EspritS4s

I did a quick search and didn't see this mentioned before, but apparently some Volkswagen Thing owners are upgrading their drum brakes with 944 brakes. I sold the calipers from the 968 that I'm parting on Ebay to someone who is beginning this upgrade. Here's a snippet of one of his emails talking about the process:

"The rears are bolt on once I get backing plates fom a 19851/2 944.924,928.Or if I wanted to increase the tracking then it would be a direct bolt on using the 944 aluminum trailing arms and everything else ,as for front I have to send out front hub and they machine it to fit my VW spindal for about $500 so not exactly bolt on but workable."

Anyways, I thought some of you might be interested in hearing about this. For those selling brake parts, maybe this would be another group of enthusiasts to advertise your parts.

namasgt

If you go on Germanlook.com, some super beetle owners install 944 suspension and brake on their car, someone was actually saying the rear suspension is a direct bolt on?? Apparently they recommend non turbo breaks, the turbo brakes are too strong for the 1700 lb car.

bonus12

i've heard about something this. some time ago at a junkyard in Oakland, CA, i was at an early 944 while another guy showed up with a bunch of tools. he was grabbing the rear struts IIRC and said they were a direct fit for old super beetles i think. it seems good money can be made off them... i think they're a pretty hot item among the right people.

pettybird

924 rear suspension=super beetle suspension

944=refined 924 without changing pickup points

My 924T has the optional 5 lug wheels and 4 wheel disc brakes--otherwise the regular 924's had VW wheels, too.

CorsePerVita

Yep you nailed it.

Before I decided to go after and morph to 944 suspension and brake goodies I was looking into it. Drums are a "thing" and "superbeetle" setup, or partly, and I've seen some threads on the 924 boards with people going after those setups. Seems to make more sense to just swap to the 944 stuff since it's straight up bolt on for the most part.

I may have to hunt down that thread, there was a ton of good 924 info in it.

Van

I once saw a Karman Ghia with phone dials. It probably had a 944 suspension swap. It looked cool.

royalschwarz

The early trailing arms are bolt-upable to almost all VW aircoolers. It's an easy and inexpensive way to get disc brakes on the rear of those cars. You can hardly give them away here but on thesamba, they can fetch some money. Same as phone dial wheels, fuchs sell for a bit more and even cookie cutters can sell for a bit. Early front hubs and brakes, early seats (especially sport seats), steering wheels...it depends on where and who you sell to.

EJZero1

I did a 944 front brake install on my '57 VW bus before I sold it. Plan was to run Phone dials on it as well, but sold it before I completed the project. Just had to modify the spindles and install a couple of bearing spacers. Had to purchase an aftermarket adapter kit, but really pretty much a bolt-on affair.