Rear disc brake pads??

JohnWeyand

I bought a set of rear disc brakes from Serrano's during his great Empi brake sale. Now that I'm putting parts together, I find that the pads supplied all have the topside spring retainers. That means I have four pads for the piston side of the brake assembly and none for the outside, where it requires a clip on the back of the pad to hold it in position since the topside spring prevents installing the pad to the outside.
Does anyone know the source for those pads or what other pad might fit that caliper? I'm sure they are from some production car but it might take a while at the NAPA parts counter looking at pictures to find one. The calipers are cast with "Varga" as brand name.

John W

11/9/074:39 AM

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JohnWeyand

11/9/074:41 AM

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chines1

John,

Do the rear calipers have parking brakes? If so, they are probably a 82-96 Brazilian GM J-car (Monza) caliper made by Varga. Take a look at P/N 4644 on CB's website. Do your pads look like this? http://www.cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=1531

If so, then both inner and outer use the same pad w/ the clip on top. Can be a bit of a pain to install, but it's correct.

Sorry, I don't use any of EMPI's stuff, but I assume they use the same Varga caliper as most evreyone else.

11/9/075:22 AM

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JohnWeyand

My calipers do have the parking brake. The pads are the #4644 models shown in the reference photo. Most pads that mount to the outside have a two sided spring that holds the pad to the caliper--while these would require the mounting bracket to hold the pad into the caliper and against the "v" spring on top of the pad.
I may check with NAPA to see if there is a replacement pad using different retainer for the outer pad. It would appear that this pad is poorly held and likely to rattle? What sort of problems, if any, have you seen with these brakes as sent?
Thanks, Carey

John W

11/9/075:41 AM

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chines1

I am doing a build seminar shortly, which will have me tied up most of the day, but will try to take a photo of the caliper w. the pads in place so you can see what I am speaking about, and also compare it to yours.

Problems... in our cars you have to mount the caliper at 12 o'clock in order for the e-brake cable to fit. Unfortunately this makes the hard line to the caliper have a small bend that is higher than the caliper itself. Can be a chore to get all of the air out. IIRC you have a SB speedster? Not sure how/if it will be different.
Other than that, changing the master to something that is designed for 4 wheels discs, or adding a residual valve to the rear line.

11/9/076:06 AM

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chines1

OK. Here ya go:

pad1.jpg shows the pad set in place. You can (maybe) see the groove at the top which centers and holds the clip in place. The bottom of the caliper has a groove that catches the bottom side of the pad and seats it as well.

pad2.jpg shows it clipped in place. Keep in mind the pictured calipers are straight out of the box and don;t have their spacers yet, so they are in the way of the rotor.