131mirafiori forum

What all do i need from the Uno Turbo rear end to convert the 131 to rear disc brake set up.
List please if possible so i know i get all what i want.
any info? Thanks 106

why not change the Axel for something thats not made of chocolate & would give you the options of lsd & possibly disc brakes? English axle or toyota rwd axle bothj these have lots of options for lsd & disc brake set ups, plenty to choose from!

Yeath you are probably right !!

where are you located in this blue world of ours 106usj?

Hi, my 131 has disc brakes on the rear from a fiat 132. Make sure whatever route you go that you can get a handbrake cable to suit. With my car the 132 handbrake cable was too long, a fiat 124 one was too short, 131 cable was the right length but had the wrong end to suit the calipers. I ended up having to use a lancia handbrake cable, I think from a beta, and even it needed modification but was the best fit I could get.

I have new 132 rear calipers, discs and pads if your interested in them for your car.

Located in bonnie Scotland. djape
I was just looking for info on this subject as i am spending my 131 money on other things just now,but i want to do some home work and gain knowledge on suitable upgraded rear brakes or as Sid said replacing the existing axle with an improved set up for when the time comes.
I dont have much knowledge on what axles work and are best to use and how much work is involved.
The Toyota RWD axle or English axle ? for example, from which models ?

english axle is from a rwd escort & toyota not sure as a lot of corollas & celicas are rwd also, sure as sid131 has already did the toyota conversion he would be the man to talk to ;) ;)

So a mark 2 Escort axle would work then ?

i asked for you location in order to know what cars are locally available in your part of the world.

rear brakes from uno turbo would work on 131. you need to get calipers, disc and handbrake cable. only thing that you'd still need and you can't use from uno would be anchor plate for rear callipers.

easyest swap would be if you found a rear axle from mk1 or mk2 fiat 132 1600 or 1800, fiat 125, 124 spider, polish 125p or FSO polonez. you'd need to pull everything out, rear calippers, discs, halfshafts with wheel bearings and anchor plates.

Why is the 131 axle so poor and known as (chocolate diff) and the 132 axle seems to be ok.
Why did Fiat put a sh*t diff on the 131 and a decent diff on the 132 ??

Probably a cost saving exercise? But most likely it's because the 131 was originally a car with 1.3 and 1.6 OHV engines without a lot of power or torque. All was fine until they fitted the 2 litre twin cam and obviously nobody thought of upgrading the diff or the brakes! As for rear discs, the standard 131 fronts are a straight fit onto the back. That's what I have on my car. I have VW golf callipers but I think Fiat Croma/Lancia Thema/Alfa 164 callipers will also do. A lot of cars with rear discs have separate drums for the handbrake so if you have only discs at the back you'll need callipers with a handbrake mechanism.   

because 131 was mid range car produced in 2,5 milllion units and 132 was top of the range expensive car produced in around 300.000 units.
mk1 132 had the same diff as 131 but in mk2 and mk3 it was replaced by ZF designed unit since mk1 diff was found to be less than perfect

Intresting thanks for the info Theo/djape, back to the home work for me !!

Here's what a 131 front disc fitted to the rear of a 131 looks like  ;) (ignore the hub extension which was fitted for connection to a dyno pack)

Diffs of 131's aren't that bad. I am driving 131 Racings since 1987 and have never had a noisy one. It's all in changing the oil regularly. And to use the right type of oil. Make sure you use type 90 oil.

    GARTRAC FABRICATIONS    01428 682263 ask for Dave D    (there's two Dave's)

They made Toad's axle it takes 180-190ish through 10" slick standing starts  This way you keep the Fiat bolt spacing and the 131 drive shaft's go straight into the Ford Diff.

131 axle tubes
Mk 1 or 2 escort axle
Remake propshaft

They will weld it together properly, and refit the link brackets this gives you a quick change diff and Ford LSD's to fit if you really want to have fun.

    The links are just flopped over in the picture

                 Roger.............
 

Roger,

Did you really build an Escort axle under your Fiat? You surely must know that the Escort and the 131 were each others biggest components in the late 70's, early 80's?  ;) ;)

   What ever it takes to get the job done,    although an Atlas would be better, I wanted the wheels to fit as it was constructed when Toad was my road car.

