So finally im done with my brake/hub job. This is all done by me (15 years old) and every penny has been out of my pocket. Being half Japanese and raised kind of with that mind set, im kind of a perfection person, so with all the time I had, I was very **** about everything. Here’s all the pictures and explanations. I had taken all the pictures out of order so I tried to organize them, but if its not, sorry.

Picture of just the front with the caliper off (forgot to take a pic before).

With the brake rotor off. It was a complete BITCH and a fair amount of heat from a torch had to be used to get them off.

Hub and everything off. Was just testing how clean I could get the spindle and stuff with a wire brush. I had obviously taken the pic before I got done.

Hub before cleaning. Had already taken out the screws.

 

Hub after bead blasting (most amazing tool invented…haha) and new screws in.

Everything cleaned up. Bearing were put in the part cleaning tub and nylon brushed till all the grease crap was out of it. Packed the bearing with high temp wheel bearing grease then. And if your not sure how to repack bearings, I put a slab of grease on my palm with the bearing in the other hand and just…pack them together. Keep doing it till they are good and filled.

Starting to put stuff back on. I got my Goodridge SS lines on too.


I moved to the back then cause I hadn’t painted all the calipers yet. I just slapped the rear caliper back on for the pic so nothings connected. I had taken it off to test the paint and all.

 

This is the left hub (bushing went to ****). Just showing how to get the stud hub part out of the bearing. I had my dad hold the whole hub assembly in the air while I hit a little pipe piece on the stud hub part with the hammer. Comes out rather easy.

Once it’s out, we have that damn race on it.

I hadn’t realized we had the puller so that’s just my dad giving a hand on the project.


Bead blasted and then put back together with new screws.

Filthy hub and then getting cleaned.


Bead blasted parts. I taped the inside of the hub up just to made sure I didn’t make it rough.

 

Rear hub bearings and seals. Went to Advance Auto Parts to get them. It was like $35-40 each for the bearings. Seals are Timken, part number 225872.


This is one way you can get the bearing in. Freeze the bearing and heat the hub with a torch. Pulled the vise lever while hitting the back side of it till it finally went all the way. (don’t worry, I didn’t do this for both). Then the big damn C clip with the tool you need to get it on there.


Make sure you don’t forget to bolt up your rotor cover first. I then froze the stud hub part and then the same vice dealio.

Hub back on the car. Make sure to torque stuff like this.

I had forget to take a pic of the ss lines. Here the front slotted brembo rotors (don’t mine the pads on the left, I had taken a pic as soon as I got it and hadn’t even noticed they were the wrong ones). The rear blank brembo rotors front tirerack.com. YES…they are brembo’s. Number is B25621. The number on the very bottom (to blurry and far away to tell from the pic) are just mazda’s number for the rear rotors (FB05 yadda yadda). And then my Axxis Ultimate pads with shims from Victoria British on them. By the way…would anyone want to buy the other pads I got for $30 shipped (US only)? They are for the front of single piston fc’s. I have more pics so you can just pm me. They have only been taken out of the package for my to realize they were the wrong pads.

 

Two reman rear calipers I got cause the left one was just f**ked up, while the right one was getting rather worn and not worth touching. I know they are from 2 dif companies, but that doesn’t matter.

All masked up, bead blasted carefully, cleaned, and ready to be painted.

I think I did like 2-3 thin/medium base coats and then 1 last thicker coat. Then 3 or so thin clear coats. All back together then. I had to take the left side apart after everything was back together cause of a little e-brake problem but I fixed it then. Finished calipers with the pads double springed (crappy pic).




This is the paint I used.

Everything back on. The part that holds the hub, I don’t know what youd call it on the rear was cleaned like crazy with the wire brush, and when I say that, I don’t mean ones u put on your dremel or anything, I mean man power.

 

These are just some homemade tools for the rear calipers. Socket ground for turning in the piston and the tube for screwing out the part that the piston screws onto.

I got the bbs wheels with offsets that wont work, so I got longer studs up front (from summit racing, search it on here and youll get the part number). With that said, I had to take the front hubs back off again to put them on. (new studs on it, an old one is on the package)

Front calipers and crap. Then just misc. crap (new and cleaned stuff)



Calipers out of the bead blaster. I don’t know what those dots are, I must have got something on them. Pistons as they came right out. I tried the air nozzle method and it worked, but I found it to just be more of a pain in the butt than anything because from trying to hold the caliper, to blowing air into it, and then keeping brake fluid from flying everywhere, it just wasn’t for me. Since the pistons werent stuck or anything, I just took channel locks and twisted and pulled and they just slipped right out.

