Rear Disc Brake Kit for Spridgets (with Quarter Elliptical Springs)

Rear disc brakes are a wonderful upgrade for the reliability of your Sprite.  Not only do you have the added safety of more braking power but you will no longer have to change leaking wheel cylinders.  I never want to change rear wheel cylinders or adjust the rear brakes again. Disk brakes fit the bill, with modern calipers that are bullet-proof and self-adjusting. That's why you see this kit pictured below on my own personal Sprite, "Gumby." 

These kits are available for knock off and bolt on wheels. This kit will not work with original style steel wheels, we recommend upgrading to Minilites or VTOs. This kit is a direct bolt on kit that you can do at home but it requires intermediate skill level. The emergency brake cable still works with your linkage and one additional bracket in the kit. Tech support is also available for you or for your shop.

BEWARE-There are less expensive rear disk kits out there... we've tested them all and ours works best... ours has a working hand brake and will also accommodate stock sprite radius arms.

We have done many of these conversions in our shop and would be happy to pick-up your car to perform this conversion (and to fix any other details needed to optimize your Sprite)... check out the video below for a look at a completed disc brake conversion, including our front disc brake conversion, which you can find here:

We also have a kit available for later Sprites and Midgets with semi-elliptical leaf springs. Call!

Here is an article showing the kind of return you can get from adding rear disc brakes to your Sprite.

INSTALLATION NOTE FOR WIRE WHEEL CARS: When installing the rear disc brake kit, spacers often need to be added to the rotor to center it in the caliper (see installation instructions below). This may create a situation on cars equipped with wire wheels in which the studs used to hold the hubs and axles together are too short. If this occurs, you will need to take regular steel wheel studs (available here, you will need 8 of them) and cut them down until they are flush with the tightened nut. We recommend buying the studs with the conversion kit so you have them on hand to make this modification should the need arise.

 Installation instructions:

- Grind axle housing to fit axle bracket, then mount axle bracket which faces towards the rear of the car.

- Mount rotor

- Grind nub down on bottom of caliper

- Remove caliper bracket from caliper & mount to the axle bracket

- Mount caliper to caliper bracket & verify rotor is centered in the caliper.

-  If the rotor is not centered in the caliper it must be shimmed:

•     If the caliper needs to be moved further towards the inside of the car, add a spacer between the caliper bracket and the axle bracket with the washer-shims included in the kit.

•     If the rotor needs to be moved further towards the outside of the car, add a spacer between the hub and the rotor, which you can find here! Note: the 3/16" spacers are machined to fit inside the rotor if they are needed - the 1/8" spacers will not fit behind the rotor.

NOTE:

• Make sure the caliper bracket bolts do not touch the rotor
• Make sure the caliper does not rest on top of the axle (grinding down the nub on the caliper allows room for this)
• Make sure you do not stock steel wheels with this conversion. You will need to upgrade to a Minilite or VTO style wheel.
• Make sure the e-brake actuation levers are not hitting the flange of the rear inner fender. Some metal may need to be removed in order to prevent this issue.

 

 

NOTE: If you need a rear disc kit for a later Spridget with half elliptical springs, please call us! We can get that kit for you as well!