C32 Brakes from J Irwan. The install.

[moebiusgold]

Thanks to J Irwan for providing me with these. ;) I dissasembled the calipers. I swaped the left and right center pieces. The first pic. is with the bolts loose.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid102/pc6ae8bcfa276c8e85d569b96fcd0fb7c/f9c1f7d8.jpg

I bolted everything right up and the SS brakes lines fit perfecrly. J was right on with the length. Now with the bleeders facing the right direction, bleeding was easy. Things went bad when I went to bolt up the wheels. I had about -.1" of clearance. :( I made .082" spacers and sanded on the calipers. I didn't go any more on the spacers because I instantly had fender rubs at any angle to speak of. I stopped sanding when I had .060" gap. I had to take off a bit less on the left (other) caliper.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid102/pfbf588c5c4406263893e514a6bf7da99/f9c1f7d3.jpg

I combined the new and old brake sensors and added some paint.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid102/pc9b09d3d6101310fb5d6dccb8ccc7c66/f9c1f7d0.jpg
The top of the calipers flex into the calipers so I gave a bit more clearance there. Here is the finished product.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid102/pd6610960ab36b1eafc78c462fc7fccb9/f9c1f7ce.jpg
These work better and weigh less. Thanks again J Irwan.:D :D

[jnolte]

Nice work Paul, looks good.

Some good brakes to match the engine.

Looks Great! :D

[J Irwan]

Hey Paul

Looks sharp..!!! :D:D:D


Did you use machine to sand off the caliper..looks so good now :D :D :D


Regardz,

[moebiusgold]

J Irwan, You'll probably cringe, but after thinking of all sorts of fancy ways to do it, I hand filed a bit than stacked up sandpaper on the back of the wheel spoke to match the exact contour of the spokes. It took the better part of a day because I didn't realize how much everything flexes and rotates. I went approx. .030 inch more after it quite rubbing the spokes under aggresive braking and turning at the same time. Now I am worried about some stray piece of sand , rock , or gravel trying to wedge in there. :( If that happens I guess I can just sand and paint some more.:D This is aggrevated because the inner piece of the 3 piece wheel has a big trench between the smaller dia. for (dismounting the beads) and the flange where everything bolts together. Road crap collects in this and keeps trying to fall on the brakes. And sandblast everything.:eek: Not good wheels for winter use.

[Eurosport]

nice job Paul
since we on breaks is it easy to change the break fluid yourself?
that's one thing i gotta learn this year will need to be done late in the year as well as learn how to change tranny fluid, hopefully all can be done by myself

[omegabenz]

They look very nice under those wheels.

It is unfortunate that you had to sand the caliper, but, I would highly suggest that you should add more clearance than you think you need because under very heavy breaking or even track condtions I am sure the calipers will expand a little or even flex.

I am certain you wheels will flex a little on hard turns or even in normal driving.

FK makes a really wonderful 5mm spacer, which are very well made for the price about 48 dollars shipped from SPP.

I would suggest getthing those, and having them surfaced down to 3 or even 2mm and them put them on.

You might want to contact FK to make you a very hubcentric spacer for 2 or 3 mm, with a car as fast as yours, make sure you get really good hubcentric wheel spacers, and not just generic ones. You will probably need longer bolts if you go with 5mm spacers, but for 3mm, you shouldnt need them, but just check on that, I think 7 full threads is a good rule of thumb. You may want to consult SPP or tirerack about this.

I would hate to see your wheel flex and hit the caliper really hard.

I have actually had an experince where a wheel has flexed on me and rubbed against the tie rod end, so I am just giving you some of my insight. This extra needed clearnance for flex never occrued to me until I saw the inner lip of my wheels polished a little by the tierod end boot.

Best of luck. (never split the caliper open by the way.)

[Denlasoul]

Looks good. What brake setup did you have on the car? How would you rate the difference in performance?

DLS

[moebiusgold]

Originally posted by Eurosport
nice job Paul
since we on breaks is it easy to change the break fluid yourself?
that's one thing i gotta learn this year will need to be done late in the year as well as learn how to change tranny fluid, hopefully all can be done by myself
Changing brake fluid is one of the easiest jobs on a car once you know how to do it and if its clean enough that you don't have to disassemble the calipers. Come up some weekend. I'll show you how to do it without any fancy bleeding equipment. You can DIY but it is much faster if you have 2 people to do it.:)

[moebiusgold]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by omegabenz
[B]They look very nice under those wheels.

" suggest that you should add more clearance than you think you need because under very heavy breaking or even track condtions I am sure the calipers will expand a little or even flex."

I am certain you wheels will flex a little on hard turns or even in normal driving."

