. Those can be expensive.

So, sometimes advice isn't black and white and discussion forums aren't as simple as striaght replies. Most of the Gents here seem to have:

a ) Solved the problem (sounds like bad lines).
b ) Saved Chogokin some loot in the process.

Hey... did you buggers know that 911 front M-Calipers with their spacers taken out, also work on the front of an early teener

Hey... did you buggers know that 911 front M-Calipers with their spacers taken out, also work on the front of an early teener
[/quote]


yes...
where do you think I used to get my long bolts and spacers for my old race car's rear vented brakes...


1 set i made before I figured out (wisened up) that i didn't have to hand fabricate those buggers.

new car not legal though.

Hey, thank all of you for your input, it is all good advise to me. Since Joe is nearby to me, and has given me solid advise in the past I'm gonna go with his advise on this along with some of the things you guys have said about the lines. I may regret switching in the long run but at least you guys have opened my eyes to the possibilities. I'll let you know how it goes.