This is surely a great brake setup. The caliper mounts to the 914-6 strut with the aid of an aluminum adapter. The rotor also needs an step-down adapter ring to fit the wheel hub. The system is a proven method and by all said to be a fine solution. I ran the car with this setup for about two years with no alterations or problems of any kind.

I have always fancied the calipers from the Porsche 944 Turbo. Rich has used these calipers on Ole Yeller and in brake conversion kits for lots of customers. For me, the appeal is the way in which the 944T caliper mounts to the strut without the need for any adapters. Same goes for the rotor which fits the hub directly. The 944T setup is a very clean and stock-looking installation and is recognized as a very high performance brake upgrade.

The 944T is a four-piston aluminum mono block caliper as can be seen here:

New rotors, pads and all hardware needed to be sorted which can be seen in the picture.

But let me show you some more of the 993 calipers that were coming off.

As you can see, the calipers are not exactly small for the 914. The rusty rotors had lots of life left in them – they just get this way from sitting too long as the car was back and forth to the painter and H&H for the engine work. Both the strut adapter and hub adapter can be clearly seen.

I decided to refurbish the 993 set and sell it off. I left the calipers unpainted as my likelihood of choosing the color my buyer would want was slim

Here you can see all the components of a (very) big brake 914 kit. In the below corners are the wheel hubs with the 5-lugs you need for 911-type/moderne wheels. Above the two hubs are the brake pads; and above those the rotors. The rotors are bolted to the back side of the hubs and thus become one unit.

The adapters I mentioned earlier are the blue pieces next to the brake pads.

Here are the plated rotors and associated hardware. Sure does look prettier. The set sold quickly – but oddly, ended up back in my possession. But as they say: That is a different story altogether!

Back to fitting the 944T calipers on Silver:

Here is the seal being installed in the wheel hub – you can see the rotor is now bolted onto the hub.

Still a big caliper – I chose glossy black as color as I have some plans for new wheels where I would like the calipers to sit a little understated back there…

Ready to go – pads installed, dust cap on hub. The old wheels will go back on for now – stay tuned.

Now, all 914 4-cylinder cars use a bolt pattern for the wheels of 4 bolts per wheel. That limits the amount of choices in wheels to just that – but if you want a 911-style wheel you will find that the Porsche 911 employs a 5-hole pattern.

This issue is not isolated to Porsche 914’s – it also exists in early Mustangs and lots of other classic cars. The good thing is that it can be remidied by use of well-proven methods.

The 911 and 914 are parts compatible in a number of areas, and the 914-6 was originally manufactured as a 5-lug car. Since there are differences to the spindle and thus to the wheel hub, how the rotors bolt up etc it is required to change the front struts to 911 front struts to get to 5-lugs for the front end of the 914.

The 911 struts are compatible with the 914-4 too, however the original calipers will not fit the strut. There are numerous options when it comes to caliper choice. I will leave it as this for now and return with more on calipers and what is required to convert the rear end in a separate post.