2800 rear brake upgrade

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wmnewlife

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Has anyone upgraded the drums from a 2800 CS to 3.0 discs? We are at the engine transmission and front end out stage. The LaJolla lowering kit and 3.5l are at the shop and the 265 arrives Monday. Exciting times.
 
Walter,

first question, have you already changed (or the previous owner) the solid front disks to vented fronts?

i'm in the slow process of replacing my rears. slow is that i haven't been working on it hard enough. my brother was going to disassemble them and repaint them ... i have all new bearings and reconditioned hubs. i have to buy rear calipers.

the first thing you have to get is a set of swing arms from a 3.0cs. be careful to protect the protection plates - they bend easily. while you are at it, put stainless steel brake lines on the car.

best
scott
 
It seems physics of stopping cars would mean vented fronts make more of a difference than changing the rear swing arms with the 3.0 disks. I went through the same process you describe for my 2800. The springs will make more of a difference in terms of driving enjoyment for that 90% of the time you're driving the car. If you do the rears, you might want to consider powder coating the arms, with SS hoses as was suggested earlier, coated backing plates too .... Then you could do what Chis did and renew the whole undercarriage... Then you might as well go for the limited slip diff, going to need new drive shafts if we go that route ... That gas tank looks a bid inconsistent with the newly redone rear undercarriage. Need to remove, clean up and refinish....
 
glenn in encinitas said:
The springs will make more of a difference in terms of driving enjoyment for that 90% of the time you're driving the car.
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I didn't follow the bit about springs. Are you saying the 2800 and 3L springs are different? And if so, you'll be happier 90% of the time with one or the other?

Or are you saying that every good coupe owner should allocate 90% of their time to driving, and limit sleeping/working/eating/etc to the remaining 10%?
 
2800CS Brakes

I have the LaJolla springs/lowering kit so that part of the equation is solved. I do need to upgrade the fronts to vented. Any thoughts on sourcing?
 
i have the same question about replacing rear drum brake to disc in the back of my 2800cs is there any other bmw model which i can take brake from but easier to find part replacement ? eg: e24, e30

also i am not sure what part i need to replace in the suspension whlch is orignal 3.0cs if i want to do a conversion process

thx
 
vorarat said:
i have the same question about replacing rear drum brake to disc in the back of my 2800cs is there any other bmw model which i can take brake from but easier to find part replacement ? eg: e24, e30

also i am not sure what part i need to replace in the suspension whlch is orignal 3.0cs if i want to do a conversion process

thx
Click to expand...

E24 discs and calipers (early E24). E12 parking brake hardware (except the cables). That's it.

Saw some control arms on eBay recently.
 
Not to speak for Scott, but the question may be allocation of funds for performance.

The front brakes do the majority of work. Upgrading to vented discs will not increase swept area over solid, but will increase cooling.

As the rear doesn't carry much load the question of disc vs. drum is where the $ variable comes in. Unless you are significantly pushing the car, it will not make much difference.

The change to disc rear will also require a change in bias. Look into past theads on the subject.

I am in the process of swapping out front calipers to accommodate vented discs (which really is nothing more than a shim the factory put in the 2800 caliper to accept the additional width) and will leave the rears drum.

Have already done the Hardy and Beck lowering springs with specially valved Bilsteins. A significant improvement over the rather tired original suspension. Money went to that over the rear swing arm change, etc. Value for $...
 
Lotuss7 said:
The front brakes do the majority of work. Upgrading to vented discs will not increase swept area over solid, but will increase cooling.
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My 2800CS brakes where bad until I adjusted the rear drum brake shoes correctly and installed FERODO DS2500 brake pads in front. The braking force was totally changed to the (much) better, and the car feels much safer. No need for vented discs (depends on your driving style of course)!
Henrik
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Just an idea, the 2800 is a slightly lighter car and I find it more "sporty" than the 3.0. The wider disc rotors and calipers do add a little weight to the front and you may be able to feel that difference when driving. I might do all the work you are doing to the suspension and leave the brakes as is, then if you feel that you get too much fade or lack stopping power you could easily change the fronts, the early e24's have the right calipers and you can get the rotors anywhere, if you can find the calipers you'll need to rebuild them because new ones are way expensive. Anyhow, I drive 3 or 4 cars each week ranging from 175 hp to 430 hp and the 2 e9's have the best stopping power of any of them including the 996 Turbo and slightly modified '07 Shelby. The 1970 2800 I recently refreshed has the solid front rotors and rear drums, all renewed and she feels great in the brakes. As always, all new bushings, springs, shocks etc are a must :-) Again, just a thought.
 
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