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Rear Disc Brakes for a Sunbeam Alpine! Tiger?

B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
The Saturn parking brake lever combined with Alpine parking brake rods, produce bad pulling geometry. In my original installation I "solved" the problem by hack welding new pulling rod attachment points onto the levers. Dan solved the problem by making new levers. Guess which one is best. Dans solution has one problem, removing the old levers can be difficult.
Bill
 
puff4

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
I have the Gunson's EziBleed and it works very nicely. Being made in England it also comes with the correct caps for our masters. It's a pressure bleeder that never fails to bleed the system properly, even with stubborn air-bound masters.
 
gary1725

gary1725

Donation Time
Completed my install of Dan’s kit yesterday and am very impressed - looks as though it left the factory like this! I know I am echoing other comments but the kit is so well thought through and complete - as with others I bent the handbrake rod a little to miss the exhaust and had I set aside a full day would have seen the job done in one day! If I have one surprise it’s how much handbrake travel there is but that might yet be something that I have done and I can fix if I take a proper look. - since folks ask - fitted under Rota 15 inch wheels.
 
M

Misha123

Donation Time
gary1725 said:
Completed my install of Dan’s kit yesterday and am very impressed - looks as though it left the factory like this! I know I am echoing other comments but the kit is so well thought through and complete - as with others I bent the handbrake rod a little to miss the exhaust and had I set aside a full day would have seen the job done in one day! If I have one surprise it’s how much handbrake travel there is but that might yet be something that I have done and I can fix if I take a proper look. - since folks ask - fitted under Rota 15 inch wheels.
Click to expand...
Hi Gary was just wondering what your wheel specs are, I am also running the rear brake conversion and want to get some Rotas that fit with minimal spacing required.
 
Jay Laifman

Jay Laifman

Donation Time
Some may laugh at me for this. Certainly I said that I do not believe disc brakes are needed on the rear of a street Alpine (or Tiger). But I have to say that I get a kick out of walking up to the car and seeing the discs through the wire wheels on both wheels as I walk up. Just looks more sporty.

(This is of course truly irrelevant compared to how great they are to drive with. But I just thought I'd mention it.)
 
DanR

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Yep, Jay, perchance you will be able to see my rear disc thru my wire wheels on the '65 SIVST OD colour code 70 Alpine soon.... it is undergoing a complete rebuild and now awaiting the Paint Shop.
 
gary1725

gary1725

Donation Time
Misha123 said:
Hi Gary was just wondering what your wheel specs are, I am also running the rear brake conversion and want to get some Rotas that fit with minimal spacing required.
Click to expand...
Hi Misha123,

I purchased the wheels from Amazon of all places, price was as good as anywhere!
BUT - they came without Center CAPS and I do not know the right part number for the Center caps - I need to do a little more research or take a chance and just purchase what I did find - I believe for our cars and Alpha Romeo's the center bore is larger than other RB models (I might be wrong) - someone correct me if I am wrong - PLEASE! - either way - the specs should be here to help select a set elsewhere - as far as spacers - I used the caliper spacers with the kit to center the caliper on the disk but nothing to push the wheel out from the axel (if that's what you meant) - I might like to because the Alpine track is narrower at the rear than the front and while the hubs are off it would be the right time to put longer wheel studs in - which likely means drilling out the wheel stud holes! - I did trim a little bit off the trailing edge of the valance because on full lock with larger wheels and larger tires (195's) the tire did catch against the valance on full lock!

Good luck

Gary
 
sunalp

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
gary1725 said:
which likely means drilling out the wheel stud holes!
Click to expand...
You don't need to drill anything as the bolt pattern won't change. You just need to press the short ones out
and press the longer ones in. You'll have to remove the hubs though.
 
gary1725

gary1725

Donation Time
sunalp said:
You don't need to drill anything as the bolt pattern won't change. You just need to press the short ones out
and press the longer ones in. You'll have to remove the hubs though.
Click to expand...
Sorry - I meant that all the Wheel studs that I found that were longer than stock to accommodate a spacer between the hub and the wheel (to widen the track of the rear) required that the hole through which the wheel stud passes and is pressed/pulled into be drilled a little larger - while the thread size was the same, the knurled shoulder of the stud was larger than the stock Alpine wheel stud itself... doing that just might be easier with the hub off and in a drill press.
 
gary1725

gary1725

Donation Time
sunalp said:
You don't need to drill anything as the bolt pattern won't change. You just need to press the short ones out
and press the longer ones in. You'll have to remove the hubs though.
Click to expand...
Sorry - if you have a part number for a longer stud that does not require drilling the hub - please share :) I might still consider doing this as I think that without the drum backing plate in the way the old studs will come out with the hub in place - well I think they will :(
 
Toyanvil

Toyanvil

Gold Level Sponsor
It looks like your center caps are 73mm. I have the same wheels and they came the center caps, but I did not like them so I built mine.
RIMG0010-XL.jpg

RIMG0011-XL.jpg

This is what they came with.
RIMG0013-XL.jpg
 
husky drvr

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
gary1725 said:
I might still consider doing this as I think that without the drum backing plate in the way the old studs will come out with the hub in place - well I think they will
Click to expand...

Gary,

Removing the old studs isn't the real issue, since you aren't planning to reuse them, they can be cut shorter.

The issue to contemplate is the new, longer studs can't be cut short to be installed and serve your purpose.

Just a thought,
 
DanR

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
I have another tid bit for you Gary, be careful an not enlarge the stud holes very much and do not force the new oversized ones in the original holes. You ca eassily split or knock out of alignment the surface of the hub. Best not to use a hammer or other blnt tool to beat on the hubs. While not really delicate, they will not take much abuse.
 
gary1725

gary1725

Donation Time
DanR said:
I have another tid bit for you Gary, be careful an not enlarge the stud holes very much and do not force the new oversized ones in the original holes. You ca eassily split or knock out of alignment the surface of the hub. Best not to use a hammer or other blnt tool to beat on the hubs. While not really delicate, they will not take much abuse.
Click to expand...
Thanks Dan. good to know! I have seen a "special tool" for pulling studs into place - basically a base against which a threaded nut turns freely but the base remains stationary against the hub that looks to save any hammering or pressing of studs and they are not expensive so if someone does pop up a part number for a longer but direct replacement stud I would try that..
This sort of thing:

I gave your details to a guy in MD a couple of weeks ago, he was restoring an Alpine and was admiring the rear disc's on my car.. no idea if he will reach out..
 
Aladin Sane

Aladin Sane

Diamond Level Sponsor
I had to get a longer stud for my dana 44 rear end with Dan's disc brake kit. My calipers were about 2 mm from touching the back of the wheel. I just drove out the old studs with a hammer. I didnt damage the hub in doing so. I then took one of the old studs with me to the autoparts store and found a good replacement that was 1/2" longer but the same thread size and bore diameter. I pulled them through the hub using the type of bearing tool described above. It was easy.

As for center caps, I had a brand new set of panasports that came with my project car, but one cap was lost in the transfer. I bought some blank domed caps from Amazon and then affixed some rootes metal stickers. Not quite as nice as Toy Anvils solution, but far easier to accomplish. 20230401_140147.jpg20230401_135908.jpg20230321_133209.jpg
 
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