So far I only have about 100 miles on it, but the results seem pretty good. Unfortunately, I won’t be with this car is for a couple months, so it will be awhile before I really get to see what it’s about. All in all, it was a pretty easy kit to put together and probably not that much more expensive than a 302 kit from scratch. (302 Brackets $100+, 302 rotors $100+, longer hoses $40)
I sourced a used, but tested and returnable, set of calipers off ebay for around $125 a pair, in great cosmetic condition and with nearly new MB pads. They are the Brembo calipers, from the 2003-2006 SL500 but are also found on some of the higher end S500 cars as well. They are common enough I did find some sets in a junkyard, that would have been around $80, but when I saw their condition and the more used brake pads, I figured the ebay ones were the better route.
The calipers use a different thread than the stock Volvo, so I had to source some bolts from Belmetric. I’m pretty sure it was a 50mm length M10x1.5.
For the brake hose I went to Russel Performance and scoured their site for the right pieces. I got a few extra bits and pieces to make sure when I put things together I wouldn’t be looking for a random piece, but now that I know what to look for I think the total would have been less than $60 for both sides. I went with 18” stainless lines that had a 3AN fitting at one end and a straight banjo fitting at the other. 16” may have been long enough, but the 18” seem fine as well. To go from 3AN to M10 required an adapter. At first I thought this was a little cumbersome, but it actually worked great as you end up with a floating fitting on the caliper side of the little bracket where the soft and hard line meet. This will make it way easier to remove the soft line in the future. There were two of these 3AN to M10 conversion fittings to choose from at Russel, and unfortunately both require the hole in the little bracket where the lines connect to be enlarged. Having both, I obviously used the first one that fit through the hole, but they are basically the same. I’d say at most it’s a mm that’s removed. I used a Christmas tree drill bit, and flipped the bracket over a couple times until the fitting barely fit through. The little Volvo C-spring-thing still works and helps line things up.
Going into this project I found a banjo bolt conversion fitting that would simply attach to a standard Volvo brake line, but due to extra material around the threading for the brake line on the caliper this fitting did not work.
And if you’re tracking the parts, the last piece of the puzzle is the M10 banjo bolt at the caliper end of the hose.
The rotor that fits is the P2 320mm. FCP had Zimmerman’s on sale for $110 a pair, so that’s what I went with.
Once the caliper is bolted in place you will see that the rotor is not perfectly centered in the caliper. It’s off by around 2.5mm. I ended up putting a 3mm wheel spacer inside the brake rotor against the hub. Summit racing had some universal spacers that I had to trim a little in diameter to fit, but cost less than $10 for the pair. Now that I know that this works I’d spend more on the spacer and get a true 5×108. I found some for around $30, but went with the $10 option as I wasn’t 100% sure this was all going to work. With this spacer under the rotor I made sure to bolt the rotor to the hub with the self centering wheel bolts so that it would be positioned properly, and then installed the little 10mm alignment bolt to hopefully keep it properly centered on the before putting on the wheel. I was not thrilled about having to use this spacer, but I stole the idea from a European sourced rear R caliper upgrade kit that I had once, and I’m hoping that since they did it, it means it’s okay.
Lastly, and by far the most tedious part, was extending the lower bolt hole for the caliper mount. I started with extra spindles, so I was able to play with something that I if I screwed up wouldn’t mean not being able to use the car. Luckily, both sides worked first shot, and I didn’t need to throw anything away. But it took me 4-5 hours to drill two holes and I cannot begin to explain how frustrating it was. Again, my drill press sucks, but I will happily pay someone to do this should I ever do it again.
And as far as the extended hole being safe? You’re drilling down and somewhat into the spindle where’s there’s lots of material, so I don’t think strength around the hole is an issue. I was somewhat worried about the braking forces on the mounting bolt, but as this is the lower hole and the direction things are enlarged still means that the bolt is supported at the bottom and sides, in the direction of its load, so I’m also hoping this is not an issue. Of course, I’m happy to listen to any differing opinions.
Again, I don’t have a ton of time on the set-up, but initial results seem positive. With 302’s, I feel like when you push on the pedal there’s a good bit of the travel where you have modulation, but at some point, no matter how hard you push, the brakes don’t really add any more bite. With these MB brakes, the start of the pedals travel had very similar results to the 302’s, but as you pushed deeper, they kept adding more stopping power. The brakes were definitely responsive to an initial press of the pedal, with no noticeable dead stroke. And on the couple of more aggressive stops I’ve tried, I didn’t feel like the pedal traveled farther than before. I definitely didn’t feel like I was bottoming them out on the floor. It just felt like you could modulate the power deeper into the pedals stroke, and according to my butt calibration, I felt more confident in how the car stopped. And that I could stop shorter if needed. Of course the placebo effect of wanting my efforts to be rewarded could be at play, but at worst the braking felt good enough compared to the 302’s that I won’t be going back.
Hope this helps anyone else who was curious about that random post.
Here’s some pics. First two are the complete setup. Next two show the brake hose connections. And then in the last one you can kind of see how far the lower hole is extended.
