My brake upgrade thread.

[2ndGenGuy]

Oh they are painted indeed. Though I didn't think to use the high-heat paint on the shields. I didn't really think about the heat transfer from the rotors. However I did paint them with some of the rust inhibiting paint just to be sure that stuff woudln't come back. But if it burns off that won't do me much good...

The calipers are painted with high-temp paint for sure.

Well, I guess we'll see how the heat treats the paint on those shields.

And yeah, all I used is the wire brush. I went through about 3 or 4 of them though. They take all the rust, paint and everything else right down to bare metal.

[offthahook]

Did you use a primer? You might be okay in any case. I've seen some average spray paints hold up well to a lot of conditions. Hopefully, you can't just scrape the new paint easily, esp. if it's cold out. Once it cures out, it might be pretty tough regardless what kind it is. Stuff was applied right from what I can see.

[2ndGenGuy]

No I didn't use any kind of primer on them. When I painted my drums it was more an experiment to see if paint on brake parts would hold up. The paint on the drums held up extremely well. If I were to wash them off, they look as good as they did the day I sprayed them. I made sure they were clean, and gave them a nice heavy coat. Didn't prime them either.

I actually kinda half-assed the drums, I'm ashamed to admit. The paint was dry but not cured when I put them on. But I figured that if I went out and drove right away and heated them up, it would be as good as baking them. They've held up really nice thus far, but these parts are another story.

If they start looking crappy again, I will take them off and redo them again. I'm not afraid to do that. But by no means will I drive around with some crappy looking parts on my car...

Those backing plates may not hold up as well as the brackets since I ran out of fuel for my garage heater. However, the silver brackets themselves, and the calipers both sat in nice toasty 75+ degree heat for a good while. So they should be good to go.

[offthahook]

I think you'll be fine; I did the EXACT same thing on some brake drums I rattle canned in the day. I used enamel and a couple thick coats, then drove around to bake them. They held up LIKE a champ. The key is getting the grime and oil off so the paint will adhere. I think you got that on lock fa sho. You got the right ideas, and if something doesn't work out you can redo rather easily. That's the right way to do things, not spraying stuff while it's ON the car with no prep...

[2ndGenGuy]

I like the look of nice, bright, shiny brake calipers. Too often I see cars with calipers that were obviously painted while they were on the car. Even when the car is clean, they look dingy and crappy, just god awful.

We did the brakes on my friend's C5 Corvette. It was an all weekend ordeal. We removed ALL the calipers, stripped them, cleaned the crap out of them, painted them, then sanded the "Corvette" logo off of them, since they were aluminum. We also installed his slotted and drilled rotors. But it literally was a Satruday at 8:00am to Sunday a 9:00pm ordeal. We only stopped for 8 hours to sleep.

But man lemme tell ya, those brakes of his still look good to this day. The calipers are still shiny and bright, and look just like the factory red calipers that come on the Z06 Corvette.

You're 100% right, getting the grime and oil off is KEY. It's pretty much THE key, as most paints will hold up to the heat anyways if prepped properly.

[2ndGenGuy]

Well I finally got to give my brakes a good test. Got the lines all hooked up, everything bolted down. Looks great too!





I thought I would give them a run with the Accord proportioning valve. I can sure tell, though, that it's not giving enough fluid to the rear brakes. After a good pump, you can feel the rear brakes grab quite a bit more. I never thought I'd notice the difference that brake bias can make.

My only real concern with this whole project is the brake lines. They seem very long, and the drivers side lines are going to be rubbing a lot on the gas tank filler neck. I was thinking about going back to the brake shop where I had them made, and having another set made for the rear that is about 1 inch shorter.

Phydeaux, I was curious as to your insight on this. Seeing as how the Hatch and Sedan share the same wheelbase and chassis, I assume you had this problem too?

[forrest89sei]

Well I finally got to give my brakes a good test. Got the lines all hooked up, everything bolted down. Looks great too!





I thought I would give them a run with the Accord proportioning valve. I can sure tell, though, that it's not giving enough fluid to the rear brakes. After a good pump, you can feel the rear brakes grab quite a bit more. I never thought I'd notice the difference that brake bias can make.

My only real concern with this whole project is the brake lines. They seem very long, and the drivers side lines are going to be rubbing a lot on the gas tank filler neck. I was thinking about going back to the brake shop where I had them made, and having another set made for the rear that is about 1 inch shorter.

Phydeaux, I was curious as to your insight on this. Seeing as how the Hatch and Sedan share the same wheelbase and chassis, I assume you had this problem too?

HOT!!

[MessyHonda]

looks good now take some more pics of the car while its lowered.

[mkymonkey]

hmm....i just noticed that your rear rotors arent vented.....

[offthahook]

That does look nice. I thought the brake lines looked pretty long. Are you going to try a different prop. valve? Tight project!

[2ndGenGuy]

Ineed they aren't vented. They're fairly thin rotors. The bummer part about them is that the rotor IS the wheel hub. It's not a hub with a rotor bolted over it like on the 3g, or like on the front of the car. Bummer, but oh well.

Yeah, I'm going to put on the Prelude proportioning valve. I can tell that the rear brakes aren't getting the pressure that they need.

Still those brake lines worry me the most. Probably going to have another set made a little shorter.

