[svsantosh]

Note - TBhp or Myself do not vouch for the safety or legality of such mods. It is better to just read this thread as a online article and let your car be the way it is.

Why - Because I wanted to and I can!

Where - Home, my factory works, roadside mechanic

Who - Myself, my production head, fitters, scrap dealers, mechanic

When - Car had a ridiculous 2 weeks down time, couldnt find time to finish it

What - Time , Basic tools, advanced tools, Patience, mechanical instruments and gauges, drilling and cutting, lots of brake fluid, Time, Patience, again, Time, Patience

The Car

My car is a 6.5 year old Chevy Sail UVA Tcdi which has seen 1.65Lac Kms. I have toyed around the car pretty much and have done a lot of DIY to it. It still prods on and we have a great bond between us. I am passionate about getting spares and consumables myself and witnessing all repairs in person at a local mechanic. I just feel a little confident and at ease knowing something wasnt done differently and no short cuts were taken.

My cars rear OEM tandem wheel cylinders and shoes lasted 1Lac kms. I changed them to unbranded local ones and they lasted till 60k'ish Kms, about half of OEM life. The unbranded wheel cylinders are 500rs in Bangalore market compared to 2,866Rs in BOODMO for OEM ones. I am totally against Chevrolet Indias spares pricing and it doesnt make any sense to go to them unless needed.

My project costing Comparison

Sail UVA
Wheel Cylinder 2866+2866 = 5732Rs
4 Shoes - 2341Rs
Total - 8073Rs

Maruti Swift 2 wheel cylinder & 4 shoes - 1790+1581 = 3371Rs

Chevy Rear Brake Spares are nearly 140% more expensive than a comparative Swift spares. Unbranded Sail Rear Brake pad set and 2 wheel cylinder cost is nearly 1800Rs (22% of OEM cost), but even at 22% of the OEM costing I extracted 60% of the OEM life.

It did not make any sense to go OEM again and I needed an excuse to try a DIY and this is when I decided to take the plunge.

My Project Cost
i10 used Calipers from Olx Bangalore - 2500Rs
i10 Discs - 2600Rs
i10 Pads - 850Rs
Steel plates, fasteners, misc - 600Rs
Machine shop charges - 0
2 cans DOT4 fluid - 160Rs
Mechanic - 1000Rs
Total - 7710Rs

I only knew the caliper cost when I found a good pair on OLX and I worked up the pads and rotor cost and when I saw this made financial sense I decided to take the risk and try it.

[svsantosh]

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...e-upgrade.html (Skoda Fabia: Rear Drum to Disc Brake upgrade)

TBhp is a wonderful place to get ideas and I chanced upon this old Skoda Fabia thread for ideas.



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Difficulty Level - Beginner

Once I got a hint where to start, I went ahead with my approach.

This is the old drum set up I had.



Dismantle time



Need a 32 sized Socket and some patience to break open the lock with a shart edged tool and a hammer. I sacrificed a 'tester' for this sake.



The socket arrangement.



This is the hub with the 2 wheel bearings inside.



The access area to remove the spindle.



Carrier Plate was not disturbed because if the project fails I can put it back together and maintain status quo.



Tools for the job



The desired end result...!!



More to come...

[svsantosh]

The Chevy Sail UVA is a 4 bolt 100 PCD hub on its 4 wheels, that was the reason I had to settle for a 100PCD car for my shopping list and I chanced upon a Hyundai i10 used calipers in olx bangalore, they were in excellent condition.

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Difficulty Level - Intermediate

Got some 5mm IS.2062 Gr Steel Plate for its easy of fabrication purpose.





The caliper has some difficult radiuses that had to be carved out.



As it kept fouling I had to shave off the template.





Needed some rough idea of where to position the caliper



And where it will foul with the OEM parts...



Arrived at a approximate position of the caliper mount holes w.r.t to the 4 hole spindle mount position. Decided to stick the 90' TDC mount.



Used slip gauges to center the caliper to the rotor and measure the size of the bush needed between the adaptor plate and the caliper.



Arrived at the final prototype, or so I thought!



To be Contd....

[svsantosh]

As many users will point out (appreciate any actionable technical and engineering related feedback) the RISK of playing with fire is, duh, it will eventually consume everything in its path.

Re-Looking the skoda fabia thread closely and I happened to see a fatal flaw in its design.

This is how any FWD cars 'Rear' axle looks like. The '1 of the 4 ends' load is transmitted by this 8mm (in my case) projection into this bore (hole) on the axle beam.



The skoda fabia plate I tried to copy (not emulate) has a bore through it...



...so in effect my template's 1st step itself was designed to be doomed. I had designed the load to be transferred onto the unsprung mounted plate and this would have resulted in the entire rear load to fall on the shank of the 4 bolts and sheared it outright over the course of few humps and potholes!!



