What did you do to your Z this week?

Turn & Burn

Club Member
The orange with the bronze RKRs looks a great combo Gary.

Have you thought about rear disc conversions at all? I'm frustrated with the options available tbh; the key problem is the poor handbrake efficiency with the common Maxima/280zx based options. The alternative is the kit offered by Silvermine and others that uses Wilwood calipers with separate handbrake calipers. I'd like to do something similar, but more economically! Something to break from the limited, overpriced alternatives anyway. Fancy another project? EXTRA:D

I’m using s13 calipers on the rear, gripping 280zx discs. Brackets for the calipers in st.stl avail from zcar for about $90. So a fairly cheap conversion.
S13/14 and maxima calipers are different on the backspacing. So u need to get the right bracket.
https://zcardepot.com/products/rear...sx-240z-260z-280z?_pos=8&_sid=65a22a9de&_ss=r

I can post pics if req’d, they’re all built up off the car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

atomman

Club Member
The orange with the bronze RKRs looks a great combo Gary.

Have you thought about rear disc conversions at all? I'm frustrated with the options available tbh; the key problem is the poor handbrake efficiency with the common Maxima/280zx based options. The alternative is the kit offered by Silvermine and others that uses Wilwood calipers with separate handbrake calipers. I'd like to do something similar, but more economically! Something to break from the limited, overpriced alternatives anyway. Fancy another project? EXTRA:D

Thank Rich , I will be making the top as shinny as the underneath this winter hopefully.

I did have the caliper conversion on my old 240z and to be honest the handbrake was rubbish and you kept having to adjust it all the time so this time I rebuild all the rear drums and they work pretty well with the R32 front calipers ,

I did see a good rear disc conversion the other week on the Datsun Europe face book group , he had mounted a cylinder on the handbrake mech to work the rear calipers , so no need for a cable to operate the handbrake , I may look into it when i finish the air box .

I've just had this conversation with my mate, all of the brake conversion options tally up to a small fortune if you're doing fronts and rears.

I think we're going to look at S13/S15/R32's and see if we can get anything to fit by making up a bracket. Anyone else done something 'different' with their brakes?

I've fitted R32 GTR calipers and disc's on the front of mine with a adapter bracket, I'm gonna make a few more kits soon if your interested ?
 

Turn & Burn

Club Member
Thank Rich , I will be making the top as shinny as the underneath this winter hopefully.

I did have the caliper conversion on my old 240z and to be honest the handbrake was rubbish and you kept having to adjust it all the time so this time I rebuild all the rear drums and they work pretty well with the R32 front calipers ,

I did see a good rear disc conversion the other week on the Datsun Europe face book group , he had mounted a cylinder on the handbrake mech to work the rear calipers , so no need for a cable to operate the handbrake , I may look into it when i finish the air box .



I've fitted R32 GTR calipers and disc's on the front of mine with a adapter bracket, I'm gonna make a few more kits soon if your interested ?
As far as I’m aware hydraulic handbrakes are not road legal in the uk. So whilst they work great you still need cable back up.
 

WazzaJB

Club Member
Thank Rich , I will be making the top as shinny as the underneath this winter hopefully.

I did have the caliper conversion on my old 240z and to be honest the handbrake was rubbish and you kept having to adjust it all the time so this time I rebuild all the rear drums and they work pretty well with the R32 front calipers ,

I did see a good rear disc conversion the other week on the Datsun Europe face book group , he had mounted a cylinder on the handbrake mech to work the rear calipers , so no need for a cable to operate the handbrake , I may look into it when i finish the air box .



I've fitted R32 GTR calipers and disc's on the front of mine with a adapter bracket, I'm gonna make a few more kits soon if your interested ?

I've actually just won 350z set up pretty cheap on ebay so going to have a crack at that first, thanks though!

They're unlikely to be workable, but would be awesome. My mate has S13 callipers which he will swap me for the 350z ones though if needed :)

s-l1600 (2).jpg
 

johnymd

Club Member
I was only thinking about this yesterday. I swapped out my Toyota setup to an old willwood front kit last week and now my fronts lock way too easy. I think I need to improve the rear quite a bit. I have a few sets of new 280zx rear disks plus some brackets for maxima calipers. The problem is I would like to use a caliper that is readily available in the UK. The most popular UK kit uses a VW caliper with handbrake cable mech. I've used this setup on my blue car for year and it works great. Although it is very hard to lock the rears (good thing), after a good track session the rear disks are blue and smoking about the same as the fronts so in my book they are doing about the right amount of braking. This is with the 280zx master cylinder and no bias valve.
 

richiep

Club Member
I think the key objective would be, as you suggest John, a setup based on a readily available caliper so that people can buy the custom bracket and then source the other parts. The all-in-one kits tend to be too bloody expensive IMO, especially as they are predominantly from the US. The main issue is to come up with something that not only delivers on the road performance, but actually delivers enough handbrake efficiency to pass an MOT without hassle (or at least work enough to feel useful in our post-MOT world these days!).

