Budget Scimitar 4 pot caliper and vented disc conversion for a V8 Se5

SE5 / SE6 compatibility: Scimitar SE5 and SE6 hubs are (I believe) similar so this should work on either variant, it just happens it got submitted under SE5.

Ed Reid of New Zealand is working on fitting Peugeot 505 ventilated discs to his Scimitar SE5a.

25th Sept 2007 - Update

It looks as though Ed has a buget alternative to replacing the whole backplate with a custom item if you're fitting rear discs on an SE5:

"...still haven't quite finished the Peugeot 505 front brake conversion, but a couple of guys in the NZ club have.  I machined out the caliper to get the pads to move back a little as well as fitting a pair of 4 mm thick packer pieces per caliper.  They put in two packers to get 8 mm spread.  They report pleasing improvements.

"I'm now fitting rear discs.  Very easy so far....  1989 Rover 820 rear discs are a miracle fit.  Drill out the stud holes to 13 mm, machine out centre hole to match hole in drum (very important to centre in a 4-jaw chuck on original hole) Disc then fits straight on and just clears drum backing plate.  Use Rover calipers complete, Scimmy hand-brake cables should hook-up fine, then cut a suitable plate, 6 or 8 mm, to mount each caliper and weld it to inside of backing plate.  I’ll be getting mine laser cut.  Cut away the backing plate to let caliper into correct spot, obvious when you offer it up.  I'm trying to fit my calipers between the trailing arms.  I think I can do it, but fitting behind axle is easier.  This is a very cheap and easy way to go for any one wanting rear SE5/a rear discs who has a bit of mechanical nowse and basic facilities.  I'll be drawing up a CAD file for lasering up the mounting plate if anyone is interested in a PDF or DXF copy.

"Cheers Ed."

Ed previously wrote:
"...here are a couple of shots of the work so far. Now I'm waiting to get some 4-pot calipers as fitted to 2 litre Austin Princessess and, I believe, some Jags. These are a straight swop for the standard Scimmy ones. As you can see I have used the standard caliper in the photo, needs a little machining and a 4mm packing piece, but nothing much.

"I'm going to get the packers laser cut so I could e-mail the drawing to you or even get a few extra ones made and post them if anyone was interested."

Simple drilled / grooved upgrade

Tom Follows has upgraded his SE5a brakes with drilled and grooved items from TR Revington. He wrote "They are standard (refurbished) calipers with disks supplied by TR Revington, the disks were £100+Vat and fit straight on. Braking is improved (certainly from my old worn out ones) and look pretty Bling through the wolfraces!!!!"

SE6 owners

Try this out as I believe the hubs are the same, or, try the Wilwood conversion. It'll cost more but you get superlite calipers and a slightly larger disc.

Scimitar Rear Disc Conversion

I've had a 3.77:1 Jag Powerlok diff fitted inside a 4ha axle and have now completed a Scimitar rear disc conversion.