the brake swap thread

[ZilviaKid]

Why does no one at all have a Brembo BBK?

like an actual kit, not stealing calipers from another car

[atom]

Look at the price of a brembo GT kit, is it that big of a mystery?

[zooopreme]

Where are some of you sourcing your Z31 rear brackets? I'm looking to head that direction someday.

[onehundredoctane]

Originally Posted by zooopreme

Where are some of you sourcing your Z31 rear brackets? I'm looking to head that direction someday.

Every time I go to a junk yard I try to pull some just to keep em from getting crushed. I have a spare set that could use a good cleaning. PM me if you're interested. Doing this rear brake upgrade really helped my cars braking feel more neutral, the car doesn't nose dive as bad anymore. Probably the cheapest bang for the buck upgrade I've done in a long while.

[Chuvy]

Originally Posted by atom

Look at the price of a brembo GT kit, is it that big of a mystery?

The cayanne and Audi q4, or q5, have the same calipers as the gt kits. You could actually piece together a gt kit

[ZilviaKid]

Originally Posted by atom

Look at the price of a brembo GT kit, is it that big of a mystery?

considering the wheel elitism on this forum, im gonna start tearing into the assholes of people who get 200 dollar 300zx brakes and spend 4k on wheels.

[R@tch]

I always thought it was strange the z32tt uses 280x30mm front rotors and larger diameter 297x18mm on the rear. I believe I heard z32 owners upgrade only pads and the front rotors/calipers and leave the rears as is since they're pretty good factory spec?

[JaredP]

Originally Posted by ZilviaKid

considering the wheel elitism on this forum, im gonna start tearing into the assholes of people who get 200 dollar 300zx brakes and spend 4k on wheels.

people dont buy the brembo bbk because most of the people dont need it. even the lsx s-chassis cars will be fine with some of the smaller, cheaper brembo-swap options, or even just the willwood kit.

i can assure you that the people that DO need brakes that size, have them, and $4k wheels are the last of their worries

Originally Posted by R@tch

I always thought it was strange the z32tt uses 280x30mm front rotors and larger diameter 297x18mm on the rear. I believe I heard z32 owners upgrade only pads and the front rotors/calipers and leave the rears as is since they're pretty good factory spec?

front z32 calipers are 4 piston, while the rears are only dual. not to mention the thickness of the caliper will do more for cooling and brake fade then a few extra millimetres in diameter

[GabeS14]

Originally Posted by ManoNegra

Heading in the right direction but not quite there

CodyAce knows what's up:

not sure if you answered this before, but could I run low disk leon hardritt ordens with those? or any idea of the size of the spacer needed to possibly clear?
I am def not going to be able to run BBK in my build,because of my wheel sizings. But for the motor I am running I do need good brakes... so I need a smaller but good quality option.

[onehundredoctane]

Wilwood Grand Nationals, (covered with painters tape here to protect wheel and caliper in case it was tight, this was purely for test fitting.) on Z33 track rotors. Confirming that they wheel clear 16" DT-O5R wheels.

[blueshark123]

Has any one mentioned the cts-v brembo brakes upgrade?

[Rancimo322]

No good upgrades for the broke s13 folks ???
well w/e i went altima rotors on j30 breaks front = $30
and z31 rotors with bracket = $20
over all less then $80 after having the rotors
machined. I<3junkyards

[onehundredoctane]

Posted the Grand National caliper last time, finally mounted the Forged Superlite Internal that I'll actually be running 1.38" pistons

[florante rea]

My new setup, sti calipers w evox rotors fronts, rears i'm using 300zx tt.

[SandmanST6]

I know the thread says that the R33 GST calipers can take a Z33 track rotor, I have that set up on my S14, however there is a decient amount of the inside portion of the rotor that is not being used. This is very annoying because of the pad overhang and leaving all that braking power off the rotor. I am not sure if R33 spindles will do anything to bring the caliper down closer to the rotor ,or If I need to try to find a different adaptor bracket ? Any Ideas?

[badbob2121]

I have the ArizonaZCar Wilwood 4POT, 12.2" front kit.
240SX Brakes

I love the kit so far, Dave at ArizonaZCar provided great customer service and has great pricing as well.

[ghoti]

Wonder why no one mentioned J30 brakes all around. They're very similar to the Q45 ones.
The piston diameter is the same as well as the rotor for both J30 & Q45 front calipers at least, not sure about the back.
Pads are the same size execpt for the Y33 chassis which i believe are like .2 longer.

J30 / Q45 Caliper
Cylinder bore diameter 42.8mm (1.685") x 2
Pad Lining Length x Width X Thickness
127mm x 56mm x 9.5mm (5"x2.2"x.0374")

[g_mac530]

Anyone running the PSM rear knuckles with z32 or any upgraded rear brakes?

[S13queen]

Originally Posted by JaredP

Alright, looking to get a collection of all the popular "brake swaps" for the s-chassis. A place where everyone can comment on how certain swaps feel and for what power levels the brakes are good for. This is for all swaps, either from other cars, or aftermarket (willwood) calipers with hardware/rotor setups that work. Also including front/rear balanced setups and pictures to show wheel clearance (and for those of us who like that minimal caliper>wheel clearance). i did a search, but all the information is spread out, i thought it would be nice to have it all in one place.

First off, lets get technical and describe how a brake system works, and get a basis for upgrading. For those in for a read: Pascal's Principle and Hydraulics

This is how our brake system works, and how we must look at upgrading it. The brake pedal/brake booster offers a leverage advantage of force on the master cylinder. With this, and the principles of hydraulic fluids, we are able to put tremendous forces on the brake pads. Simply put, the larger the caliper pistons, the more force you can output on the pads (given the same size master cylinder). With the same point, the larger a master cylinder bore, the greater input force is required to have the same output. It is generally recommended to go to a larger master cylinder if you upgrade the brakes, to get rid of that "soft" feeling in the pedal.

