Lancia Montecarlo S2 brakes

Obviously you need 14" rims to do this but has anybody fitted the larger 251mm brakes from the Montecarlo S2 onto their X1/9?

Is it worth the effort?

I would prefer using Lucas/Girling brakes found on later cars, to get the advantages of bigger discs, more reliability (or at least more tolerance of poor maintenance!) and more readily available parts.

There is a large choice of Fiat/Lancia discs, non-vented and vented, to go at these days, so there is opportunity to get reasonably cheap "parts bin" upgrades. The difficulty with trying to fit the "next size up" disc is the interference between the lugs on the hub carrier and the lugs on the caliper carrier; this makes it very difficult to get an adapter bracket in there. It gets easier if you go to 284 diameter or 304 diameter as you get more space for the adapter. Of course, you could weld new lugs to the X1/9 hub carriers to suit your chosen brakes, but that takes the work out of the realm of a cheap upgrade for most owners.

I have adapter brackets to fit Fiat Coupe Brembo brakes with 304x28 vented discs to X1/9 hub carriers, but this is pretty extreme and needs 16" wheels.

When I have time I will look at the more tricky "next size up" brake conversions and will try to knock out some drawings for simple upgrades. I will also try to ensure the upgrades are for both front and rear so as not to upset the X1/9 brake balance.

Alfa 166 V6 Brembos have the advantage of not being as wide as the Coupe Brembos.

Has anyone tried fitting them to an X1/9??

That's what I like about the idea of the Monte S2 brakes they bolt straight on, all be it with the inferior calliper design.

I don't know about the 166 brakes but with a 6mm spacer the 256mm Punto GT brakes bolt on the front. But like all good things you have to have the right 14" rims to do this.

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried the brakes from the new Panda (as opposed to the old one)? The 4wd and diesel versions have vented fronts but only 240mm diameter, same as the old Uno Turbo which could fit under 13" rims if you were a little lucky.

Not had my hands on these yet so I have no idea how the dimensions play out

That's a good spot but I don't think I can get my hands on any either . The fronts don't seem to be so much the issue as the rear.

I happened to come across a Fiat Panda 100HP with its front wheels off today, with a quick measure the front carrier brackets still seem to be using ~100mm centres so initial indications are that they would bolt on. The discs have a smaller overall height than the uno turbo's but that is resolvable with an uno turbo disc and or some spacers between hub and carrier.

The disc's on the 1.4 are 257mm so require 14" but the rears are 240mm unfortunately I couldn't measure the brackets on this but appeared to be smaller centres on the carrier bracket much like the uno turbo with the 227mm rears.

potentially a good source of modern parts for upgrades.