Help needed to find correct ventilated front brake discs

[kevhillyer]

Hoping someone has a suggestion....

Car is a Series 2 2+2, 1970 going back together after lengthy engine rebuild. In the past the car has been extensively worked on by (now defunct) VSE and others. It has ventilated discs fitted front and rear, both an upgrade from original at some stage in the past.

Callipers at the front were Series 1 callipers with a spacer fitted to accommodate (what were believed to be) Series 3 ventilated discs.

New callipers were purchased and new Series 3 discs....but when fitted the disc is going to rub on upper suspension - the lack of clearance is about 7mm. Basically the "shoulders" in the hub of the S3 disc are too deep for my setup.

So - ideally I would like to find equivalent discs to those that were fitted - they are 280mm diameter.

If you measure from the outboard disc face to the outer measurement of the central boss this measures 30mm
If you place the disc flat on a desk so the inboard friction surface is on the desk and measure up through the centre to the outer face where the wheel would mount this is 52mm

Is this enough information for anyone to be able to suggest a solution please? From what I can see they do not seem equivalent to any other similar Jaguar ventilated disc (XJ6/XJS)

One option is to lightly skim the current discs as there is only light surface corrosion - they appear quite new....BUT, of course oneday I will face this problem when I need to replace them.

Otherwise I could fit the normal S2 front discs and get appropriate callipers.

I will appreciate any thoughts!

Thanks

Kevin

[mgcjag]

Hi Kevin if you search on the large brake manufacturers you can find tech drawings of thier discs i looked up these the other day...think they are S3 xj6....but at least you can search for the ones your after or call their tech team to discuss.....Steve

[mgcjag]

S1 calipers on the front dosnt sound like an upgrade? .....Steve

[Joes66]

Very strange
Why fit vented discs and use series 1 calipers?
Bizarrely wierd
Something here doesn't add up
Joe

[abowie]

I'm not entirely sure what you have. Some pictures might help.

It is not uncommon to fit S3 ventilated discs to earlier cars.

The S1 calliper is a solid casting with 4 separate cylinders mounted. It can't be split and spaced wider so this doesn't sound like what you have.

You may have either later series callipers (in which case the front uprights need changing too) or Girling callipers fitted to the Volvo 240/244 and modified to fit the E Type.

For the Volvo units you need to turn the disc diameter down to about 276mm (from memory) to make them clear the inside of the calliper.

I have the ventilated disc/Volvo calliper fitted to my 4.2 coupe by the PO. I also have a set of the Volvo callipers fitted to my 3.8 coupe with standard discs turned down in diameter. I fitted these myself.

I have not so far run into clearance issues with suspension components using stock Jaguar discs. It is possible that what you currently have on the front are something else entirely.

Skimming and using your current front discs sounds like a good temporising move.

[christopher storey]

This probably will not be welcome news for you , but I agree with what has already been said. There is absolutely no difficulty AFAIK in buying the correct, unventilated, discs from the usual suppliers. What may be more difficult is finding a decent set of S2 calipers which are far superior to S1 Dunlops. Volvo 244 may be an adequate substitute. My advice is where possible to try and go back to the original spec, which for a car of the very limited weight of the E is ideal . I'm afraid that someone has monkeyed about with your car in a very uneducated fashion , with the usual consequences

[Joes66]

Kevin
Just put it all back to standard or as near as possible
I have just replaced all the components of my series 2 2+2's braking system including brake pipes and hoses
Fitted the silicone brake fluid as well
Only upgrade I did was fit a series 3 brake servo and master cylinder because it was the same price and has a slightly larger servo so I thought may as well
The brakes are excellent now and it stops very quickly
Unless you have some sort of huge engine in the car I really don't see the point in changing the original system to much
If you can't fine series 2 brake calipers I think the xj6 series one calipers also fit
They have slightly larger pistons but I recall don't use a vented disc so can be fitted straight on
Thats what i read somewhere anyway
None of the parts are expensive really iether
I suppose doing it this way does mean you will have to drop out the irs to refurb the back brakes and handbrake mechanism but they probably need doing anyway
And while it's out you can check and replace anything that needs doing to it
I fitted new stainless steel pistons to my calipers
There are a lot of components to an e type braking system and if the car has sat for any period of time with normal brake fluid in it you may well find you will have all sorts of rusty nasties hidden away where you can't see it
Any part of that system can fail at any point if its in bad condition so I would recommend doing what I did and possibly prevent something nasty happening
After all the brakes are important to work when you need them to :)
Joe

[Joes66]

Here is a pair on e bay at the moment
Item number 233601577634
Joe

[kevhillyer]

What a great forum, under 24 hours and already some really helpful comments, thank you all.

I have someone working on the car and perhaps I have misunderstood about the callipers - I shall investigate that more today.

Here are a couple of photos to show the area in question. I shall see what can be done to move things back towards a more standard set up.

Hoping to resolve the issue before the end of the week - will keep you posted.

Many thanks again

Kevin

[AshM]

Hi Kevin

Another option to consider.

I have fitted vented discs and callipers from Fosseway Performance on my S2 and absolutely delighted. Perfect fit and the brakes are much improved. I have a number of reversible mods on my S2 from Fosseway as I am a big fan of their product quality.

But appreciate it is not original (but 100% reversible).
food for thought...

cheers
Ash

[kevhillyer]

Thanks Ash, they look good and I shall certainly look into Fosse as I have heard good things about them

cheers, Kevin