I started this last night and got the driver's side front done. Or so I think...

Question, can anyone give me a write-up (personal or otherwise) on how to change pads on the front and the back? I have read through the shop manual and through several other sites and none seem to be helping me. I am getting mixed answers on what to do so now I am confused. What I need is a "I did this then this then this and lastly that" kind of writeup.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

TT:

Definitely go to this site:

http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/

Get into the "How to" section and go to brakes..........lot's of good info there.

I just did this job for the first time last week, and it was pretty simple all around.

Key points:

On fronts, use big channel locks to compress the pistons by squeezing on the old pad itself. MOST IMPORTANTLY - open up your bleeder valve to let fluid out, otherwise you'll have to squeeze like a ****. Opening it up made it simple to squeeze the pad and allow the new one in.

On rears, I used the needle nose ends to turn in the single piston, but it took like 15 turns, unlike the 4 or so I had read about. Just keep screwing it in until your new pad clears. Also use the bungie cord idea to swing the caliper up and hold it out of the way. Also line up the recesses in that piston as parallel to the ground (the same orientation as when you started) to get the caliper back down over it.

Not too bad a job overall. Also sand your rotors and bed in the pads properly. I put Hawk HP+'s on and loved them on my first track day with them.

 

I read that site already and it does not seem to help me too much. I was a retard and looked in the shop manual and took the brake line off. Now I am pissed at myself. Furthermore I could not swing the caliper down like they said because it hits on the metal shield so it went down just a little way and did not clear the rotor. Otherwise, once the caliper was off, I sqeezed the old pads with some huge pliers, put the new pads in, and replaced the caliper on the rotor. Now the rotor is really hard to turn. Is that normal? Shouldn't it turn realitively easy? I know I am going to have to bleed the brake system but I will deal with that when I get to it. *sigh*

Could you just give me a step by step on what you did to swap them out? Thanks of all the help so far and I greatly appreciate any help in the future.

 

right now go read in the brakes/suspension/tires forum.

There are a couple people who have asked about this.

You don't even need to remove the front calipers.

If you did, make damn sure you didn't confuse the upper and lower caliper bolts, because 1 has 2 washers and the other only has 1. If you swap them, the long bolt can hit your rotor on turns.

 

After you have read the suggested forum. lemme know. Hell, it may be easier if you call me.

Bottom line:

Fronts - you don't remove calipers or their bolts at all. You just remove pad "pins", just prior to that the spring that holds them in, other two springs, open bleed valve, squeeze as mentioned before, put new pads in, and reassemble. Do one side at a time so you can refer to the other for proper re-assembly.

Rear - take off clip to emergency brake, and then take brake cable off, next take out bottom caliper bolt and swing caliper all the way up and out of way and secure with bungie. Next Pop out both pads and replace, screw in piston clockwise for a while until the caliper will clear, keeping recesses in piston parallel to ground in their final resting position. Reassemble.

I guess that is sort of a step by step, and hope it helps.

David

 

Edit:

On fronts after you squeeze the pistons all the way in, the pads just slide out the rear of the caliper (towards the rear of the car). In my case, I discarded the shims when putting in the new Hawk Pads.

Good luck, and I agree that some of the stuff I read on other posts was confusing me as well. Once I did it myself it all made sense.

 

Sorry this was orginally posted in the wrong section

 

www.robrobinette.com has a how to on brake bleeding as well.

 

D'OH!
Now you've done it. J/K. No big deal, you'll have to bleed the brakes. If you've haven't done it in a while, this is probably a good time to flush the brake lines anyhow.

Well, here's what I wrote in the other thread about changing brake pads:
The front caliper will only swing off about halfway. That's all you need. Use C-clamps ... a lot easier and faster than using channel locks. You won't need to wear out your hands squeezing.

Now for the fun part ... bleeding/flushing your brake lines. Should be a 8mm bleeder valves, so dig up your 8mm wrench. Start from the caliper that is furthest away from the reservoir (passenger-side rear). And then the next furthest, and so on. Okay, hopefully you already have one of these handy vacuum bleeders or some tubing and a friend who has a bunch of time. Some warnings before you start. (1) Always watch the brake fluid level in the reservoir ... DO NOT LET IT EMPTY!!! If you let it empty, you've just introduced air into the whole system and you'll have to start all over again. (2) Make sure you have steady flow out of the bleeder valve; bubbles mean you do not have a good seal and you won't get the air out of the line.

