460 rear disc conversion

hi
What for ???
the 460 diesel does not have any problems with the existing braking arrangement
   ( if serviced correctly)  
and certainly does not warrant the expense of discs all round ......

I have heard of people doing a sprinter rear disc conversion, but I think it was in the context of a vehicle for off-road use (I seem to remember problems with handbreak and MOT). Is that what you were planning to do with the vehicle?
 
Otherwise, Orc do make a rear disc conversion for the 460, but I know of one person in the UK who went to the time and expense (they are around £2500 if I remember correctly) and concluded they were actually worse for general (i.e non race/ serious offroad use) - he took them off again if I remember the post (here, or pointed 3 if you search).

IIRC, drum brakes are much better for holding static loads (on a slope for example) which is why they are so often used in this kind of context.

Further, as Peter says (Fixwin) the 460 rear brakes are actually extremely effective when adjusted correctly (common problems include seized slaves). 

What was it about the drums that you don't like particularly?

As an aside - One thing people do often overlook is that when they change tire size (going up ususally), often the brake proportioniong valve spring should also be changed to avoid the incorrect amount of brake effort being applied when loaded.

 You don't need to spend stupid money in a disc conversion... my Spanish colleagues have come up with two very ingenious setups, both cheap and cheerful. Let the Germans spend two and a half grand at ORC but that's not for me.

The only drawback of these conversions is that you lose the ABS and thus it is not recommended for 463s... but 460s can get all the benefits of disc breaking. One of the conversion entails turning the driveshaft on a lathe so I will concentrate on the other one instead given that it is plug and play. This is a translation of his posting in the Spanish G forum:

I fitted rear discs to Grasshopper, it is plug and play, it took us some 6 hours but just because we had to improvise ....

First the parts:
Callipers from Nissan Almera/Primera
Discs from Ssangyong Actyon
10 mm thick steel plate cut according to template

Pictures of the job:

The callipers are fitted as if mirrored: the LH one in the RHS and the RH in the LHS. this facilitates greatly the fitting of the parking brake cables

To get the calliper perfectly centered with the disc you must supplement with 3 washers between the caliper and the bracket.

The advantage of these discs is that they are 14 mm thick and they can be used with Almera/Primera callipers. GWagen discs are 15 mm thick so that they will not fit in these callipers. 

Total cost of parts: about one hundred Euros (scrapyad callipers, new discs and pads, some lenght of brake line, half a litre of DOT4+ brake fluid)