350i Brakes

[John042]

I'm conducting a repair/refurbishment survey of my newly purchased 350i. The engine is now running so I'm looking at the brake system and suspension. I want to go the route of replacing all the calipers, discs, suspension bushes and shock/springs. Time consuming I know. Rear brakes, Jaguar XJ or XJS? The front calipers look as if they're twin pot, is the standard? Suspension parts I guess it will be TVR? Thanks if you can point me in the direction of suppliers for various parts. John C.

[Solitude]

Bigg Red for a refurb end set of calipers.
If you send em your old ones, it'll cost you around £150

Great value.

[Rockettvr]

Hi John
I may be wrong but my understanding is this -
Rear axle is jag IRS - used on e types change saloons and XJS. For brakes either big red or try googling jagaxles.co.uk
I would have thought bushes shocks and springs are Tvr specific
Front axle is mix of Ford cortina/ Granada
Someone will be along shortly to let you know what parts are what
I do know that the front Caliper should be single pot so you’ve got a conversion on yours ( popular one is using Austin princess parts

Unfortunately a lot of the old contributors on here are now using Facebook so you might want to try there for some answers

Edited by Rockettvr on Sunday 1st July 19:30

[John042]

Thanks Ron. I did a re-seal on my 280i and they were XJ seals etc. Never again after the game I had with sticking piston etc. So refurbished calipers this time. I just had another look at the front calipers and am not too sure if they are twin pistons or not. Agree suspension bushes are probably sourced through TVR. I'm hoping they do a complete kit for front/rear as they do for later models. J C.

[Engineer1949]

front suspension is mk 4/5 cortinapoly bushes are avilable as well as the original rubbers, the rubber spring seats are a little harder to come across, rear is as said jaf xj the ujs forming the top link easy enough to source the bottom link is fitted with silentblock bushes again not to hard to source the big rubber bush on the end of the trailing arm is a little more difficult there where some poly ones available which some have fitted, there is a thread running at the present about the trailing link geometry lots of good info on there for that particular piece,shocks not to bad to source various after market stuff available.


john

[Legarocorsa]

hi john,
having recently as in the past year completed a full suspension and brake overhaul to my 350i. i glad to let you know , rear brakes are jaguar XJ series jaguar, all bushes are on the "super/pro" catalog. front suspension bushes are cortina mk 3 and "Super/Pro list them. e do for the TVR tasmin rear suspension which is unique to TVR is also catered for by Super/Pro. make sure yoe get the later A arm type.
I resorsed all my parts here in Australia, so for you in the uk is should be a doddle.

hope this helps Garren

[John042]

Thanks John/Garren. I'd like to go the route of poly bushes on front and rear and yes mine is the later rear A frame set up. I seem to remember the rear shocks were a pain in access to the top mounting. I believe it meant cutting holes in the boot. A quick survey of the rear brakes revealed the usual sheared bleed nipple which may negate exchanging the item. Happy days. J C.

[mk1fan]

Front brakes on the 350i are twin pot as standard. Ford M16 callipers. Although there is a version with bigger pads. Mix of Cortina and Granada. You can upgrade to vented discs by splitting the calliper and fitting spacers. You can buy callipers that are wider to begin with though.

I've had some issues sorting out my front brakes and will post up the parts I changed and where they originally came from.

[John042]

Thanks Stewart for the info on the front brakes. Thought from the casting they might be twin pot calipers. Parts suppliers would be most helpful, Cheers J C.

[mk1fan]

There have been a few threads on them recently.

Also the Wedge Owners facialbakkae group have had a few posts about it too.

Unless you're planning on tracking the car then I would be minded to stick with solid discs and upgraded pads - Mintex M1144 compound is very good.

Then just send the existing callipers off for refurb. Ask for stainless steel pistons to be fitted.

[John042]

Thanks Stewart, mine are vented front discs but the re-furb' route is the best option, thanks J C.

[Engineer1949]

these are my front calipers i upgraded them with the spacer kit and fitted the vented discs as i intended to sprint the car etc. the pistons are 316 stainless of my making, bottom picture is my design fully adjustable front end works great.

john

Untitled by Brundall Motorsport, on Flickr

Untitled by Brundall Motorsport, on Flickr

Untitled by Brundall Motorsport, on Flickr

[mk1fan]

Uprated pads on top then. Just check the size of them. There is a small pad and a large pad. Whip out a pad and measure the size.

Most adds for pads include the dims.

I should add that Mintex don't do the larger sized pads in the M1144 compound. I went EBC Greenstuff instead.

Edited by mk1fan on Monday 2nd July 22:37