Silvia Club of NSW

After cooking my standard 180SX brakes at the race last week it was time for an upgrade. A trip to Iwamoto Shoukai, the Silvia specialist in Niigata saw a set of used S14 discs and 4pot calipers in my hand for 15,000yen. They had obviously been sat on a shelf for a long while and were well rusted and the discs were quite dished. Time to make friends with the workshop manager at work..... a couple of lunchtimes worth of work saw the discs skimmed true and flat, and the 4 hole pattern drilled in.



The calipers looked well worn so I bought a full set of new pins, springs and a seal overhaul kit from the local Nissan main dealer, total cost 5,300yen. The first 6 pistons came out just by prising the pistons out with a screwdriver, the last two were a different story. When I picked the calipers up two pistons were half way out, the others were all the way in. It turned out these two pistons were well and truly stuck. I piped the caliper onto the car, put G clamps on the two moving pistons and pumped the pedal, usually a sure fire way to get stuck pistons out. Not this time, it actually broke the 2 G clamps! Plan B... soak the caliper in penetrating fluid and try again on the car with mole grips instead. I also split the caliper and tapped the pistons into the caliper to break the rust seal before putting back onto the car. After 4 hours of trying I eventually freed both the stuck pistons and another hour saw them out of the caliper. Turned out the rubber dust seals had leaked, water got in and had rusted the pistons into the calipers.

A long cleanup and rubber seal removal saw the pistons totally free in the calipers and all cleaned up like new.



I'm glad I decided on the seal kit, the calipers needed it and I'll know they are right now.

I also bought Project Mu HC+ pads, okay on the road when cold, but go up to 800 deg C for circuit use. Cost 18,000yen.

The standard and S14 discs when together you can see the difference in ventilation area in the centre of the disc



Seeing as I was doing the calipers etc it seems a waste not to do the brake lines at the same time, so a full car set of KTS braided lines was used: Cost 10,290yen.



Also because of the wider calipers my wheel spokes touched the calipers, so I bought a set of 15mm wise tread spacers to give the clearance:



So this afternoon I put the front left together, it all went fine with just a small bending of the backing plate and a notch in the caliper mounting area required and it was all fitted up no problem:



So tomorrow is the front right rebuild currently all stripped down) and change the rear brake lines, a full system fluid change to new dot4 and the brakes should be sorted. Someone remind me never to volunteer to overhaul 4 pot calipers for anyone, what a nightmare job.

One question for S14 owners.... is the anti rattle spring in the photo the right way up? I have nothing to use for reference.

Cheers,
Rich

Rich,

the rattle spring is in the right way,although it really doesn't matter as long as your wheels clear it.

my only question is why didn't you go for a pair of skyline callipers? they're the same in every respect bar weight,as being alloy,they weigh about half what the cast iron S14 callipers do.


Justin...

_________________
STI - Made in Texas,not Japan.

Hi Justin,

Cheers for the spring info. You are 100% right about the skyline alloy calipers. My only reason is my next race is 15th Oct meaning I had to change the brakes this weekend, and the S14 setup was available second hand and cheap. To start hunting for a second hand set of alloy calipers would mean I probably would not make the track next weekend with them.

If I'm going to spend any more on brakes it will be 343mm rotors and caliper spacer plates as from my past experience lighter calipers would give a few hundreths on a lap, bigger dia rotors can knock tenths off. I'll wait and see how these get on though. If they run hot I'll put some ducting in.

Cheers,
Rich

fair call mate. good luck with the event on the 15th.


personally,if the offset calliper kit + big disc set was available to me,I'd be fitting it ALONG WITH the alloy callipers. that way you end up with the larger rotor's efficiency boost,and your unsprung weight will remain similar,as the lighter calliper will offset the extra weight of the bigger disc.


Justin...

_________________
STI - Made in Texas,not Japan.

I'll wait and see how the 15th goes with sticky tyres. Finished the other side brakes today, changed all the lines for braided ones and a full fluid change. I'll use the car this week to bed the brakes in on the road and fingers crossed my RE55's arrive before weekend, I ordered nearly a week ago but they seem in short supply over here in 16".

Either way it should be a massive improvement over what I had.......... the standard calipers and road pads suck on the track

coming along nicely ! how much did those re55's set you back over there ?
there quite pricey over here

tyres were 225/50/16 rear and 205/50/16 front, they cost 75,000yen a set, pretty cheap I reckon

After these are gone I might try a set of A048's, they are meant to be about the same but would be nice to do a back to back test.

Cheers,
Rich