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S13 300ZX Rear Brake Install
51 Attachment(s)
I did the Z32 rear brake upgrade today. I read this page http://importnut.net/300zxbrakeswap.htm and was compelled to attempt this upgrade. Props to Al because it can be done and quite easily.
Tools needed: Jack Jackstands Socket wrench Socket kit 36mm socket 27mm socket 22mm socket 19mm socket 17mm socket 10mm socket Wrenches/10mm line wrench(for the brake hardlines) Hammer Screwdrivers Needle nose pliers Brake fluid Drain pan Attachment 20555 Z32 rear calipers. Attachment 20556 240SX to Z32 stainless steel rear conversion brake lines from ProjectNissan. Attachment 20557 Z32 ebrake extension kit from SuperautoBacs. Attachment 20558 Z32 spindles and hub assembly... Attachment 20559 I'm staying four lug so I only really needed the dust shield/ebrake assemblies and not the 5lug hubs or the aluminum spindles. Attachment 20560 Z32 Brembro rotors redrilled to 4lug from Heavythrottle. To do this brake upgrade and stay 4lug you'll need to remove the spindles, rotors, calipers and brake lines both normal and ebrake, that is if you want to keep your ebrake. Attachment 20561 First you jack the car up and place jackstands in the appropriate places. Attachment 20562 You'll need the ebrake engaged in order to bust the axle nuts loose so that's where you should start. Don't be like me, disconnect an ebrake line first not realizing that the wheels will spin without them and waste valuable time putting them back on....estupido!!! Remove the axle cotter pin and adjustment cap. Attachment 20563 Use a breaker bar and the massive 36mm socket to bust the axle nut loose. You'll hear a loud screeching when it busts. Now that the axle nuts are loose you need to get to the spindles. Attachment 20564 Remove the top and bottom caliper bolts with a 17mm socket. Attachment 20565 You may have to wriggle it a little but the caliper comes off the rotor. Attachment 20566 You need to use something to suspend it and keep it out of your way. Attachment 20567 Go ahead and remove the axle nut that you bust earlier. Attachment 20568 The rear rotors are slip fit so just pull them off unless yours are rusted to the hub. Attachment 20569 Remove the axle spacer. Your're almost to the spindles, now you need to disconnect the rear suspension arms from the spindle next. Attachment 20570 The traction link(18mm socket/ 3/4 wrench). Attachment 20571 The rear upper control arm(18mm socket/ 3/4 wrench). Attachment 20572 The toe rod(18mm socket/ 3/4 wrench).... Attachment 20573 ...and the strut to spindle nut(17mm socket). Attachment 20574 You may need a pry bar to persuade some of the arms off of the spindle. Attachment 20575 All arms removed. Attachment 20576 Use a rubber mallet to knock the axles out of the spindle. I only had to use the mallet on the passenger side, I pushed the axle out with my fingers on the drivers side. Attachment 20577 If it doesn't want to budge then use something to hold against the tip of the axle so you can "hammer and chisel" it out. Attachment 20578 Axle out. Attachment 20579 Push the axle to the side and you have access to the rear lower control arm nut. Attachment 20580 Use a pair of needle nose pliers to remove the cotter pin. Attachment 20581 If you're a poor man like me and don't have access to a impact gun then you need bust the hub bolts loose while the spindle is still attached to the RLCA...you'll need the leverage to do so. There are four hub bolts that need to come off with a 19mm socket. Attachment 20582 Use a 22mm socket to bust the RLCA ball joint nut loose. Attachment 20583 Use a ball joint tool to pop the ball joint loose from the spindle. Attachment 20584 Insert the tool between the spindle and the ball joint and use a hammer to hit the end of the tool to pop it out. Attachment 20585 My next project needs to be a new set of RLCA's because these ball joints are shot...pudding anyone? Attachment 20586 Now that you have the spindle off you can remove the hub bolts. Attachment 20587 Ran into a little problem here, when you take the hub bolts out the one part separates into three parts, the spindle, the hub and the dust shield. My drivers side spindle was seized apparently by the heat that was generated over a period of time and it would not come apart. I took it to a friend at a dealership and he pressed the hub out of the spindle for me. The passenger side spindle fell apart the second I removed the last bolt. Attachment 20588 Here's the comparison between the 240SX spindle(top) and the Z32 spindle(bottom). The 240SX spindle is iron where the Z32 is aluminum. I would have liked to use the Z32 which is 7lbs. lighter but I would have had to get coilovers or Z32 shocks/struts because as you can see the only thing different is where the strut to spindle mounts are. They are completely different. Attachment 20589 While I had my spindles off, I gave them a fresh coat of black. Attachment 20590 The Z32 ebrake assemblies bolt up to the 240SX spindles by way of the hub bolts and this hole above the hub bolt holes on the spindle. These holes were crusted so I had to dremel them out. Attachment 20591 Take three parts, hub, spindle and dust shield assembly and assemble them. Make sure you have the hub bolt holes aligned properly so you can reinsert the bolts properly. Attachment 20592 Even after dremmeling out the hole for the dust shield, the mount that goes into the hole did not want to go so I took a note from a friend and used a old socket as a press and hammered down the spindle onto the mounting point. Once you get it started you may want to insert the hub bolts to keep it lined up. Once you get the spindle completely