You are correct. When braking hard and turning sharp the inside wheel runs out of clearence first. The inside wheel has a moment applied that makes it flex into the caliper. The brake reaction forces are making the caliper mount twist and brings the top outside of the caliper even closer to the wheel.
5MM spacers would have been the way to go but the spacers that I made are about 2 MM and I am not quite finished with fixing all of the new tire rubs that they created. I thought that I had them fixed but, with 4 people in it yesterday, I found otherwise.
BTW straight line breaking seems to have plently of clearance.

My plan is to just push the brakes a little harder, as they get broken in more, and clear as required. I am going to add another .03 because you can see where sand or something didn't quite make it threw the gap. The real test will be dragging it to Pacific raceways this summer. I need much bigger sway bars before I get near there. ;) :D

[moebiusgold]

Originally posted by Denlasoul
Looks good. What brake setup did you have on the car? How would you rate the difference in performance?

DLS
Had Stockers. They are still breaking in and geting better. So far the most noticable thing is how smoother you can be with them comming to a dead stop. In general, they feel better (some of which is do to the SS lines), more linear force, less travel, and easier to modulate. Bottom line, best street car brakes that I have owned so far.
For a comparison. I liked the feel and control of my C36 brakes better than the C43s. The C43s were (felt) more powerful but less easy to control.

[Denlasoul]

Originally posted by moebiusgold
The C43s were (felt) more powerful but less easy to control.

I know exactly what you mean! When I brake lightly, my car starts to slow down then.....WHAM.....starts to brake hard. Really weird and takes time to get used to. My wife noticed it too.

Did you get the ss lines from JIrwan? I gotta get out to visit yuo sometime. :)

[J Irwan]

yupe...Dennis.

I sold Paul the brake along with the ss line :)


Regardz,

[pnsji]

was the caliper powdercoated to red?

Looking good!

[moebiusgold]

I used Red engine paint because I was not sure that I wouldn't have any problems. I'm glad I did because I need to increase the clearance. A ~.05" dia. sand grain tried to make it threw the gap and actually stuck into the wheel spoke paint. The result is a nice scratch threw the paint to the Al. Didn't scratch the Al., not that it matters because I'll have to redo the paint anyway.

[jnolte]

Originally posted by moebiusgold
I used Red engine paint because I was not sure that I wouldn't have any problems. I'm glad I did because I need to increase the clearance. A ~.05" dia. sand grain tried to make it threw the gap and actually stuck into the wheel spoke paint. The result is a nice scratch threw the paint to the Al. Didn't scratch the Al., not that it matters because I'll have to redo the paint anyway.


same ish i used on my calipers. REd engine paint....Ford red lol

[moebiusgold]

Good Eye JN. Doesn't match the Imiron (Sp.?) on the rears but I'll fix that when I'm done tinkering with the clearance. You could probably get away with using plain paint unless you track your car. The orig. calipers were Imiron and even though I managed to blacken the rotors from heat the paint was never fazed. Normal brake application for a 100 miles or so of city driving and the rotors looked like nothing had ever hapened.

[martattack]

I used plain Ralph Lauren silver paint from Home Depot on the rotors of my old car. I autocrossed the hell out of it and had no problems with the caliper paint (4 piston up front 2 pistons in the rear) I also did the hub part of my rotors with it and never had any problems.

[sleek_benzo]

sorry for bringing this old thread back..

i just wanted to know an update on this??? :D

[97Brabus]

Me too, Me too! Looks Like J Irwan took the pics down from his tutorial....it would be cool to have a permanent step by step.

But more importantly, I am looking for info on the Stainless Steel brake lines. How much more line do I need than the stock 280 lines? I don't see any measurement listed in these threads.

Thanks everyone!!!

[714guy]

i have a set for sale, Used, comes with new portefield pads, $650 OBO.

Selling b/c wouldn't clear my cousins wheels.

email 714guy @ sbcglobal.net

[97Brabus]

Thanks 714, but I have a hookup on brand new parts that will be returnable to the dealership for around that price. I just can't get the lines. I could measure when I take everything apart but won't be able to get them done in one weekend cuz I would have to wait for the lines. Can you by chance give me the specs on your SS lines? Assuming you got the custom ones too...

[sleek_benzo]

i've got this guy who's willing to sell his e55 assembly for 500.. is that a good price? and fitment?

[97Brabus]

price wise it sounds good as long as it's complete and you won't need rotors and pads. Doing stock brakes costs more than that. I don't know about fitment.

[Denlasoul]

Originally posted by sleek_benzo
i've got this guy who's willing to sell his e55 assembly for 500.. is that a good price? and fitment?
Better have at least 17's or it will not fit.