AE101 hatch drum brake to disc brake swap?

[ShutoMax]

hi chaps,

was wondering what parts i would need for AE101 hatch drum brake to disc brake swap
i searched for someone on here who has done this but no luck
i know there is a proportioning valve on the fire wall

any info on what to do what buy would be most welcome

[timbosaurus]

You'll need the discs, calipers, and handbrake cables. Can be a royal PITA to get out at the wreckers.

not sure how critical it is to change the bias valve though. I didn't and it pulls up fine and doesn't lock up the rears.

[ShutoMax]

ok cool ill try find a toyota wrecker

[timbosaurus]

Prepare to curse a lot getting the handbrake cable out. To get to the bolts, you need to drop the exhaust heatshields, which means dropping the exhaust.

Not so easy to do if the cars is sitting 10cm off the ground...

[TERRA Operative]

You'll also need the rear knuckles as well, as they have the lugs for the calliper to bolt to.

I have done this conversion a few times and it's pretty easy to do.

Basically the hardest bit is the handbrake cables, but if you can get around the exhaust (or get it out of the way) getting the heat shields out isn't too hard.
Then you just need to resize the holes for the bar that attaches the handbrake cables to the hand brake lever. If you get the one from the donor car, it will be much easier. (You'll see what I mean when you go to install it).

Other than that, it is an easy swap, it all bolts straight up.

The proportioning valve is nice to swap, but not 100% required. If you can get one, you may as well do it.


While you're at it, you will also see the rear lateral arms are two different types. One is adjustable and will have pillowball mounts at the ends (this is for adjusting rear toe). The other will probably have rubber bushings. You can either stick another set of non adjustable pillowball arms in (from a Levin etc), or you can put a set of urethane bushes in place of the rubber to get a little better handling in the rear.


I have a spare set of rear knuckles/hubs (ABS units but no functional difference to non ABS for your application), handbrake cables, proportioning valve, pillowball lateral arms as well as urethane bushes, and spare master cylinders (from rear disc brake AE101 Levins). Unfortunately I don't have any spare rear callipers in usable condition though.
If you are in Brisbane, you are welcome to it all for cheap, it will all be gotten rid of soon anyway.



Oh, and for sourcing rear callipers, you want to look for AE102 or AE112 Corollas at the wreckers. The Australian AE101 and AE111 models only had the drum brakes.

[timbosaurus]

All very good points.

I must've swapped the knuckles as well, just forgot!

The heatsheilds (and the handbrake securing brackets) are all 10mm bolts. At least on the Levin... should be the same on a rolla. So when you go to the wreckers, take yourself one of those little cordless mini impact drivers with a 10mm socket on an extension. Also take some WD40, big breaker bars, and a hammer. And be prepared for some gentle persuation. The long bolts that hold the lateral bars onto the hub can be stubborn at times.

By swapping the fixed length lateral arms for the adjustable ones, you can also adjust camber without the need for strut tops.

I've also got a spare set of hubs/discs/handbrake cables etc, but go for Terra's. I'm lazy and will charge a metric shitload to dig them all out of boxes and package them up to send.

[Bazooka]

Some importers will bring in the rear ends with the front half cuts. Look for the JDM AE101 or AE111 complete rear ends. Might be another option if you're still looking.

[Hiro]

Oh, and for sourcing rear callipers, you want to look for AE102 or AE112 Corollas at the wreckers. The Australian AE101 and AE111 models only had the drum brakes.

No such thing as an ADM AE111, they were all AE112s (as they had the 7A), but it was only the top-spec ones that got rear discs.
All AE102s had rear discs though.

[AE100_Corolla]

I've been planning to do this swap for quite a while but most AE101 Levin's I came across have had rusty rear discs since they've been sitting around for a while before being bought by the wrecker/junkyard. Either that or they've done high kms and the discs are scored. However, I came across an AE101 Levin GT Apex the other day with only 167,000kms on the clock and it's only been off the road since last Monday after someone crashed into the front right corner, so the discs haven't been sitting around and are in good condition. The rear drums on my AE100 Corolla SE Limited sedan are making a swishing noise when braking, which only started last week, so it sounds like now is the perfect time to do the conversion

I do however have a couple of questions:

1. Am I correct in saying that a wheel alignment won't be required if I'm only changing the hubs and not the lateral arms?

2. If I've read correctly, the GT Apex lateral arms feature adjustable rear camber? My current arms only allow for toe adjustment.

3. Is it best to get the entire junction box where the handbrake cables slot into towards the front of the car? (so I don't have to modify the holes for the bar).

Thanks guys

[TERRA Operative]

1. Correct (might be worth a check if you happen to need tyres, anyway etc).

2. You need two sets of the adjustable Levin rear arms to be able to do minor camber/track adjustment. Be sure to grab all four arms (two adjustable on the rear side, two non-adjustable on the front side) from the Levin, as they are nice pillowball joints instead of squishy rubber.

3. Grab it anyway and see how it fits. I think you'll need to modify one or the other, but the more you get, the easier it will be to mix and match. You may be able to swap the handbrake lever over for no drilling of the bracket, assuming it fits in your floor pan.

[AE100_Corolla]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've had three wheels alignments in the past couple of weeks (last one was only yesterday) due to installing coilovers and then removing them again so if I can avoid another one that'd be much preferred, haha. Might try and grab the adjustable arms off him under the same price as nobody else will probably ask for them. Would be nice to have adjustable rear camber since right now it's -1.35 degrees on the left and -1.19 degrees on the right (was -2.10 with the coilovers installed).

I've asked him to run his fingers over the discs to check for any scoring and he just sent me a txt saying that there are a few surface lines but they're not embedded into the disc and at worst might need to get skimmed. Reckon I'd be able to get away with not getting them skimmed if the scoring is very light? Would rather wait until the scoring got worse over time since you can only skim them so many times before they get too thin and I could put the cost of the skimming towards new brake pads instead.

[TERRA Operative]

I'd just stick them in and see how they go.
The rotors aren't uncommon, so are pretty cheap new. I got a set of slotted RDA rotors from ebay for my Levin for cheap as.

[AE100_Corolla]

That's true. I've asked him a few more questions about them and apparently the lines on the disc are just cosmetic. If I replace the brake pads before the install then the scoring shouldn't get any worse. Thanks again for your help. Planning on getting them this weekend as soon as he's removed them.

[TERRA Operative]

While you're there, grab the proportioning valve from the firewall so your brake balance is all good.

[AE100_Corolla]

Yep, I'll definitely be grabbing the proportioning valve aswell . Is the master cylinder also needed? I'm guessing the differences would be so minor that it wouldn't be considered necessary?