Escort mkII rear disc brake conversion pt.1

by | Feb 6, 2011 | Brakes | 0 comments

I always wanted 4 wheel discs brakes so I decided to convert the Ford Escort mkII drum brake rear end to discs using Nissan Skyline R31 calipers and Audi 90 (DBA445) solid discs.  I got hold of a set of laser cut brackets which allowed the calipers to bolt straight on to the axle without hassle.  You do have to get the axle flange machined down a few mm to fit the discs over.  I am yet to complete this conversion.  I have reconditioned the rear calipers but have not bolted it all together.

Below you can see the nicely cut bracket.  It is 8mm thick steel. I got these off a chap (Paul Dunstan) on the www.classic-ford.org. They are a great bit of kit and fit perfectly to the axle and caliper, however I am yet to check the alignment of the caliper with the disc.

I did decide to to do a minor recondition on the calipers in the process. I used a kit from PBR – K1488s. These basically replace all the rubber components in the caliper. I did find a guy on eBay selling them much cheaper than the local Repco. Reminder to self….always check eBay first. And a couple of coats of VHT satin black high temp caliper paint to finish them off.

This is the minor K1488s kit.

Here is the caliper bolted to the new mount.
Here is the first trial fit on the new mounts and reconditioned calipers to the axle…so far so good.
I do have a minor concern about fitting the handbrake cables as these may interfere with the lower trailing arm mount. I am yet to track down some decent condition cables to confirm. Hopefully it shouldn’t be to close.

For more detailed information check out a fellow clubman builders site, Escort Rear Brake Conversion. It has some great information on completing the conversion.

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