[79cord]

Yes, I'm wondering about the advantages of the separate hub arrangement, which should be a bolt-on swap as well -if you know which bits to use, though the later hubs seemed to be a sealed unit (pressed on to the spindle) making them harder to remove, & you can't just replace their bearing races, though I could be wrong since I haven't looked that hard & got lazy & let someone else do the rear bearings on my CR-X when it needed them.

I especially wondered if that set-up was any lighter after I compared the weights of the disc vs drum arrangements. Something like a Kilo difference per side -I forget exactly.

[2ndGenGuy]

So I was suspecting for a while that my rear calipers weren't getting enough fluid and needed the Prelude prortioning valve. I decided before swapping the valve in to give it one last try on bleeding it. My friend and I went around and bled each caliper all the way around. The rears are gripping very nicely now. There was a ton of air in one of the rear calipers still. Even after I spent forever bleeding it. Oh well they work great now! Stopping power improved!

I got the rebuild kit for my JDM F1 calipers. 3GCVC was really cool and got them to me really quick! My EBC pads for the rear are here, and the front ones got all screwed up in delivery. So it will be probably another week before I get them.

I sent my F1 calipers in to CT Coatings in Tumwater, WA. $80 to powdercoat both brake calipers. Not too shabby. They'll be a nice bright red like the rear ones. (Took in one of my valve covers too, another $50).

My Brembo drilled / slotted rotors, I put on the front last weekend. They made a hellacious noise for about a week, then I found out the backing plate was rubbing on them. I bent them back slightly and the noise quit completely. The Brembos are now broken in and ready for the EBC pads. So once the pads get here, and the calipers come back from coating, I'll rebuild and install them with the stainless lines up front.

Also, the rear lines are a bit long. So I'm going to have another set made that are about 1.5 inches shorter. The line is rubbing on one of the gas tank vent lines, and has taken the rubber coating off in a very small spot. The line itself is okay.

Pictures will come once I get the calipers back.

[denhonda]

Looking ace !

I'm grateful that my '85 has rear discs already as that looks too much like hardwork for me. The brakes on my car are brilliant but obviously won't be a shade on your efforts going by the look of things.

I could do a rear disc brake on on my '82 but that'd have to be after getting the rest of the car fixed up. I've still got the suspension to get sorted out... and the paintwork... and the front screen trims... err, maybe next year!

[LX-incredible]

Looks good.

[2ndGenGuy]

Got my F1 calipers back from powdercoating! They look sexay! I have some work to do now though, some powercoating got in the bores, and in the area where the seal rides. Plus the inside of one of the sliders got powdercoated too... Should be interesting... Here's pics! Yay!




Yeah the pics suck. I'll get better ones later. My digicam batteries are dead, and I only have the built in camera in my MacBook Pro to work with...

[offthahook]

Dayum, that looks professional! I bet it's damn durable, too. It will take some brute strength AND finesse ALL AT ONCE to get the excess off. Reminds me of the American Chopper episode where they powdercoated a frame and didn't allow for the added thickness of the powdercoat. Go get 'em Paulie!

[2ndGenGuy]

Dayum, that looks professional! I bet it's damn durable, too. It will take some brute strength AND finesse ALL AT ONCE to get the excess off. Reminds me of the American Chopper episode where they powdercoated a frame and didn't allow for the added thickness of the powdercoat. Go get 'em Paulie!

Oh man yeah, that's what I'm worried about. These guys did do a damn good job though. Hopefully the sliders will be easy to hone out... Shoudln't be any problem dealing with the cylinder walls though. Just gotta be careful with the tools so I don't screw up the nice work.

[2ndGenGuy]

So I ran my Prelude e-brake cables this weekend, which I had to drop the exhaust to do, which is why my exhaust is all screwed up now. :-P

But I found that when I was running my cables, I could use all the Prelude retaining tabs. In fact, there were already threaded holes tapped in the frame from the factory to bolt the Prelude e-brake cables to. So this car was pretty much ready for the Prelude e-brake cables, aside from the handle being too short, which I'm getting taken care of this week. If I had my own welder, I could do it myself.

[xvok]

nice john i see that you have an actual gargue to work with. arrg oh whell i know why mine is full. 280Z ftw. but it looks good keep up the work

[forrest89sei]

Looks GREAT!

[dedens]

I figured he would paint them, but that silver is close enough to bare metal color that I had to be sure. Hope he let the paint cure and used high heat paint. They do look new-- no runs or any blemishes. Let's hope they are painted.

I know this post has been 'dead' for a long time. I am looking at a 'Big Brake upgrade kit for my 83 Accord. Wondering if this kit would work?


1986-1989 Accord 11" slotted/drilled big brake kit

Complete Fastbrakes 11" front upgrade kit for the 3rd Generation Accord. Kit includes the remanufactured TypeR calipers, slotted/drilled 11" rotors, performance brake pads, and front braided steel brake lines.

[Oldblueaccord]

you can try calling Fastbrakes. he is very knowledgeable. I thought there was something on his site for 2g I thought.

You can also go thru the link I have in my sig. there some pictures and measurements that might help.

[dedens]

This is a very old thread....I just finished the rear disk brake coversion on my 83' Accord. Any ideas if / where we can get 3g Accord JDM twin piston calipers?