Gday I have been given a 1966 S Type Jaguar and it has an xj40 1987 front hub and suspension and brakes and wanted to know what upgrades there might be... heard of a few options including Volvo brakes??

Any suggestions as the single spot calipers don't do it for me.

 

Hi Bloodyaussie,

I have moved your post from the XJ40 forum to the forum for the MKI / MKII S-Type. I think it is more likely that you will receive more knowledgeable input here regarding your 1966 S-Type. It's doubtful most XJ40 owners will have any idea of what brake parts would fit your car.

Cheers,

Don

 

Are you sure that it's XJ40 and not series XJ? The XJ40 upright doesn't match at all well with the Mk2 wishbone positions. The series XJ is a thereabouts match. And, of course, the 420 is a simple swap.

 

There are a couple of options I have heard about. The easiest is to upgrade the whole front cross member with that of the Jaguar 420. Slots straight in and the brakes are triple caliper. (one on one side and two on the other.) Not a lot of an upgrade but this was also a dual system in that the original S Type had a single master cylinder with single pipes running to each corner. If one caliper leaked the whole system would leak and there were no brakes. The 420 had a dual system with a double master brake cylinder and the front nearside caliper was connected to the rear offside and vice versa so if one leaked you still had brakes on the other two corners.
The other upgrade I have heard of is the four pot calipers from an early Volvo Amazon I think it is. They fit straight on the front with no alterations apparently and there are two types one fits a solid disc and the other has spacers between the calipers that allows a vented disc to be fitted.
Having said that I have a 1968 S Type and the original Dunlop brakes I have are quite adequate. I can lock the front wheels if I stand on the pedal so unless you are taking the old girl racing or constantly braking hard I do not see a need to upgrade.

 

I agree on the OE Dunlop brakes. I've covered over 100,000 miles including Switz Alpine passes and the Italian Apennines and they have never let me down. The pedal has a nice, hard but progressive feel. And they are perfectly capable of locking all four wheels with a hard push on the pedal. The only problem with their operation that I ever had was not in the Dunlop part of the system; the vacuum piston in the servo dried out and was sticking. That was caused by a leaking valve between the servo and the vacuum reservoir. It was easy to fix and a fail safe as it made the brakes stay on.

The only thing against them is maintenance. The pads don't have a long life and if you wait too long before changing them, they spread and are difficult to remove. Also, the cylinders suffer from corrosion.

 

I have the original Dunlop OE brakes on my car but everything stainless lined as Cass mentions they are single circuit. I have noted Peter's wise advice on pad spread some time back & keep an eye on them. I have no issue with them. They stop the car far better than I had expected.

 

Thinking about it, my comment on the pads spreading may require a qualification. My experience is from when I was using my Mk2, that is pre-1990. The pad materials have certainly changed since then and modern pads may well behave differently. Pre-1990, Mk2 pads wore out fairly quickly compared with the modern pads on my later Jaguars, possibly because they are smaller. They required replacement before they wore thin because of the spreading problem. With modern, asbestos-free pads either the pad or the disc will wear faster then with non-asbestos depending on the pad material. I've no idea where that leaves the Mk2 system on wear or spreading.

 

Fair comment Peter. The standard Jaguar pad now supplied is quiet (do not induce disc squeal), does not dust up the wires & seams hard wearing thusfar. I have no idea what friction material they are. Obviously post asbestos. I will keep an eye on them re spreading. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

I previously used the Wilwood brake kit for the MKII & 3.8s but those were not enough for my driving and needs. What I would say that are the best are the brake kits from Fosseway Performance. The make both 4 piston vented and big 6 piston vented kits for the Jaguar. I have the 6 piston brake kit for my Jaguar 3.8S and they are so much better than anything I have seen. They bolt right up, have large 302mm true vented rotors and massive 6 piston calipers and are a great setup. I drive about 40,000 miles a year all on the street and yes I do push the Jaguar on a regular basis with my high HP lightweight V8 restomod 3.8s. It is never a bad thing to have more brakes for safety; their brake kits are designed to work with the stock Jaguar systems and I highly recommend them! Trying to do later model Jags, etc. or even the Wilwood are to me just a lot of effort for not a lot better performance.

E-Type Big Brake Kit - Series 3 - Fosseway PerformanceFosseway Performance

 

I would say just upgrade to the Fosseway front brake kit either the 4 piston or 6 piston vented rotors.

If you want to go further you can upgrade the rear inboard brakes of the 3.8s to the larger E type rotors/calipers but in reality the front brakes always will do the majority of the stopping. I did do that upgrade prior when I had the Wilwoods but now with the Fosseway it is great. If I did it all over I might not have needed to upgrade the rear brakes but it is nice having all four upgraded for better stopping power.