Alfa Romeo 159 brakes on a 940?

[Mattty]

I have recently been looking into brake upgrades for my 940, and had a look at the caliper adapters offered by Retroturbo to allow brakes from an Alfa Romeo 159 to be fitted, to be able to run 336mm discs from an XC90. Tried a quick search online though and I couldn't find any information of anyone fitting these brakes.

Has anyone ever fitted these or know anyone who has? Just interested in getting a bit more information on the swap before I commit to it.

Cheers

[360beast]

My first question would be can the master cylinder actually cope with that upgrade.

I know people have upgraded to 302mm discs from the 850 quite easily and would have thought this would be plenty unless you are aiming for ridiculous power.

[Mattty]

Originally Posted by 360beast

My first question would be can the master cylinder actually cope with that upgrade.

I know people have upgraded to 302mm discs from the 850 quite easily and would have thought this would be plenty unless you are aiming for ridiculous power.

I know that it is a common upgrade to put both S60R/V70R and XC90 calipers on 940's, both of which have similarly sized discs as the Alfa brakes, and I haven't seen any mention of the master cylinder not being up to the job. The Alfa brakes just seemed like another option thats a bit cheaper than the S60R calipers.

[deeman940]

Hiya mate,
sounds like you are building the same kinda thing as me!
i have the same kit,,i purchased the calipers, and the brackets from Piotr a couple of years back.....
The first set of brackets were not right and couldn't be fitted, i can't remember the problem, He sent me another set but they still weren't right, a couple of holes have been machined slightly off, i tried to explain the problem to Piotr but he stopped communicating with me, i am at the moment stuck with discs, calipers and brackets which i can't fit which is most frustrating.....
i don't want to bad mouth Piotr (retroturbo) as he was up until then very helpful, i have had polybushes and a panhard bar from him in the past..
He is a one man band doing it in his spare time and supporting a family also, his products are great in general but i think he is subbing out the machining work...
i was just going to bite the bullet and buy another set from him and hope they are o.k. i have the last set he sent me if you are capable of copying/ making them correctly?
Damo

[deeman940]

i was wondering about the master cylinder too , i think i did ask Piotr but as far as i remember he said there wss no need. i was wondering of the 960 one would fit?

[Mattty]

Originally Posted by deeman940

Hiya mate,
sounds like you are building the same kinda thing as me!
i have the same kit,,i purchased the calipers, and the brackets from Piotr a couple of years back.....
The first set of brackets were not right and couldn't be fitted, i can't remember the problem, He sent me another set but they still weren't right, a couple of holes have been machined slightly off, i tried to explain the problem to Piotr but he stopped communicating with me, i am at the moment stuck with discs, calipers and brackets which i can't fit which is most frustrating.....
i don't want to bad mouth Piotr (retroturbo) as he was up until then very helpful, i have had polybushes and a panhard bar from him in the past..
He is a one man band doing it in his spare time and supporting a family also, his products are great in general but i think he is subbing out the machining work...
i was just going to bite the bullet and buy another set from him and hope they are o.k. i have the last set he sent me if you are capable of copying/ making them correctly?
Damo

Originally Posted by deeman940

i was wondering about the master cylinder too , i think i did ask Piotr but as far as i remember he said there wss no need. i was wondering of the 960 one would fit?

Thanks for all the info mate. I will send you a PM.

[Laird Scooby]

Along the lines of what Luke said, i'd check out the bore and stroke of the master cylinder on your 940 and also that of the Alfa donor then check the size of the pistons in the various calipers round the car. Then deicde if there's any major differences. Note that a small increase in master cylinder bore can have a much bigger effect than you think as it increases the area considerably. For example, a single 2" tailpipe has roughly the same cross sectional area as two 1 5/8" tailpipes (50mm and 35mm respectively) so a small diameter increase can easily double the effective area - bear this in mind with the master cylinder bore!