You're right. I was just having fun. Love your car. It's fast and furious. Hm, sounds like the title of a ba-a-ad movie. ;)

You know it just crossed my mind, we should have a bit where everyones mods could be reposted in one section, sort of take a bit from here and there, and bring all the different 131 mods together. Different axles, different brake mods, that sort of things.

  And thanks again

            Roger.................. :-*

and what about a volvo 200 or 700 series diff??? there are plenty of aftermarket products for them and can be abused on standard shafts and ratios are widely available as from factory standard. i think station wagon volvos had LSD and the turbo engined volvos too.

rear brakes are disks and in the hub part there are 2 tiny shoes that are the hand brake

the problem is ...volvo diffs are wide, calipers at the back have seperate hydraulic pipes (one for each caliper) 5 stud and is fitting a complete volvo diff or using only the calipers & disks may be a bit of hassel.


i had a 244 and brakes are awsome!!!

For all of you wanting to fit custom brakes to the rear of any car:

Take original cable and one to match the new brakes.
Run cables to establish lengths and fixings.
Contact Speedy Cables http://www.speedycables.com/

These guys will make any brake cable you want.

They are good on advice also!

So again to confirm i have 2 choices to get a decent diff/axle on the 131 !
Get a decent Mk 2 English axle modify it to suit the 131 set up fit disc brakes etc.
Or get my hands on a 132 axle and modify that.
What is the easy option here ?
I wont be doing it for a while so i want the easy option.

I have a 132 1800 axle currently for sale on ebay but it does still have drum brakes.

where did you manage to find 132 1800 with drums??? first time i heard of that

I've put a 132 disc rearend in my 131. The top control arm mounts have to be changed and a mounting point for the 131 pitman arm has to be fabricated on the 132 axle housing. The disc brake rearend made a huge difference and the diff is a better ratio than the standard 131. The 132 setup is about 20mm narrower than the 131 axle, my tyres no longer rub the guards when cornering.

Mirafioriman what age group is your 132 axle from did it come from a 1972 - 77 1800cc model ?
Just so i can look into what disc's will and wont fit on it.
Thanks.

It came from an 1800 GLS model. As to the year? I broke it a while ago and can't remember I would guess about 1977. I think the 1800ES was the only later 132 to come with disc brakes and they were phased out earlier on other models.

all 1800 132s i ever saw had rear discs. 1800gls was produced in yugoslavia so plenty of those here. all with discs in the rear.
i had 1975. 132 1800special with discs too

Unless someone had fitted a different axle to this car, that is always possible. The car came to me without it's engine but it was definitely an 1800cc twin cam engine that was originally fitted to the car.

I need to take photos of the axle, perhaps that will shed some light on the issue.

Yes please post a picture when you have time !
I am sure it is the correct axle just because it was a UK spec 132 Fiat probably just said "stuff it" ! we will just stick drums on a few hundred 132 axle's to use up stock  ;D

and the poms won't know the difference  :D

you can always check diff ratio. 1800 axle should be 4.1/1 while later 132 2000 axle is 3.7/1 and that one had drums as factory standard.

Pictures of the 132 axle I have are now in the for sale section ;)

looks exactly like any 132 axle would. with drums. if you unbolt backplate and counth teeth on diff, you can calculate transmission ratio and then you'll know from which 132 model it is. think that might help to sell it

Have some time off next week so may get time to have a look.

Don't fit a ford english axle i have done this mod and it just gives a choice of ratios and LSD,in standard form its not as strong as a fiat 131 axle (its only pressed and welded tin)

 fit an atlas as its stronger than a fiat 131 or ford english axle.

  
   I have video evidence that the ford Fiat hybrid axle will stand tarmac starts at 190bhp. Go to Gartrac and they will build you an axle you can trust ether way, I did and it won with constant standing starts, and is going to be used again in Little Toad, see other thread pix.  

  Atlas is better than both but expensive and getting hard to find,  Toads fiat/Ford diff was all steel.  A standard English diff will blow behind 140ish Flw, it needs the slipper to work  I think its the amount of Torque that's the destroyer


           Roger.............  ;D

P.S.   You didn't just put a whole English under a 131 did you?  :-X