brake conversion-all discs- on lx

[powderkey2]

hi...i'm gathering parts for a brake conversion to all 4 disc brakes. I found an SE-I and pulled the calipers, rotors, cable, proportioning valve, brackets and knuckles. But still have a few questions...

1. Does any manufacturer provide rebuild kits for the calipers...

2. Could i get someone to rate this job on a difficulty scale of 1 - 10

3. is there any way to bench test the calipers to see if they need a rebuild?

4. are parts still available for the se-i brakes?

any help will be appreciated.

[Bglad420]

You can still buy all the parts from Honda, evem the spindles so if you have $1000 you don't have to scavange the J yards you hust buy it all new from honda............SO yeah to answer one of your questions you can still get all the parts you need.

[powderkey2]

thanks man...that's good to know...but i got everything for under $100. Now i'll probably spend 1k on the rebuild...lmao.

[voiceinurhead05]

Post some pics of the job in progress if you can... I'm thinking about doing this conversion too.

[AZmike]

Clean and lube the sliders and try them out. None of mine needed any special attention before I started using them.

[NXRacer]

i talked to a couple autoparts shops around here and they said rebuilding honda calipers is easy and from what i've found, rebuilding the rear calipers is FAR cheaper than buying them out right, but if they look like all the ones i've seen in the junkyards around here, that might not be possible. The ones i've seen look like they've been sitting outside for the last 10 years and would require a LOT of rust removeal

[SteveDX89]

i talked to a couple autoparts shops around here and they said rebuilding honda calipers is easy and from what i've found, rebuilding the rear calipers is FAR cheaper than buying them out right, but if they look like all the ones i've seen in the junkyards around here, that might not be possible. The ones i've seen look like they've been sitting outside for the last 10 years and would require a LOT of rust removeal

Any word on having to hone out the cylinders? I wanted to rebuild mine before I put them on but in some manual somewhere I think I read that the cylinder should be honed before putting the piston back in.

[powderkey2]

well...i'm going to start by removing cylinders and whatever pieces i can...then dip in cleaning fluid. From the exploded diagrams i've seen there isn't too much rubber/plastic involved that parts cleaner would destroy...and i'm hoping to reuse the majority of parts...need to replace the rubber dust boots and maybe replace the lines. I'll try to a photo journal...maybe it will help others in same situation.

Think giving the cylinders a good cleaning and polishing w/ a fine grade emery cloth wise?

[NXRacer]

Any word on having to hone out the cylinders? I wanted to rebuild mine before I put them on but in some manual somewhere I think I read that the cylinder should be honed before putting the piston back in.
nothing was ever mentioned. im not sure if honing them would be a good idea.

[powderkey2]

took the rear caliper apart last night...wasn't too bad. I do have a question now about parts replacement. the piston and cylnder looked ok...i did polish the cylinder w/ a 400 emery cloth...soaked the stripped housing in cleaner over night. i'm thinkng about replacing the interior spring and all the rubber gaskets and boot covers...any suggestions on suppliers? Think Napa would have them?

Only thing I had trouble w/ (and that wasn't difficult) was releasing a lock ring in the cylinder to remove piston rod & spring and removing piston. By the way the piston screws onto a threaded shaft of the piston/push rod.


Any one have a manual w/ rebuild instructions...lmao...i think i can it w/o but would certainly like to have them for procedures. not sure of how to set the piston on reassembly...how far do you screw the piston head down? At any rate if you have copy please contact me if you can email or snailmail...I have a Hayes but I didn't check to see if there were rebuild instructions in there.

Have some pics later

[smufguy]

if the piston is rusted and the boot is gone, you are better off getting a piston and a boot and reusing the caliper. The reason is, once its rusted, it will keep rusting and ferrous oxide will keep forming and it just won tbe pretty. But once the rust is free and properly packed with greese, it should be good.

[Swap_File]

Here is my old post on repairing my rear calipers, they were totally non-functional.

http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=46522

[smufguy]

Here is my old post on repairing my rear calipers, they were totally non-functional.

http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=46522

thats a good write up man. I like the way you explained stuff.

[powderkey2]

Excellent post...thanks. And the link to the rubber kits was very helpful...thanks too.

i took a few before/after pics of the rear caliper. It's disessembled and parts cleaned. As soon as i figure out how to load pics i'll add them to this thread.

[Justin86]

I had to buy a new rear caliper and it was $200 at the dealership. You can get them cheaper at part stores, but you don't get the bracket. Were the rebuild kits are about $60 for all calipers. The don't cylinders don't really need to be honed, and if you don't need to replace the dust boot don't, they are a pain to get back on.
With the rear caliper piston just remember where it should be at get it as close as possible, and I think you can only thread it so far.

[powderkey2]

hi...have a question on reassebly. When you are compressing the piston spring how did you do this w/o a special spring compressor?

[Swap_File]

I made my own tool, it worked pretty good.

http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=august23066large4wg.jpg

It's just a piece of cut off water pipe with some adapters on the end to make it fit my wheel puller

[powderkey2]

very clever...thanks for the idea...did you try a deep socket and just having someone push down on it or is the spring just too loaded?

[Bglad420]

Just use a c-clamp......unless they are the calipers that require that special tool to thread it back in........

[Swap_File]

I could hold the spring in by hand, but the problem I ran into was that I needed to hold the spring in, while working down in there with a pick to put the snap ring in.

A C-clamp with a pipe on the end could work, but I am not sure if there is any flat area to clamp against. Some segment of pipe is definately needed to get around the threaded rod in the middle.

[powderkey2]

I went up to the shop (actually shed...lol) and looked at the caliper when i got home. Put the assembly in to check how far down i would have to compress to have access to the snap ring grove...looked like about 1/8" to 1/4" would get me clear.