4-pot caliper upgrade

[wedg1e]

Here's one for you knowledgeable types: AP calipers as used on the Austin Pricess are commonly used as the upgrade for the standard Wedge Ford setup.
The late Rover SD1 2-litre had 4-pot calipers fitted: are these the same ones as the Princess used?

Answers on a postcard...;-)

Ian

[Brm Brm]

Dont know - but the AP Princess 4 pots were Standard on the big Wedges - 400/420 and 450 so are not just upgrades.

[wedg1e]

Well yes, of course, but I was meaning for those of us with more humble wedges that still don't stop ;-)

Anyway, I dropped into a loal motor factors who ransacked their catalogues and it appears the two ARE different, as two very different part numbers are listed.

Ian

[shpub]

No they are not the same. As for they being standard fit on the big wedges, again not 100% accurate. The story goes that they used whatever was to hand in the stores! Some even had just the big Granada brakes fitted!

Steve

[gf350]

Are the AP calipers off a Cerbera a straight swop? I've seen some of them for sale.
GF.

[wedg1e]

A guy local to me bought a 400SE, turned out to have the AP 4-pots. Also turned out that the link pipes weren't fitted, so only 2 pistons were working each side... doh!

My car has the 2.8i Granada vented disc setup with 2-pots on.

Can't see the Cerbie brakes being anything like the right fitment!

Ian

[hansdaal]

On the AP Princess 4 pot calipers there is a drilled hole behind one of the pistons. This enables the fluid to go all the way round and then you only need one brake line.

[wedg1e]

Aha! Clever stuff. I don't know from experience, just going by what he told me.

Ian

[shpub]

quote:
Are the AP calipers off a Cerbera a straight swop? I've seen some of them for sale.
GF.
[/quote

Nope. They also need very big five hole discs which are a tad expensive! And special mounts. Nothing that can't be sorted given enough money and time. Also beaware that with the bigger discs, pad knock out starts to be a problem as well.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[shpub]

quote:
On the AP Princess 4 pot calipers there is a drilled hole behind one of the pistons. This enables the fluid to go all the way round and then you only need one brake line.

Except that on the princess itself, they use two pipes to feed the calliper which means that you need a link pipe as previously described.

Steve

[gf350]

wedg1e,
Did you ever find out if the Rover 4 pots will fit on a wedge? I have seen some and they do look very similar to the princess ones.
Gareth.

[wedg1e]

No they don't

I asked my friendly local motor factor (who's been around since the year dot) and he rummaged in dusty old tomes to identify both the calipers and the pads; the part numbers for both cars are totally different in both cases.

Back to the CAD package (well nobody uses drawing boards these days do they? ;-)

Ian