This flaw was observed after test fitting the template and looking at it I was wondering why the shaft extension and the hole were such a tight fit and it seemed more of a locating-hole than a free hole. Then it struck me that the load was supposed to be transferred through this hole-shaft and I had to rethink this idea over again.



Flaw Noted with a heart stopping gasp, and back to the drawing board!!

[svsantosh]

Once bitten, Twice...

So decided to visit a neighbor to take some critical dimensions of his i10's front wheel and his natural reaction was "dont break my car". I convinced him to tag me along and within few minutes some dimensions were verified.

These dimensions were only to re-verify the already arrived dimensions earlier on the surface table using slip gauges and feeler gauges and maintaining concentricity of the caliper to the rotor.

[svsantosh]

The final production plate allowable thickness was identified by measuring the mounting plate on the axle and the M14 bolt integrated into the axle spindle. I could have used a 10-11mm plate, but decided to settle for a 8mm final plate thickness.



The new template needed some shaving off.



The next critical step was to make a bush/sleeve to accommodate this gap. I needed to pass a M12*1.25 HT 12.8 Gr bolt through this and settled for a 24mm.OD*12.5mm.ID MS bush to do this job. It has to be perfectly parallel to ensure the pads do not sit offset on the rotor.







Testing fit done with a Tata sumo's front brake hose and trials taken few few kms on isolated hoses for leaks, squeaks and any misses.



Brakes bled (sorry for the fluid mess all around) and project done!



The end...!!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the DIY section. Thanks for sharing!

[vigsom]

Brilliant job, @svssantosh. Changes in design is something most people won't attempt. But your perseverance, especially midway through the project, with the template, paid off.

You have to thank your neighbour too for allowing you to take dimensions of his car's set up.

Two suggestions for your future DIYs

1. Please use handgloves.
2. Please bleed brakes into a bottle 1/4th filled with brake fluid

[landcruiser123]

Nice mod. Looks well executed too.

Just a question: Do you have to report this to the insurance company? Also, will they increase (higher risk of failure) or reduce (better stopping ability) your premium?

[puneetakhouri]

Amazing!! Had a question, will the handbrakes work?

[d3mon]

How do you calibrate the front/rear brake bias now? Will it have a tendency to lock up the rears more?

Is the braking performance subjectively & objectively better after this mod?

[bhp_maniac]

This is simply superb! Your perseverance is commendable, to say the least, I have been contemplating going for such a mod on my 2010 Swift DDiS and this is really an inspiration Hope you'd be putting up a detailed review of the setup after you crunch few miles with it

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by vigsom

.Two suggestions for your future DIYs

Thanks will keep in mind.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Do you have to report this to the insurance company?

Maybe but I won't bother for this old timer.

Originally Posted by puneetakhouri

Amazing!! Had a question, will the handbrakes work?

Was waiting for someone to ask this question

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post3648527 (Review: The 2015 Hyundai Verna Facelift (2nd-gen))



I need to get this setup done in future.

Originally Posted by d3mon

How do you calibrate the front/rear brake bias now? Will it have a tendency to lock up the rears more?

Is the braking performance subjectively & objectively better after this mod?

1) Haven't done anything till now, works fine

2) It's actually much better. I have a Nexon rim with 16" tyres and needed better brakes badly over the 14" stock setup.

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

Hope you'd be putting up a detailed review of the setup after you crunch few miles with it

Will do

[Reinhard]

Kudos to the patience, effort and grit to get it done! A very thoughtful disclaimer to open the thread too, considering a forum is open to everyone. Thanks for sharing. Nice attention to detail and precision. Including a vernier calliper to install a brake calliper . must have been a task to find the best suitable disk, brake spec from donor car, to be suitable for the Sail.

One doubt, its a solid 5 mm steel plate you used for the mounting. Did you do any anti rust treatment for it? Its going in an area constantly exposed to muck n what not, and rarely cleaned. Might be a good idea if not done perhaps? Just thinking out loud.

Personally I'd never be able to muster the courage to fiddle with brakes and wheel mounts. Comes down to knowledge and experience afterall - both of which I lack in this field! Must be making some difference to how the car behaves under braking. Will keep an eye on this thread to see updates over time.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

One doubt, its a solid 5 mm steel plate you used for the mounting. Did you do any anti rust treatment for it? .

I used a 8mm Mild Steel plate and after final machining had it acid pickled. It should last for sometime before I move on to copying the template onto a SS304 plate.

This is the final production mount plate and it needed a notch to clear the OEM axles support structure. Note - this doesn't take any load of the vehicle, this only sees the radial load of the caliper moving along the rotor under braking. 8mm mild steel plate ought to be enough, will eventually move to SS for more longevity.





Pending work - Adding a dust cover for rotor and caliper.