B1 Passat upgrade

[vanders87]

Just pondering around the idea of doing a susprension/braking upgrade on the Passat ts. Does anyone know if you can bolt a later model strut in with bigger brakes and if the rear brakes can be changed from drum to rotor.

Any thought??

Phil

[gldgti]

hey mate,

you can change the strut inserts for stiffer shocks pretty easily, infact i have some near new bilsteins for the front in the shed, for b1 passat. they would have under 2000km on them.

the brakes are also easy - anything that will fit mk1 golf will fit your passat, so a combination of rotors/calipers from say mk1gti will bolt straight on... there are lots of braking options available, GolfLoon may have something suitable.

good luck,

aydan

[vinderliker]

I am also in the process of some suspension stuff. One of my shocks are leaking and the rear end is sagging, also the front end dips and rises under acceleration and changing gears. I am just awaiting a quote on the best option. There is a bloke called John Sherman that does disc rears in QLD, he advertises in VW magazine Australia. I am also in the process of upgrading the front brakes as well.

[vanders87]

Cheers for that. Can you post any some details about your front brake upgrades cause i haven't got much idea at the moment. Cheers.

[vinderliker]

From what I have been told, Golf GTI mark 1 and 2 239mm vented disc rotors fit(early Passat also 239mm, but solid discs) but you need the calipers, new pads and carriers. Seb (bug racer) has advised me that SEAT 259mm discs will fit (I think), but you need the stub axle, plus calipers discs, pads and carriers. He is selling me with the stub axles, calipers and carriers and I will get the discs and pads later. He is a very nice bloke and works in the field, a pm to him is the way to go.
James

[gldgti]

From what I have been told, Golf GTI mark 1 and 2 239mm vented disc rotors fit(early Passat also 239mm, but solid discs) but you need the calipers, new pads and carriers. Seb (bug racer) has advised me that SEAT 259mm discs will fit (I think), but you need the stub axle, plus calipers discs, pads and carriers. He is selling me with the stub axles, calipers and carriers and I will get the discs and pads later. He is a very nice bloke and works in the field, a pm to him is the way to go.
James

you might need to make up some modified handbrake cables for the disk brake handbrake mechanism, as the drum-brake suited mechanism wont work straight off with the disk brakes.

[mollins]

hey mate..

the bilsteins that aydan (gldgti) mentioned are still for sale. i bought them 14 months ago for my old b1 wagon and were unreal. got less than 2000k's on them for sure. I also have some mk1 gti brakes (non ventilated discs) which are a huge improvement over the standard b1 brakes.

pm me if your interested.

mike

[AlexV11]

I'm using Audi 80 B2 calipers for my Audi Fox. Much bigger pads then the standard ATE calipers. I also got the carriers from a later B2 80CC that had ventilated discs. I'll do that upgrade next time i need to replace the discs. I would be reluctant to fit rear discs without a larger master cylinder. There is talk that the Audi 5000 (aka USA Audi 100) MC will bolt on to a B1 as well. It has the same position for the brake light switches on the master cylinder. It is a 23mm unit.

Using Koni adjustable both front and rear, and 1" Addco front sway bar

You can find alot of info on brake conversions on the Dasher Owners Group dedicated for the preservation on B1's http://dog.mp3equipped.com/dog/