So I’m doing a little write-up on the installation of my brake system. The install probably would have been easy for anyone who has more experience with this than me. But I’m what you guys got. I hope this serves as an instructional people can use for their brake systems on any vehicle.

Well to start I had to remove my old brake system. I decided to use my stock calipers and just rebuild them. the FDs calipers are more than good enough for the braking I will be doing. The rebuild of calipers is pretty easy, I followed this guide. Now there are a few things that did not sink in from that guide…
1. Only use brake cleaner to clean any part of the calipers
2. When using a dremel use a steel wire brush and clean the hell out of the whole thing
3. Only use brake fluid as a lubricant
4. be 100% sure your seals have seated properly. I discovered that even if they look seated for a second they can pop out easily (due to being lubricated) keep an eye on this.
4. I used a tire filling compressor to push the pistons out. They come out at about 75psi.
5. If you don’t put a 2×4 in the middle of the caliper to stop one from bursting out… you’re screwed.

Get the old paint (if you have any) off the calipers. To get the paint off of your calipers you need to use heavy duty paint remover. I used the AutoZone brand industrial paint remover. It works well. And then just wipe it off and respray. This will take 4-5 paint remover resprays before all the paint is gone. Let the paint remover settle into the paint for about 10 min. before you wipe it off.

When repainting calipers don’t use that brush on paint. Its crap and flakes off easily. You want to use high heat paint that can withstand up to 2000 degrees and needs to be baked on. That’s the only stuff that can withstand racing temperatures. Leave that brush on stuff to the show queens.

You should be able to do the front calipers by following that guide. The rears are almost exactly the same except for two differences.

First is removal required taking off the e-brake cable.


To do this you need to first go into the car and disengage the e-brake then loosen the 10mm nut that holds the e-brake cable tight to the handle. This should give you enough room to pull the cable off.

The other difference when doing the rear calipers is that when re-installing the piston you need to twist it whil you are pressing it in so that it threads to the e-brake mechanism. This makes it a little more difficult to put in straight, but take your time and it should be no problem.

At the end of the day you should have nice looking and functional calipers


Now onto installing my new parts from Racing Brake

I ordered Front and rear rotors and pads from Racing Brake. I went with just slotted rotors and ET-800 pads for their excellent ratings.

First we’ll do the front.

To install these parts jack up the car as per your manufacturers instructions and remove your wheel.

you should see something like this (bear in mind I already removed my calipers to rebuild them)


These are my old Brembo drilled and slotted rotors. They were ok, but after the car sat outside for a while and they saw some weather it was really time to go. The first thing you need to do is get rid of the retaining screw. I talked to Racing Brake and they told me these retaining screws were not needed and were just put on cars in the assembly line process so the rotors didn’t fall off. I stuck a screw driver through one of my holes to hold it in place and then used a breaker bar with a screw driver attachment to get these off.




!!TIP!! Push down hard on these screws because they seem to strip easily

Now use a rubber mallet to hit and loosen the rotor a few times and pull it off. You should not be looking at a wheel hub.

 

Now break out some of your new parts… you baller.


Now put your new rotor onto the hub


And assemble you brake pad components.

!!TIP!! Do not use any of the factory shims or spaces when putting the brake pads in.(I had to discover this the hard way)


Now if you are also using new lines (I installed my coilovers at this time) Make sure you run your brake line properly and secure it with the stock clip.



Not slide the caliper and pads onto the rotor. and secure it with the stock caliper bolts. There should be two.

!!TIP!! remember to attach the brake line mount to the top caliper bolt.

TOP


BOTTOM


(The next pics were taken with the caliper off for better visibility) Now locate the brake line (should be bolted to the caliper)


And bolt it into the back of the caliper


Now your front Brakes should be mounted and ready to rumble.


You should now be able to put on you stock wheel, which of course you painted white with appliance epoxy, back on and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

The rear Brakes are a little more involved than the front brakes due to the E-brake setup.

So as Before we start with a broken down old rotor.


We Take out the retaining screws and use our trust rubber mallet to beat it to death… I mean loosen it.


Now you should be looking at your rear hub


And put on your new rotor. The rear rotor comes in two pieces which makes the install a little different.

The first thing you want to do is grab you brake pads and find the pad that goes on the inside of the rotor and grind off the metal nipple on the back. I used a grinding wheel, but a dremel with the proper bit would work just as well. This will interfere with the piston assembly and make it impossible to bolt the caliper on. These metal nipples do not interfere on the outside pad.


Now bolt the outer piece of the caliper on with the two factory bolts.


After it was bolted on I put on the pad retaining clips



Then install the brake pads


Now install the caliper over the pads and bolt it into place. (If you have not ground down the metal nipple on the back of the pad it will not slide over the top properly.)


Now simply bolt on the rear brake line and attach the e-brake cable then tighten the e-brake cable nut inside the car and you are finished.


In a later guide I will go over bleeding and break in procedures for the brakes.

 

Only one problem with the rears, you should have gone for this:

 

1. Use an impact screwdriver to remove the retaining screws on the rotor. Its a cool tool for this job. Look into it.

2. WHY did you grind down the nipples on the rear brake pads??? You are SUPPOSED to rotate the rear piston until the slot in the piston slides over the nipple. I'll bet you used a C-clamp to compress the rear caliper pistons too? Get ready to replace them soon.

3. At this rate, PLEASE do not post a guide on brake bleeding and break in. You are going to get someone killed when their **** won't stop.

 

Nice write up.

 

+1

Use an impact driver to remove set screws, don't put them back. And didn't you notice the stock pads had the "nipples" too?! Better check those rear calipers if you don't understand the rotating piston.

 

I definitely commend the time you took to write this up. That's definitely admirable. Might want to see if it can be revised by a moderator though so some of this info is correct.

The impact screw/driver is a must actually. Especially when putting the rotors back on. This will avoid the stripping issue as well if done properly.

And please do clarify how you compressed the rear caliper piston. Also mention that they should uncap the brake reservoir and put a really good rag around the neck of it for overflow when compressing the piston.

Rishie

 

You really should open the bleeder valve so that the dirty fluid at the caliper doesn't get pushed back into the system when the piston is screwed in.

 

Also did not mention that the rotors are directional. It is a huge help in cooling the brakes, if you don have a lot of rain, or if it is a track car only , to remove the aluminum shield.


Also a great time to repack the front bearings.
gd