Master Cylinder Options:
stock bmc bore is 15/16".

1. Z32: so far the only BMC I know that is direct replacement. Either 1" or 1 1/16" bore.

1. Z32/skyline gtst brakes
-front calipers: bolt on
-rear calipers: bolt on
-z32 rotors/pads (26 or 30mm depending on caliper in the front). have 5 lug or redrill to 4 lug if needed
-brake lines: lots of variations of swap brake lines are available online
special notes: z33 track rotors can be used in front with an adapter plate, z32 2+2 ebrake lines supposedly reach stock location with rerouting, can also use extensions found on ebay or make some yourself like this:



2. Evo/sti brembo brakes
Front: 04 STi Brembo calipers / Evo rotors
Rear: 04 STi Brembo calipers / Evo rotors
Brake lines: Brembo brake lines for STi Brembos
notes: rear caliper/ebrake. brembo calipers on your z32 setup:
http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/93748-...ml#post1342840
note about sti rears:
http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/93748-...ml#post2057367

front calipers need adapter bracket:



mounted picture (17" wheel)


3. sentra se-r vspec brembo fronts
-work well with z32 rear
-bolt right up to front
-sentra rotors redrilled

anyone with different brake setups, post what you got, pics, how it feels. lets try to keep the general chat to a min and post up brake setups!

I just got the STI front brake upgrade from Z1motorsports. The only thing I'm concerned about is what the offset should be for the rims for fitment. Does anyone know what the offset should be?

[xs420240sx]

Kinda old thread, i know, but had anyone successfully mounted a vented rotor on a stock rear caliper with the internal mechanical ebrake? already did the altima rotor upgrade and now im looking to cool the rear down even more while retaining stock ebrake components

[onehundredoctane]

Originally Posted by xs420240sx

Kinda old thread, i know, but had anyone successfully mounted a vented rotor on a stock rear caliper with the internal mechanical ebrake? already did the altima rotor upgrade and now im looking to cool the rear down even more while retaining stock ebrake components

I'm curious, why are you looking to cool the rear brake? Unless you're drifting you're rear brakes typically less than 30% of the braking force of the car. . . so venting rear rotors isn't going to help much since you're probably not heating them up enough.

In the event you are drifting, have you warped some rotors or something? I haven't heard much about guys running vented rotors on the rear or that there was HUGE advantage to doing so.

[headup240]

This guy on my local forums did CTSV brakes in the front.

[Future240]

^That looks quite nice.

[crzsteveo]

so ive seen the altima rear setup and j30, but is there any other alternatives for an s13 rear caliper?

something i can run to the junkyard and pick up or a local auto store?

[Turbo Nismo]

Have any one ever installed Evo VIII/VI rear Brembo calipers on an S14? Any link or thread that could help? Thanks.

[xs420240sx]

Originally Posted by onehundredoctane

I'm curious, why are you looking to cool the rear brake? Unless you're drifting you're rear brakes typically less than 30% of the braking force of the car. . . so venting rear rotors isn't going to help much since you're probably not heating them up enough.

In the event you are drifting, have you warped some rotors or something? I haven't heard much about guys running vented rotors on the rear or that there was HUGE advantage to doing so.

will be drifting a lot, using the handbrake alot. my car im not worried about, im stock ka, but my friend will be running an ls1 in his 13 coupe and hes using the same brake setup as me so im wondering if un-vented altima rotors will hold up to a v8. were trying to keep the stock ebrake components to get good lock up for drifting and you can keep it locked as a parking brake whereas you cant really do that with a hydro.

[xs420240sx]

Originally Posted by crzsteveo

so ive seen the altima rear setup and j30, but is there any other alternatives for an s13 rear caliper?

something i can run to the junkyard and pick up or a local auto store?

either the z32s or q45/j30 with a vented rotor, but youll need to adapt the whole parking brake system to your car. those are the easiest junkyard finds

[xs420240sx]

Originally Posted by Turbo Nismo

Have any one ever installed Evo VIII/VI rear Brembo calipers on an S14? Any link or thread that could help? Thanks.

i dont know if evo rear brembos are different from sti rear brembos but here's this from nico: "Sti rear Brembo with EVO rear rotor and it BOLTS RIGHT UP!! it needs a 3mm spacer here for the correct offset, you need to trim/remove the dust cover thats all, the brembo brake line even screws right in!"

[Petitt]

I'll play. Q45 brakes front and rear, S13. Brakes are off of a 97 Q45.

This shit is cake. The backs bolt right up. The fronts however need a little work. All you have to do is take a step drill bit and bore out the mounting holes in your spindle.

Here's the rear.


And here's the front.



Here's the difference in bore size. Bigger one on the left.


All mounted up.




Pictures don't really do justice to how big these things really are.

Haven't driven this car yet, but the car I have driven with this setup is awesome. Not as pretty as Z brakes or Brembos, but you can literally walk into a junkyard and get the full setup for less than 100 bucks.

As for master cylinder, I'm using an s14 booster and master combo. I'll upgrade it if need be but I doubt I'll have issues since I'm running the front brakes with the pedal and a hydro to the rear.

Hope this is helpful.

[zerodameaon]

What year Q45 did you use? I have put them on both of my S13s and never had to enlarge bolt holes, direct bolt on. The year info could be helpful for your post.