Definitive Z23 Front Brake Rebuild Thread

[Briou]

Ok so a while back I went looking around for a thread on mulitple forums for a guide to rebuilding the ever so popular z32 front brake calipers. I was unable to find a thread with much detail on rebuilding these calipers so I decided to dive straight into it and see how it turned out. So here you go.

The parts that you need, and some other stuff that I decided to get just because.

Brake pads: I went with Hawk HPS Hawk HB178F.564 HPS Performance Street Compound Front Brake Pads 300ZX

Pad hardware: Nissan OEM 300ZX Front Brake Hardware

Seal kit, pins, pin keepers, and bleeder screws: 440 Front Brake :: Brake :: Genuine Nissan Parts :: 300ZX Parts (Z32) 1990-1996 :: Nissan Parts, NISMO and Nissan Accessories - Courtesyparts.com

I started off with some aluminum z32 calipers that I picked up at a junk yard for about $90 for both front and rear....along with rotors and spindles....I think I got a pretty good deal.



So I got to work tearing them down, first by taking the two halves apart for both calipers. Make sure you grab the little o-ring seals from between the two halves and put them somewhere safe.




Once you have the halves apart you need to take off the keeper ring...pretty easy with a flat head screw driver or some needle nose pliers.



Then comes the dust seals, just pull them on out.



Now for the tough part, pulling out the pistons...I would imagine that this could be done by blowing some air into the calipers using an air compressor, but I don't have one so I had to resort to brute strength. Let me tell you it was a bitch, even with WD-40


Then out come the inner seals.



Should have something like this once you get them all broken down.


This was the point that I sent my calipers off to get them powder coated in wrinkle red. :sweetass They did a great job!!



When i got them back I was so pumped to get them back together. Soooooo here we go...

First thing in were the new inner seals.



The put the new dust seal on the pistons as well as the supplied pink lube/grease...makes getting the pistons back in a breeze.





Now simply press the pistons back into the cylinders and push the dust seals down into place around the outer lip of the cylinder.



Time for the keeper rings. They are easily put in by hand


Then go ahead and bolt the halves back together. Remember to put the seals back in that you saved when you took the calipers apart!!!!



I opted to get new bleeder screws so I put them in after I got the halves back together.



And now time to put in the brake pads and all the hardware. I used this diagram as a guide. I found it via google and mean no copy right infringement. I am guessing its from a 300zx FSM.
http://importnut.net/240pics/brake_upgrade/pad01.jpg

So this is very thing that I had to put together. Hawk HPS ferro-carbon pads and oem hardware from nissan, including new pins and pin keepers!!


So first you need to put some brake grease on the pads, then put on the solid shims, then more grease, and the outer, slotted shims. Also the little clip deals that go on the side of the pads closest to the bleeder screw.





Now the pads can go into the caliper along with the pins, cross spacer, and pin keeper.



Should end up looking something like this.





Now slap those bad boys on and get to stopping like a champ!!!!!!!

Up for sticky mods?