BTW, Gary - I'll be interested in your R32 front brackets when you do another run.
 

Turn & Burn

Club Member
I was concerned that a lot of these upgrades may lead to too much front bias. The ZX rear brake disc is a reasonable size but I think the maxima / S13 pistons need to be increased in size if u need more rear bias. I was going to look at using Sierra calipers, can’t remember the piston sizes now, but it was an upgrade in piston diameter. Having to make custom brackets is what made me take the easy S13 option.
I don’t understand why the handbrake is ineffective though, they worked ok on a 200sx so they should be on a Z. Is it simply that the calipers are getting old and the slider pins are getting slack and letting the caliper become innefficient?
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Thank Rich , I will be making the top as shinny as the underneath this winter hopefully.

I did have the caliper conversion on my old 240z and to be honest the handbrake was rubbish and you kept having to adjust it all the time so this time I rebuild all the rear drums and they work pretty well with the R32 front calipers ,

I did see a good rear disc conversion the other week on the Datsun Europe face book group , he had mounted a cylinder on the handbrake mech to work the rear calipers , so no need for a cable to operate the handbrake , I may look into it when i finish the air box .



I've fitted R32 GTR calipers and disc's on the front of mine with a adapter bracket, I'm gonna make a few more kits soon if your interested ?
I'd be interested in one of your R32 GTR kits Gary.
 

tyroguru

Club Member
I think the key objective would be, as you suggest John, a setup based on a readily available caliper so that people can buy the custom bracket and then source the other parts. The all-in-one kits tend to be too bloody expensive IMO, especially as they are predominantly from the US.

I know this is probably an impossible question to answer with so many variables but do you have any idea of a ball park cost difference (or cost ratio) between a source-it-yourself approach such as you describe and just buying an all-in-one kit. For example, I was just looking (drooling!) at the TTT Wilwood based front and rear big brake kits that currently retail at 995/750 USD respectively. Obviously a weak pound, shipping cost and tax will inflate the considerably though but I've no idea to how much. In the future I'm looking to upgrade to something like these or the R32 GTR setup so super interested!
 

Turn & Burn

Club Member
I believe the uppers picture shows an alu one, the other is steel, so the lighter option is the preferred one.
Few pics of my set-up attached
 

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atomman

Club Member
Are there two types of r32 gtr calipers?
I've seen these two described as such:
View attachment 34055View attachment 34056

The ones with the ribs are the ally 300zx calipers,(often mistaken for the GTR) The 'smooth' others are the R32 GTR calipers , but they are fundamentally the same caliper,

The 300zx has a few calipers that are the same (but with different size pistons) but the others types are steel, I think it was just the turbo with the ally ones,

I don’t understand why the handbrake is ineffective though, they worked ok on a 200sx so they should be on a Z. Is it simply that the calipers are getting old and the slider pins are getting slack and letting the caliper become innefficient?

From my experience it's the cable angle and the routing that causes the main problem ,


Also Rich and Jon I will put you down for a set , I may have one set left from this batch to ,
 
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richiep

Club Member
As Gary notes, it’s geometry to a degree - making a handbrake cable and mechanism designed for drums work with the calipers. The caliper is in a different position to where the cable would attach to the drum, leading to slack and a nasty angle usually. A common hack (as on my red Z) is to cross the cable - right to left and vice-versa; that removes the slack and improves the angle to the calipers.

However, adjustability in the system due to the design of the existing mechanism is a limiting factor. One further hack is to make an extension for the arm attached to the handbrake lever, creating greater leverage on the adjustable rod in the trans tunnel. Also, adding more thread to that rod. I’ve done both on my car. Still, it’s limited in effectiveness and hence my interest in alternatives to the usual calipers and the idea of separate handbrake calipers as per Wilwood.
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
The rear Wilwoods on my old Mustang had an internal handbrake. I then changed the umbrella-under-the-dash handle for a tunnel mounted one. Worked pretty well.

The car didn't even need rear discs though, but they looked good ...
 

johnymd

Club Member
My issue is with the fronts locking up way to easy and I'm suspecting (due to the amount of dive) that the rear are not doing enough braking. Hence, I'm looking at changing the rears to disks. Plus the maintenance is way simpler.
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
My issue is with the fronts locking up way to easy and I'm suspecting (due to the amount of dive) that the rear are not doing enough braking. Hence, I'm looking at changing the rears to disks. Plus the maintenance is way simpler.

Hence a remote brake bias/balance adjuster is a great idea, you mentioned no bias above. They can really help get things set up perfectly
 
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