 

Pulling the seals out with a small screwdriver. All the old crap and then the new.



Dipping the new seals in brake fluid, put them in, and masked everything off for painting.

 

All painted up. I think I did the same thing as the back. For the mazda symbol, just sanded the black paint off when all that was done and started the clear coating. Paint thinner on the q-tips to clean up some of the paint that got into the holes. Lined the piston insides with a bit of grease to help prevent rust. Put a little bit of brake fluid on the outsides of the pistons and popped them into the calipers. All the pistons in and then the final pic with new springs and all. Then with it bolted back on the car.

 

So when I get around to doing the left rear hub, the vertical rear steer bushing was so rusted and all onto the bolt, there was no way in hell it was ever going to come out leaving the bushing alone. I had to just keep turning till it ripped the bushing. I just ordered 2 new rear steer eliminator bushings from racing beat then. So if you think about it….that means I have to take the f**king right side back apart AGAIN!

Getting the old bushing out. Then a pic of the new bushings.

 

And then as I said towards the beginning, I didn’t use the vise putting the new bearings back in. Well, me and my dad finally decided to just say hell with it and make our own little handy press. So heres my dad arm again because he wanted to test the first thing out, which was putting in the new bushings. Then I pushing in the new bearing for the left hub along with the stud hub part (sorry I keep saying this…I don’t know what the heck you would call it).



Everything went back on then. Test drove hard on the drive way (its not a little 5 ft one from a garage to the street, we live in the country so its plenty long and cement) and everything is good. No leaks. Drove it around then to wear in the pads some and they are starting to get a little better, but there isn’t more than 15-20 miles on it so I cant tell you how good it is yet. I have to bleed the brakes again cause there are still some, or maybe a good amount, of bubbles in the lines/calipers because everything was drained obviously. This took some time to freekin write everything up so sorry if I have mistakes on stuff. And write whatever guys…tell me what you think.

 

good stuff, thread copied to 2nd gen archive

 

a 15 year old with his act together !!!

 

how long would this have taken you if you had all of the parts there ready to go?

 

blah....long? haha. couple weeks? i have no clue

 

Great job, this is one of the most descriptive and detailed "how to's" I have ever seen!

 

Atta Boy!!!!

 

Great Job!!!

Kinda reminds me that no matter how much boost you have, if you can't stop, your screwed.

 

Sweet job looks nice. good write up. Can't wait to get into mine.

Ramses666

 

i wish i would have actually wrote a "write up" now instead of just kind of saying what i did. but anyways...i want some more feedback!

 

did u slap on ur wheels yet? looking forward to the pics with them on! good job.

 

wow..nicely written!

 

nah....not yet. my car is on the lift and then my dad put all his robots (thats his business) underneath so i cant get the car down until he moves all the crap somewhere else again. not really my worries right now. i still need to get some new 245's for the rear so then i can test everything on the car to figure out exactly how big of spacers i will need. and i really dont feel like spending 250-300 for new tires right now because im trying to save up like 2.5-3 k for my bitchin rebuild im planning on doing, but im getting a little side tracked cause im trying to design my own bumper and fenders, hoping i can follow along with that and sell those for rebuild money and extra.

 

Yeah, Like I said before man, nice job. I have been tackeling mine for a while now, I get a weekend here and there, and have ended up drilling and replacing every caliper bolt on the car so far, damn they are stuck really well!!

Anyways, My front rotors warped and had to replace them. There is a pic herehttps://www.rx7club.com/vbgarage.php?do=view&id=43953. But I am getting the calipers re-built and bead blasted(Had to buy one after seeing what you did) and painted. Nice work...later

 

i got a pm asking how much and where i got everything, so ill just post it in here so everyone can see it. all prices include tax & shipping. there might be something i left out.
gooridge ss brake lines-26-ebay
rear right caliper-43-ebay
rear left caliper-98-autozone
screws-5-local bolt store
cotter pins-2-autozone
wheel bearing greese-7-autozone
rear wheel bearings-78-advance auto parts
front caliper rebuild parts-30-advance auto parts
rear brake hardware kit-13-advance auto parts
rear hub seals-17-advance auto zone
front and rear brake pad shims-20-victoria british
hub stopper washer (one was missing)-3-victoria british
longer wheel studs-34-summit racing
brembo front rotors-140-ebay (they are real onces too....i made sure first)
brembo rear rotors-140-tire rack
axxis ultimate pads;front and rear-100-ebay
front brake hardware kit-10-advance auto
rear steer eliminators-45-racing beat
paint-25-advance auto parts

 

Beed blasting isn't sand blasting? I don't use sand in my sand blaster I use those black beeds(i forget the name).