What a fantastic set of videos, well done. I was not sure I would tackle this project, but after viewing the videos I will be ordering a set of disc brakes for my 1962 single cab. Thank you!
Thanks Josh - very helpful video. Will make my job much easier. Questions for you: why did you stay with drum brakes in the rear and not go disc? Also, if I go disc front and rear, does this mean I don't need that pressure value you spoke of?
+Jim Roemer Hi Jim, I did a lot of research regarding drums and disks in the rear and found there wasn't much difference in the stop power when it comes to the disks. More owners seemed to favor the drums due to less heat build up during downhill stopping. Some felt that the engine being in the rear put more strain on the disks and really the are you can feel the stopping power is the front. I took turns driving my bus and a friends with disks in the rear and I couldn't find much difference myself. I think it comes down to personnel preference, disks look cooler all the way around but for me I drive mine daily and wanted a better all around setup. As for your question regarding the pressure valve, if you change over to disks all the way around no you wouldn't need it any longer. It's mainly there to prevent over pressurization of the wheel cylinder on drums. It keeps everything from pulsating as you apply pressure to the brakes, essentially safe guarding them from blowing out.
Hi Josh, i have a 1966 vw bus as well, and I'm wondering if you know the part number for the dual master cylinder that you received from saco for your disk break conversion? I will be purchasing the saco front disk kit soon. I just want to make sure I get the right master cylinder. I appreciate your videos they were great. I would greatly appreciate any information you can give me. Thank you
@@joshhatton6652 Hi Josh, Are you running drop spindles and a narrowed adjustable front beam? I'm just curious if you had any clearance issues with your front spindles? I have drop spindles and a 4 inch narrowed adjustable beam on the front. I just want to make sure I'm not going to have any clearance issues with the new disc kit from Saco. Also I spoke to Ed from Seco performance and he said there is a little modification needed for the dual master cylinder. Did you have any sort of modifications needed for the install? He had mentioned something regarding adding I believe he said a brake line rubber hose, something to that effect. Do you know anything about that? Thanks Josh for your help.
Hey Arlo, Yes I'm running flipped spindles, they are stock spindles flipped to drop about 3" inches. I'm also running a narrow CB Performance Puma Beam, it was originally narrow 4" inches and I took it in another inch on each side. However the disk kit was on it before I narrowed it to 5. I have never had any clearance issue, the only reason I went in further was to convert to 17" inch rims and clear the inner fender well lip. My club member has the same kit on his bus now without a narrowed beam and it literally pushed it out about a 1/4" from the stock drum. Any disk kit you buy is going to push the rim out about 1/4 to 3/4' due to the size of the caliper and hub, the stock drum is a bit more narrow then the disk so if your in 4" your fine FOR SURE! Now in regards to modifications for the mastercylnder, it seems to depend on the year of the bus. As I said in my master cylinder video mine needed no mods, however I have seen a need for a bushing on the early model buses. The only mod I did was brake lines, do to the distance the bus came down the stock brake line where far to long and wrapped around like a snake. lol You will definitely need to measure and either make or by new lines. I purchased my from a guy here intern that makes custom stainless lines. His company is called ProFlo, this cat has the largest supply of AN fittings and lines I've ever seen. I'll try and find the contact info for you. I believe he's in Brea, Ca now. I hope this helps.
@@joshhatton6652 Hi Josh, Did you pull the residual pressure valve for your drum brakes in the rear off of your old master cylinder? If so this would mean the new master cylinder doesn't come with the residual pressure valve in the master cylinder correct? Thanks again for the info.
@@arloabbott6708 You'll need to ask Ed for new valves for the master cylinder. I utilized my old one to be my pressurized one for the rear drums. The new one i pulled the ballbearing out at i used that for the disks. The disk need the straight flow and pressure from the peddle. The drums need a pressure valve because if you went straight through it would lock up the drum everytime you hit the brakes.