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Hi Proctor,

The dual-pin ATE/VARGA calipers have always done right by us, but we were forced to put them to an extreme test last year at Sebring, a 14-hour enduro.

Our ChumpCar 1973 Superbug had VARGA front calipers and EMPI rears. We ran Porterfield carbon-Kevlar pads all the way around. NAPA DOT-4 fluid.

The right rear EMPI caliper sized up and died the night before the race, and with no replacement, we removed the dead caliper and capped the line. It took a few hours for the other EMPI caliper to fail, and we were then racing on only the front VARGA calipers. Not just lapping, racing. The rain kept the front calipers alive. We finally called it quits after 10 hours, when the rain stopped, and we were worried we were going to overheat the front brakes. The engine was willing, but we felt we were pressing our luck on the brakes.

Examination of the calipers afterwards showed that we were close to cooking the piston's dust seals, but the pads (amazing) were only worn down to less than half thickness.

We're rebuilding the calipers and keeping them, and have VARGAS on the rear now. When we get our new brackets, we plan on using Wilwood clones on the front.

But, the point here is those ATE/VARGA calipers are better than people give them credit for.

FJC

I agree with FJ, I've seen these calipers or cousins of them in work on many other cars and they work great. I just happened to have these calipers in a box in need of a home.

My original plan in all of this was to run oe front calipers out back and the 4 pistons up front. I went so far as to list out all the parts needed etc, but I chickened out. When I received my CB rear brakes, I found that the calipers are near twins to what I had on the rear of my 3300 lb Mustang I used to race. I could use Z rated performance friction pads on the rear of the Mustang and fine tune the rest with a bias adjuster, so
I expect a 1700 lb Beetle will be fine.

JWP wrote: The stock calipers are probably sufficient, however as I mentioned in the initial post.

I hear ya, man. I just got a little confused when FJC chimed in, especially with upgrading a Chump (budget) Car. It all makes sense from both you and FJC now. Thanks, guys.

Thanks for the heads up. If mine give me fits I'll have to give them a whirl. I'm probably half of that investment in mine. Had they been available when I did mine I wouldn't have even attempted mine.

Too bad he doesn't make those brackets for the CB drop spindles.

It says he does for dropped drum spindles. Disc spindles are another animal.

Gentlemen,

As an update, we've received a set of Lanner Kahn's brackets that allow the fitting of 5.25" bolt space calipers on VW Bug and Super Bug drum brake spindles.

These allow fitting big 4-piston Wilwood and Wilwood clone brakes.

I'll have some photos posted soon as we fit these to our race car. It's currently in the shop after an altercation with the scenery at Daytona.

FJC

www.vdubengineering.com

Thanks for the update. I've finally welded mine together and got them painted up. My next step is to get my custom -camber beam in and put the front end back together and will get some final assembled pics up.

Here is the full on build thread which I hope to provide a few updates on later this week.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=552384