knocked down, use a 27mm socket for the nut that secures the ebrake assembly to the spindle. Attachment 20593 Attachment 20594 Torque the hub bolts to 57-72ft. lbs. Attachment 20595 The spindles are complete and need to be put back on the car. Attachment 20596 Lay the ebrake lines across the subframe. Attachment 20597 Place the spindle back on the ball joint, torque the nut to 52-64ft. lbs and reinstall a new cotter pin. Attachment 20598 Put the axle back into the spindle. Attachment 20599 I decided to replace my old suspension arm bolts... Attachment 20600 and strut to spindle spacers/bolts. Attachment 20601 Reinstall your suspension arms. Torque the traction links, rear upper control arms and toe rods to 57-72ft. lbs. Attachment 20602 Torque the strut to spindle nut to 72-87ft. lbs. Attachment 20603 Put the axle spacer back then the axle nut. Attachment 20604 You won't be able to tighten the axle nut until you secure the Z32 ebrake lines. Attachment 20605 |
37 Attachment(s)
Remove your center console and the ebrake boot and use a 10mm wrench to loosen the tension on the ebrake lines so that you can remove them.
Attachment 20493 The 240SX lines can be taken out by removing the screws from the mounts here in the driveshaft tunnel. Attachment 20494 To remove the lines from the T-bracket, turn the lines to the side of the bracket where there is an opening and use a screwdriver to pop the cylinder out by pressing from the bottom. Attachment 20495 Done! Attachment 20496 Use a 10mm wrench to remove the ebrake mounts from the subframe. Attachment 20497 You can pull the 240SX ebrake out and done! Attachment 20498 When you install the Z32 ebrake cables there are two stock mounting points on the rear subframe that you can use to bolt them to if you wish. Attachment 20499 If the lines that you have need to be extended in order to reach the T-bracket then take the ebrake extension kit... Attachment 20500 and connect the lines. Attachment 20501 Run the lines across or thru the subframe. Attachment 20502 Insert them both into the T-bracket. Attachment 20503 You'll need to secure the cables onto the floorboard in order to get them to function correctly. Attachment 20504 These brackets came with the ebrake extension kit for mounting the cables but I used these to mount the cables to the subframe... Attachment 20505 You can see them if you look closely. Attachment 20506 I used some metal brackets that I got from Lowes to secure the ends of the ebrake cables to the floorboard. I bent them into a L formation, bolted the lines on and was able to bolt the brackets to the same stock location that the 240SX lines were bolted to. Now that your ebrake functions, you can install the rotors, calipers and torque down the axle bolts. Attachment 20507 Z32 vs. 240SX rotors. Attachment 20508 You won't be able to remove the 240SX calipers until you take the 240SX regular brake lines off the car. Attachment 20509 Place the Z32 rotor on the hub. Attachment 20510 Decided to replace my old caliper bolts with new bolts also. Attachment 20511 Apply brake quiet to your pads and insert the pad with the mounting tab into the caliper before you bolt the caliper to the spindle. I tried but you can't install the pad with the tab on it unless the caliper is off the car. Attachment 20512 Use a 17mm socket to reinstall the caliper bolts and torque to 28-38ft. lbs. Attachment 20513 Now you can insert the other pad from the top of the caliper. Attachment 20514 Pad retainer. Attachment 20515 Bolts. Attachment 20516 Spring retainer. Attachment 20517 Done with the caliper install. Now on to the brake lines. Attachment 20518 After removing the brake hose clip, use a 10mm wrench(preferably a line wrench) to remove the brake hose hard line fittings... Attachment 20519 and replace with the stainless steel line... Attachment 20520 and clip it down. The stainless steel line uses a 19mm wrench. Keep the 10mm wrench on the hardline to hold it steady while you turn the fitting on the new line. The hardlines anywhere on a car can be a pain to get off without rounding them off so I hit it with PB Blaster and after letting it sit, I would turn and wipe in order to get the PB risidue off the hardline to keep it from getting in with the brake fluid. Attachment 20521 During this procedure I busted one of my brake hardlines from the chassis to the brake hose so I removed it, went to Autozone and had another hardline cut and bent to replace it with. You'll need to bleed the brakes later. Attachment 20522 Reinstall the adjuster cap and the cotter pin to the axle after you torque the axle nut to 151-201ft. lbs. Attachment 20523 Z32 rear setup... Attachment 20524 Finished! As far as using wheels goes, I found out that the stock S13 alloy wheels could possibly be used with the brake upgrade. Apparently there were three types of Z32 calipers, 26mm aluminum, 30mm aluminum and 30mm iron. Attachment 20525 There were also two types of S13 stock alloy wheels that looked the same but were different on the backside.... Attachment 20526 This type with the grooves in them... Attachment 20527 and this type without the grooves. You can use the 26mm aluminum calipers with the stock alloys without the grooves in them. Attachment 20528 I was able to mount these wheels on the car with the 26mm calipers and spin the wheel without any contact between the caliper and wheel... Attachment 20529 but there was absolutely very little space in between the two...but it is possible. |
lol damn dosnt look to hard only reason i sold my rear z32 calipers is cause i thought it was hard to do hmm i might have to buy myself another set
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Good write-up man.
