Volvo Maintenance Hints for 7xx/9xx - Bill Garland's Nuclear ...

ake hoses are a direct fit to the newer calipers. I'm not so sure that the bigger brakes will fit if you have 14"
wheels though. All jumbo brake 700/900 have 15" wheels and there are some references in parts catalog to
differences in 91 and older with 14" brakes and 15" brakes. Their car does seem to have better brakes and it
has had no trouble with brakes in the 50-60K miles since swap was made. I got all the pieces from a salvage
parts place from a front-end total that had no useable front suspension pieces and had just arrived and had
not been picked over.
[Inquiry:] I assume all the 92+'s have ABS as my '89 does? How are the rotors different (mine currently has
the larger of the two available sizes - do I still need to change)? [Response: Abe Crombie] The offset of the
"jumbo" brake rotors are different and you will have to change the rotors as a result. The 95 to 98 960/s-v
90 are also different so don't get parts from one of those models.
Conversion for Cars without ABS:
[John Sargent] In order to upgrade your non-jumbo brakes to jumbos with larger rotors, you replace the
calipers, rotors and pads with jumbo units from any of the following cars (as described above): a 1992 –1995
940; 1991-1992 turbo 740; 1992-1994 960. You will have to plug one brake line on non-ABS cars, since you
are changing from a dual circuit to a single circuit for each front caliper. See the illustrations and procedures
below. This conversion works whether you originally have Bendix or Girling brakes.
1. Re-Using Your Present Calipers and Installing Larger Big Brake Rotors
Girling Calipers. You can convert your 700 series cars with non-ABS Girling brakes to Big brake 11.25 inch
rotors. These 700 series cars without ABS originally had 10.25 inch diameter discs. The 87 and earlier
models were originally one piece disc and rotor, but many have been converted to 2 piece hub and rotor. If
you have an 88, or later, you already have 2 piece hub and rotor. All you need are the caliper holding
brackets from a 700 series with Girling ABS brakes (all ABS brakes appear to be 11.25 inch diameter, but a
few early ABS cars have the 10.25 inch rotors), or the caliper holding brackets from a late model 700 series
with the large discs, and new 11.25 inch diameter discs. You will use the same part number pads, but get
some new ones. Remove the Girling caliper from your car. Now remove the caliper holding bracket from the
strut, and discard it. Remove and replace the disc. Install the new caliper holding bracket from the donor car
with Girling 11.25 inch diameter brakes. Reinstall the caliper with new pads. Wheel nut torque (63 ft-lbs) is
very important on these cars. Uneven torquing will contribute to brake pedal pulse, and uneven wear of the
disc.
Bendix Calipers. You can install the big brakes (11.25 inch diameter front rotors) on the early 700 series
which are equipped with the small (10.25 inch diameter) rotors on the front with Bendix calipers. Assuming
that you already have the separate hubs and rotors with your 10.25 inch diameter front Bendix brakes, all
you need are the caliper holding brackets for Bendix and the larger (11.25 inch diameter rotors). It is quite
easy and does not involve opening the hydraulic brake lines like the installation of the Jumbo brakes on my
1987 745T. If you don't already have the separate hubs and rotors, the separate hubs can be purchased
inexpensively from a wrecking yard.
2. Replacing Your Non-ABS Calipers with ABS Jumbo Calipers, Pads and Rotors