We encountered a problem early on when we swapped the rear beam out for the one from Dean’s car, which had new bushings and an O-bar. The bar came from a coupe. The wagon, however, has a different brake proportioning valve that is load sensing and mounts on the bar differently. The solution is to use a VW Rabbit proportioning valve which will mount correctly and allow use of Rabbit stainless steel brake lines. In addition to those advantages, it’s a good idea to delete the load sensing brake valve because the coilover suspension will keep the rear beam at a pretty acute angle most of the time, which the valve will interpret as extra load. In turn the valve will divert more power to the rear brakes, which could be problematic.
That having been said, the Fox came from the factory with 9.4″ front brakes and large rear drums. The rear drums can be swapped out for rear discs from any of the A-chassis cars that have them, but it requires being inventive with the e-brake and I’d rather not have to deal with that. Instead, the rear drums will be completely rebuilt, to include new drums, shoes, and bearings (from GAP), while the front brakes will be upgraded to 10.1″ using rebuilt 16v Scirocco calipers and carriers (purchased from the VWVortex Forums – caliper rebuild kit from GAP). 16v Scirocco stuff is stupid expensive new and rare used, but the 9.4″ stock units just aren’t up to dealing with the rest of the car.
The carriers will be carrying EBC Greenstuff pads (from GAP) which will clamp onto ATE Power Slot rotors. The whole system will be linked together by braided stainless steel brake lines for the VW Rabbit (from GAP – Stainless brake lines are available for the Fox, but it’s generally been the experience that they won’t work with the wagon). In addition to these upgrades, I will also be switching over to a Mk3 brake booster and MC, as described here.