I can see we are very alike, buying little things like new bolts and what not so everything is 'fresh' and not half-assed style No Hammer of Thor pix? :( Good Write-Up dude. I will be using this for reference in the near future. |
looks very good bro..
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ok so if i go crossovers i can use the spindals too? will that work on a hicas system? what about the front spindals will they work also?
very nice writeup btw :) |
From what I've researched, you can use the Z32 coilovers and struts/shocks but there is a small stock spacer that you will need to close a gap for where the 240SX RLCA's bolt up.
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Update!!!
16 Attachment(s)
I messed up the adjustment nut on my ebrake handle when I first did this conversion so I've been riding around with barely an ebrake because I could not adjust it. I bought another handle from a forum guy, got it yesterday and installed it today. I also reinstalled my Z32 ebrake cables and this time I did so without the use of the ebrake extensions.
Tools needed: 10mm socket 12mm socket Phillipshead screwdriver Prybar Attachment 20053 After removing the console, use a 10mm socket to remove the console bracket. Attachment 20054 Take the console bracket off and use a 10mm socket to get the ebrake line off. Attachment 20055 Use a 12mm to remove two bolts holding the handle to the chassis, one on each side. Attachment 20056 Disconnect the harness from the ebrake, this lights up the "BRAKE" on your gauge cluster. Attachment 20057 Now you can slide the cable out from under the copper box and remove it. Attachment 20058 Done! Attachment 20059 Put the new handle in and reinstall. Attachment 20060 Adjustment nut. Attachment 20061 For the Z32 ebrake cables I removed the extensions and used a prybar... Attachment 20062 to remove the mounting brackets from the cables. Attachment 20063 Now I can run the cables throught the stock location on the subframe, this opening here. You wouldn't be able to get them through the hole with the mounting brackets attached. Attachment 20064 This stopper fits flush here. Attachment 20065 The cable runs right to the t-bracket. Attachment 20066 Now you can connect it. Attachment 20067 Make sure you have the adjustment nut loose and the ebrake handle down for the slack, also so you can reach the t-bracket with the cables. I also suggest connecting the cable on the exhaust side first because of the limited space. Attachment 20068 An added bonus, now you can reuse the mounting brackets that you pryed off, just put them back on the cables and you can mount them to the same stock mounting points that the 240SX cables were mounted to flush against the undercarriage of the car. |
Where did you get all the bolts? I can't find some of them?
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Courtesy Nissan http://www.courtesyparts.com/betasit...1418_1419.html You can get any part you need for this car on that site...and they have pictures which is very nice. Just make sure you pay attention, I bought a set of pin bolts instead of caliper bolts because I wasn't looking at the right part and where it connects....DOH! Courtesy Nissan is cool, just sent them back and was refunded the money.
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sticky
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how much did this cost you?
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Originally Posted by imnotmatt1189
(Post 343347)
how much did this cost you?
The rear calipers powder coated with pads=$169 Brembro rotors=$150 Stainless steel lines=$40 New hardware(bolts, hose clips and washers)=$20 36mm axle nut=$17 and THIS is the part that I complain about WTF!!!:soapbox: |
Thanks for posting this...it will be very helpful soonly...
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so hows longs it take to do the rear?? i "tried" it on my old 240 anddd didnt know what i was doing but ill have to do it on my new 240
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