ok.. I just did this swap a few weeks ago and I'm wondering what you other guys that did it as well think of it. I picked up my set of calipers from the yard for $100 and got the brembo blanks with axis MM pads.
my pedal feel is pretty squishy, but they bite hard once i push on em. i think i may still have some air in there, so i'm going to bleed them again when i get the chance. overall, they don't seem that much better than the stock si brakes, although bleeding them again might change my opinion.
i'm wondering if i should now do some work on my rears. i've had the car for about a year and a half and the rear pads don't seem to have worn down a bit, so maybe the calipers need to be rebuilt.
i guess i was just expecting a little bigger difference in the stopping power. please post your opinions if you've done the swap.
You dont need to upgrade the rear calipers... they only do about 30% of the braking. Focus on your fronts. I suggest getting a larger Brake Master Cylinder... since you are using bigger calipers you will need the larger Master Cylinder to push more fluid. Switch to the Master Cylinder off of a VTEC and you should feel a difference.
i wasn't planning on upgrading the rear calipers, just rebuilding them or getting better pads. is the vtec master cylinder really different from the si version? i could probably get the mc from the legend at the yard if i wanted it, but i just don't know if it'll fit. does anyone have experience with a master cylinder upgrade?
as for the install, when i got the calipers they were in pretty good shape. hardly any rust at all, just a little bit on the exposed part of the pistons and the caliper body near the pistons. so, i disassembled everything and soaked all the metal parts in carbeurator cleaner. for the rubber parts, i washed them with some dish soap. after letting the parts soak, i rubbed the calipers off with rubbing alcohol and painted them with some red engine paint. when they were dry, i lubed up all the rubber parts with grease and put everything back together. there wasn't any visible wear on any of the boots or rings so i just reused them. the piston boots were a ***** to put back in, until i figured out a good method to do it. first you mount the boot inside the cylinder. then, take a toilet paper roll and cut it in half and then lengthwise. i rolled it into a funnel shape and stuck it into the boot to spread the opening so the piston would fit in, and once i had the piston down to the bottom of the funnel and inside the boot, i pulled the cardboard out. if you just try to do it with your hands then good luck because i didn't even come close. this method will also prevent you from stretching the boot permanently and losing a good seal. aside from the piston boots the rebuild is pretty easy.
once i had the calipers rebuilt, it was a piece of cake. unbolt old caliper and brake line, remove old roter, install new rotor, bolt in the new caliper and install pads, and connect the brake line, then bleed. i swapped the sides and put the left caliper on the right side and vice versa, so that the bleed hole would be on top. the calipers bolted in to the stock bracket perfectly. the only thing was i had to add the 5mm shim behind the outer pad. for that, i just took the old pads that came with the calipers from the yard and removed the pad material. it was a ***** to get off too, because i didn't have a bandsaw or anything, so i basically chiseled away at it for a couple hours.
if you're planning on doing this and can get a set of already rebuilt calipers for a little extra cash i would recommend going with those. the carbeurator cleaner is really caustic and messy stuff, plus getting the pistons out and back in again can be a headache. for 50-60 bucks extra i would definitely go with the rebuilds, but i don't know where to get them.
just to recap, the calipers are from a 93-95 legend ls coupe or a 94-95 gs sedan. if you're putting them on an si, you'll need 4th gen vtec rotors and pads. also if anyone was wondering, i am running the stock 92 si wheels.
about the lines, i just used my stock ones. how much do stainless lines run for anyway? my stock line is in an 'S' shape just before it meets the bleed hole so i might want to get a different length line.
Originally posted by red92si You dont need to upgrade the rear calipers... they only do about 30% of the braking. Focus on your fronts. I suggest getting a larger Brake Master Cylinder... since you are using bigger calipers you will need the larger Master Cylinder to push more fluid. Switch to the Master Cylinder off of a VTEC and you should feel a difference.
I didn't knew the Master Cylinder of the VTEC was bigger... Did you swap yours?
About your rear calipers, you might want to take them off and look at them. How many miles does it have on it? My rear caliper pins were seized at 108k miles, maybe even earlier, but that was when I found out. Check the pads for any uneven wear. You'll want to catch it early because when I tried to rebuild mine at 130k miles, I couldn't. The pin was so stuck in there that I tried everything to get it out and it wouldn't come out. I had to buy new rebuilt calipers, don't let this happen to you.
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06 Nissan 350Z 6MT (Born 2/10/06) 
Linear Mode