1. Attach your vacuum line or hose.

2. a) Vacuum bleeder method. Break loose the bleeder valve. With your vacuum bleeder, start pumping the brake fluid out. You may see air bubbles in the vacuum line. That indicates you don't have a good seal. I use disc brake grease and cover the bleeder valve to form a good seal. The flow should be steady and constant ... it will look slow. That's normal. I usually drain out about 25mL. If you're flushing, wait until you start seeing the new stuff (I use the ATE Super Blue and alternate with the Amber).

b) The old friend and step-on-the-brake method. Not as sure-fire, but it works. Have your friend step on the brake pedal until if gets firm. While he's still applying pressure, break loose the bleeder valve. (Same thing applies as above about the air bubbles and the flow.) Your friend will continue to step on the pedal until he feels it almost bottoming out. When he gets to that point, he will yell to you to close the bleeder valve. Repeat this a couple times ... same thing, about 25-50mL.

3. Repeat 1&2 for each caliper. Again, starting with furthest from the reservoir, working up to closest (driver-side front).

That's the quick and dirty summary. If you have further question, you can PM me.

-Don

 

THanks for the help! I talked to David (MrZumZum)yesterday and he helped a ton. THANKS!! Front took me no time at all after I knew what I was doing I am on the rear now waiting for a chance to run to the local NAPA to get that tool. Should have it tomorrow or Saturday. I'll let you guys know if I need anything else.

Bryan

 

Hey Bryan. Good talking to you; glad it helped. It probably woulda been easier if I didn't have all those kids in the car interrupting, but what the hey.

Glad the front went well (other side), and you're on the rears. Keep in mind, you don't really need that tool, so I wouldn't let it hold you back time-wise. All you need to do is use the end of some needle nose pliers spread apart to use as a screwdriver; it's really pretty easy to turn the piston in clockwise.

Good luck and call me if you need to.

David

 

Hey Bryan:

Just noticed your mods. Don't know if I mentioned it yesterday, but I fried my clutch this past weekend and I plan to put in your setup, the ACT S/S and the 9.5lb flywheel. Lot's of people rave about what an improvement that is. What do you think?

Also you've got the catback I want, the RB dual tip. A guy I talked to said not only did he perceive it gave him a good jump HP wise, but also he said his under hood temps went way way down. Whaddya think on that also?

C-ya.

David

 

TT:

Btw, my avatar is me coming out of the S's at Road Atlanta with a bad-*** Porsche coming to get me. You have to get there living so close. Here's the info on the club we ran with. http://www.986club.com

David

 

David,

ACT SS and 9.5 flywheel is great. My old clutch was slipping really badly so I went ahead and got this one. No slipping under any circumstances and I dynoed at 353rwhp. It is really stiff at first but as you put more miles on it it begins to loosen up a little, that or I am getting more use to it. The flywheel is good, I had issues with the engine stalling so I had to add more fuel to lower rpms to keep it alive when I depressed the clutch from high rpms. (does that make sense?) Now it is great. Helps with spool up, first gear is quick, heel toe is not to shabby - although I suck at it - and overall the car feels more responsive.

The RB catback is great. I had the apexi n1 first but it was unbearably loud with a midpipe so it had to go. The RB is much quieter and has a better tone, not as raspy. Power is still great, if anything, it is just a little bit heavier than the n1. Overall, a great buy and I don't regret it at all. Can't comment on underhood temps...I would think that a dp would be the best at reducing the temps.

I wish I could go to that event they are having at the end of May but I dont have $650 No where close to that...

Bryan

 

forgot to mention: The clutch and flywheel install is not that hard, I actually did that easier than I have done the brakes so far. I think a lot has to do with the selected readings I did before hand + a friend let me use his lift. Probably took about 8 hours - roughly one day. RB catback is not hard to install at all. Probably took all of 15 minutes.

If you need help with the install, if you are doing it yourself, give me a call and I will give you all the pointers I can.

Bryan

 

Hey Bryan:

Thanks for the feedback. Am looking forward to the clutch and flywheel combo. I already have the DP, but what happened was that I pulled up to my local RX7 mechanics place, and met a guy with an identical FD. We had both driven roughly in the same traffic while getting there. As we were under eachother's hoods, there was an incredible difference in underhood temps, and he commented that his went down dramatically with the RB catback.

Yeah, the event they are running at the end of May is at the new Barber Motorsports park in Birmingham. What I would do is get in touch with Stephen Huss, the guy that runs the club, and see when they are doing any single days at RA. The club I run with, www.chinmotorsports.com is $250 a day, and you get about 6 hours of track time, which is more than you'll ever want in one day. See if you can hook up with them on something like that.

I'm going to pay my local guy to do my clutch / flywheel. I do have a friend with a lift but his daughters car is on it now and won't be leaving anytime soon. I can't imaging doing the job on jackstands, can you? maybe I'll rethink it but I figured it was $250 well spent.

Lemme know how your brakes come out.

David

 

The local shop around here wanted ~$500 so I was determined to do it myself. Anywho, doing it on jackstands has been done but I would not recommend it. You would probably tear up a) yourself and/or b) your car. Not to mention you need a massive air gun to take off that flywheel bolt.

Good luck and stay in touch!

Bryan