85rotarypower

Alright, I figured since I just got my Respeed big brake kit installed on my 7, I would post about the install. I have not driven the car yet, and probably won't be for a while, so I can't comment on the affect it has on stopping distance.

Anyway, when I got the kit, all the parts were there and it was well packaged. It even included the bolts and washers to bolt the calipers to the brackets from the kit, something I was expecting to have to buy. Everything seems to be very well designed.

I only ran into one problem when installing the bearing spacers, my spindles seemed to be more oversize than what the spacers were intended for. I ended up having to heat the spacers up with an oxy/acetylene torch before they would go on. Once on and cooled, they were tight an no way they were coming off again. The rest of the install was smooth using the TII inner bearing and the FB outer bearing along with the TII nut and lock ring. I have used calipers and hubs from a low mileage j-spec front clip.

Now, there was a thread a while back that asked about brake lines to go with the TII calipers. I don't believe there was a true answer in that thread, but I have devised a way to make the mazdatrix FB SS flex lines work with the TII calipers. Since the calipers have a standard inverted flare in the fitting, a regular double flare steel brake line can be used. I used a short 6" piece of steel brake tubing with metric M10x1.0 fittings on the ends, then used a brake line union to mate the end of the flex hose to the hard line. The flex hose has the same basic design as the fitting of a hard line, so it screws into the union just like the hardline. I then routed the flex line through the stock locations. The pics I have attached will explain a little better. The whole setup has been blead already and there are no leaks. The pedal is quite solid, but thats probably due to the fact that all the brake lines are new, the master cylinder is new, and everything in the system is pretty much in original working condition.

So, all in all the Respeed kit is very nicely designed and I had no major problems with the install. the real test is yet to come, but it looks good so far.

83rx7boy92

good job....soo....u do have wheels to put on now right since u changes the lug pattern lol

Rx7carl

Looks great. Is that brass fitting ok for brake pressure?

openshot

can you get a pic of the rotor? i mean one of the side?

steve84GS TII

Looks great!
Thats how they are hooked up from the factory.Because the TII calipers are fixed units with opposed pistons,they dont need any flex hoses to account for caliper slide.The flex line is strictly for steering and suspension action.
I ran my hardline to the strut tab,so it would be supported at both ends.Then attached the stainless flex lines to the front and routed them to the chassis hardline.My calipers are rear mounted,so it was easier to route them like that.Youd need a longer hardline to do it that way,but it'd be slightly safer being fully supported....although with such a short hardline,youll probably be fine with it sitting free like that.

13BT_RX3

Looks good. The bouncy bit makes me a little nervous for your safety though. You may want to secure the brass fitting to the strut somehow. I would hate for the hard line to cycle fatigue or vibrate loose. I know it may be a long shot...but still. Can you run the calipers trailing the rotors intead of leading it by doing a left right swap? I think this change may require bumpsteer spacers. This would make it so you don't need to do a U-turn with the brakeline. Or you could do the U-turn with the hardline to the strut mounting tab.

steve84GS TII

Im pretty sure the RE kit has to be front mounted,for steering arm clearance.
My brakes are an older,Selectmaz kit which works front or rear and clears the tierod ends fine, when rear mounted.The straight hose routing is why I rear mounted mine.

KeloidJonesJr.

iTrader: (8)

wow 5 lug first gen? Good stuff.

13BT_RX3

Hence the possible need for bump steer spacers under the struts.

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

Sweet install, nice write up.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Glad everything went smoothly. I'll be getting mine pretty soon so its good to know that it'll go easily. What wheels are you going to be running?

85rotarypower

Ya, I forgot to mention that I'm making a bracket to hold the brass fitting, and yes, the brass fitting is specifically made for connecting brake lines together. This seemed like the easiest way to do things without getting new flex lines or modifying the kit to rear mount the calipers. Running the hard line up to the mounting ear on the strut tube would have been ideal, but that would also have left a lot of slack in the flex line, something I don't want to see. I just bought the flex lines from Mazdatrix and they have never been used. I feel its perfectly safe and should work out well.

As of right now, I do have wheels for the car, but no tires yet. I still need to get adapters for the front and redrill the rear axles to the bolt pattern of the wheels I have. They are actually 16x7 +38mm offset wheels that I got for my 97 Thunderbird but I sold the car and kept the wheels. They are 5x108 bolt pattern, but since I gotta get adapters for the front anyway to fit most wheels, I might as well use these wheels and just drill the rear axles to fit that bolt pattern.

gonzz

When i installed my set the caliper mounting brackey spacers were not wide enough. I had to double them. Don't know why but it wouldn't work if i didn't. Drove the car for 30 minutes yesterday and didn't notice alot of differance.. Maybe because I installed brand new crossdrilled/slotted rotors, hawk pads and reman calipers on all 4 corners.. Todays drive was better..Thinking i have to let the rototrs break in.. Next project is the 8.8 rear and some 9" wheels in the rear with no widebody..

Re-Speed.com

iTrader: (3)

Yes, the use of the spacers would allow a rear caliper setup.

-billy