89 LXi Brake Upgrade

[85Skyhawk]

Hello,

I have an 86 Accord LXi Hatch. It is pretty much stock besides Eibach Springs/KYB GR-2 Struts. I have a matched pair of 89 LXi front knuckles/disks that I pulled from a bone yard. I also pulled the 89 front and rear stabilizer bar.

What I would like to know is what else will I need to install the larger rotors on my 86 Lxi Hatch? I know the master cylinder is a tad larger but what about the brake booster, prop valve, and rear wheel cylinders?

If anybody has some information on this conversion it would be most helpful. Unfortunately the 89 LXi Hatch is no longer around so I am going to be stuck with finding another one or purchase new.

Thanks for the assistance.

Regards,
85Skyhawk

[89trooper]

It should bolt right in. As far as I know everything is the same in terms of it fitting. Just know that you can't run 13 inch rims. You have to run 14's

[RAZR]

I think you also have to swap the booster but im not positive. The prop valve you leave unless you going to rear disks then you need to sway to an 89 sei prop valve.

[85Skyhawk]

Thanks for the information. I was wondering if anybody knows if there is a mechanical difference between the rear brake cylinders? In looking at the pictures for and 86 and 89 they are definitely different parts but I'm thinking maybe only the mounting has changed. Does anybody know if the wheel cylinders are bigger like the master cylinder on the 89 LXi?

I already have an 89 master cylinder installed and it works okay with the 86 hardware. The petal seems a little stiff but I guess that was to be expected. What I need to do is upgrade the rest of the brakes to get the stopping power of the 89 because the 86 has always been an issue since I drove it off the dealer lot.

For some reason the rotors seem to warp over time and my steering wheel gets annoying. I’m thinking about a new Civic SEI but can’t seem to part with my old Accord just yet.

Thanks for the assistance. Any information would be a big help.

Regards,
Erik

[Dr_Snooz]

For some reason the rotors seem to warp over time and my steering wheel gets annoying.

I hate to break it to you (no pun intended), but my '89 LX-i brakes do the exact same thing. In fact, every Honda I've ever owned has done that. If you pay attention, you might find that the wobble is worst when the car is traveling above 55 MPH. Then once you get it below 40, it all smooths out. I suspect that the pad material is too tacky and leaves deposits on the rotors. I'm tempted to try some racing pads at my next change to see if the higher heat resistance affects the brake wobble. If you get it figured out, let me know how to fix it. On my last car, I just had two sets of rotors. When the one set got too bad, I swapped over the other and then had the bad ones turned. I did the swap every few months.

[Vanilla Sky]

Don't go for track pads, you want something that doesn't require a lot of heat to work. Track pads need a good bit of warming up before they're up to temp. I've had decent luck with Hawk HPS pads. I had some on an LX sedan that stopped well and didn't high spot (warp) the crap out of the rotors.

[Dr_Snooz]

Good to know. I had some kind of crazy pads on my Bimmer when i first got it. I'd brake early because they never grabbed very well. Then they'd heat up and really start clamping down. They wouldn't release either, so I'd end up stopping short. It was irritating, to say the least. When I replaced them with OE pads, I got the wobble problem again.

[Oldblueaccord]

I hate to break it to you (no pun intended), but my '89 LX-i brakes do the exact same thing. In fact, every Honda I've ever owned has done that. If you pay attention, you might find that the wobble is worst when the car is traveling above 55 MPH. Then once you get it below 40, it all smooths out. I suspect that the pad material is too tacky and leaves deposits on the rotors. I'm tempted to try some racing pads at my next change to see if the higher heat resistance affects the brake wobble. If you get it figured out, let me know how to fix it. On my last car, I just had two sets of rotors. When the one set got too bad, I swapped over the other and then had the bad ones turned. I did the swap every few months.

That's the exact reason I went with the Type R rotors and calipers. It cured my warp issue.

[Strugglebucket]

On my '89 I have Brembo slotted rotors and have never had a problem with uneven deposits or warping. I have an '02 Accord with standard Brembo rotors and I've used EBC Ultimax pads for the past 6 or so years with no problems.

Also, no one besides myself works on my cars so no one is installing lug nuts with an air ratchet.

[Stealth]

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[Jafir]

I hate to break it to you (no pun intended), but my '89 LX-i brakes do the exact same thing.

I've always had good luck using OEM (or nissin) brake pads, cleaning all of the rust from the hub and the rotors before having them surfaced, and tightening the lug nuts with a torque wrench religiously. More than ten years ago when I worked at a shop, we would machine the front rotors on the car to reduce the warping from coming back. On the 4G and 5G Accords, we didn't have any choice because the rotors were bolted to the back of the hub.

[Jafir]

I've never had any warping issues. The car wouldn't brake smoothly awhile back, but replacing my drum brakes fixed that.

This is true too. Even just cleaning and adjusting the rear brakes helps a lot. The cars are notorious for the auto-adjusters getting dirty and not working very well. Then your front brakes are doing even more of the work than the normally already do. I hate drum brakes. If I still had a 3G Accord, I'd convert it to SEi discs in the back. Just yesterday I replaced the rear axle in my diesel land rover with a newer model with disc brakes.