I have a fairly lite vw sand rail that I will be using in the woods, link pin fron,t irs rear with 235 15 tires and drum brakes, my rear brakes don't seem to work that good, should I switch to disk in the back? most likely most would reccommend disk in back and drum in front however I'm trying to cut down on expense as it seems just as I get things right I tend to sell. Changing the front over seems to be the most expensive as where I live locating used link parts is hard to find, then I would have to buy new wheels. Do you think having good brakes in the rear would be ok? thanks for any advise.

yes...disk in the rear for sure.

defenetly go with disk on rear...you can get a cheap kit for a couple hundred bucks...just make sure you upgrade to the heavy duty caliper mounts.....if your totally against the empi kit there are guys on here running other setups like s10 etc

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Hey,can you hand me those zip ties and that roll of duct tape?!

I would agree.. Disk in the back is way more important.. I would strongly recommend a 4 piston caliper. It will cost more but a cutting brake will not work very well with a floating caliper or a 2 piston caliber.

As for the wheels, you should be able to get a rotor to fit your wheels or get some adapters. What wheels do you have?

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I love the old traditional vw rear hub lathed to fit inside a Datsun 280Z rotor with VW type 3 1971 an down calipers.Hundreds of buggies have flipped over backwards because they panic and nail the brakes. This set up is not a lock down brake but just right to keep from that natural "Oh f@%k !,and nail the brake and over you go.Check out pull a part or Auto Zone and after you put your vw hub into the Z rotor you can see where you need to drill the rotor for the vw lug holes.And as always fab a disc brake ear and hook the caliper to the brake line and have someone apply the brake while the fabbed ear is in the caliper and the caliper is on the rotor,THEN WELD IN PLACE! And! The 2 bolts on your caliper is not enough to hold a brake!Fab the ear where the metal touches the caliper so the 2 bolts don't take the torq.

I have ventilated rear disk (from the front of a Grand Marquee) a pair of Chevy S-10 4WD single piston floating calipers ($10 each with pads included) a set of circle track brackets from Speedway and a little custom fab and you can't get a better cutting brake lock up. I could upgrade to a four piston Wildwood caliper but why spend the money. You do need access to a lathe and have some fabrication skills.

See following post for a photo

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

Here is a photo of the bracket, I believe this will work with Passat's build as well

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

Millions of cars on the road with the brakes held on purely with those two bolts that were designed to hold the caliper disagree.

The brackets I use come from Speedway and use the gm metric caliper for a s-10 full float. Most common GM caliper ever made.

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

I run VW cabriolet front disc calipers on the rear of mine with the empi or whatever rotors and LOVE them. Reason I went to these was they are very LOW profile, I run inner and outer beadlocks so it was a must. Everything including cutters works great. No complaints maybe have 30 in the calipers from pull a part and new pads.

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"IT IS WHAT IT IS"

This set up works great and very cheap, find a couple used rotors and it could probable be the cheapest up grade you could do.

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Air cooled forever,i hate rusty tools!!!!!!!

Rotors are from a Ford grand marquee $12.00 each, S-10 caliper with pads $10.00 each if you have a core (pull a part) $5.00 for the pair.

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

If u do have drum breaks on the back drill some holes in them wh 1ere the pa d make16s contact we used a 5l16 bit this let's mud and sand out and don't get packed in rotor. Disc are the way to go though but this worked for me

You can use your normal vw rotor if you just double stack the pads on one side

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I DO NOT FREE BASE COCAINE

I agree with rick on the S-10 brakes on VW rotors. As far as fronts go, it depends where you ride. I added them after a few spooky times at D&K and Wellsville when it got muddy. Never crashed, but didn't have alot of control, lol. They are like guns and condoms. Rather have em and not need em, then need em and not have em. Just get the rears to disk for now, and as the budget allows add fronts. I drop about a grand every winter in upgrades if I can. It slowly gets to where you want.

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