Hippo Tuning

This will probably get deleted although I'm following the rules(again) but hey whatever.

Saw a Z33 in a cheapo junkyard and swiped the knuckles for $50. Had a set of G37S Akebono rotors so I set out to find a caliper set that wasn't $600 that I could use to make a 355mm BBK without using Akebono calipers and adapters. Took a look at my Dad's old Mercedes CL600 and knew it's calipers would be a perfect fit and at $80 used for a pair on eBay I bought a set.

Now it's not all dead reckoning and I'm not new to brake swaps. I did my research. Dad's old CL600(Pre '03, Not Twin Turbo) used overengineered Brembo calipers that accepted a 345x32mm rotor where the G37S uses a 355x32mm rotor. The Mercedes has a 40/44mm piston setup where the G37S Akebono Caliper is 41/44mm. Braking distances for the 4200lbs CL600 and 3800lbs G37S are both 128ft. Plus the near 80mm rotor height of the Mercedes rotor and sub 50mm height of the Infiniti rotor make the adapter plate a simple affair.

I'm still finalizing the bracket but I'll post it up when I'm done.

jv350z

iTrader: (6)

cashmoney03

A junkyard bbk? Sign me up.

DarkCreep

iTrader: (1)

Go on.. And better pictures please.

kilogram

iTrader: (1)

Very nice. There are a lot of good options for bbk setups if you're willing to look outside Nissan..

A quick favor if you get a chance? I need the distance from the caliper mounting face to the back of the disc.. and the thickness of the mounting face of the rotor. Thanks!

Wish I had a set of knuckles to work with.. I did the last time I designed a bbk...

hotdawwgman

iTrader: (1)

Any progress on this?

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

Don't take this the wrong way and I like where & how you are thinking but it seems to me you have a portion of rotor that will receive zero clamping force. In my, altered and skewed mind*, this is unnecessary unsprung weight and a waste of rotating mass that you are now adopting to your system. Keep the caliper and decrease the size of the rotor ... the C6 corvette is a good example of using the absolute minimum brake rotor for the caliper/brake pad size.

*I'm at a hockey tournament explaining to my team what a hot karl is and how you can never forget two girls one cup...

kilogram

iTrader: (1)

In reality though, that caliper/pad combo sweeps roughly the same amount of area on the rotor that the Akebono calipers those rotors are usually paired with do. Take a look at the pad drawings between the two. These use pads that are the same height as the Akebonos, but about 20mm longer. That's an increase in pad area of about 15% over the akebonos, which means better heat transfer into the rotor. This is actually a fairly good caliper selection for this rotor. Take a look at a Wilwood superlite on a 370Z rotor once. Now THAT is a bad caliper choice, as it only sweeps about half the friction face.

blnewt

It's actually about 2/3rds of the friction area covered, sure there's wider coverage, but still a big improvement over base cals.

kilogram

iTrader: (1)

I probably made it sound like a bigger deal that it is . Anything is better than the stock postage stamp pads... My Rogue uses the same pads and rotors as the standard Z brakes. I'm not a huge fan of Wilwood stuff, but that's personal preference. I'm all for people doing stuff like this though, provided they're doing it with proper safety margins.

I'm also dubious as to how much difference a few lbs of rotational inertia really makes on a car this heavy. I didn't notice a marked difference after taking 10lbs off per corner with RPF1s. Heavy cars like this just aren't as sensitive to that sort of thing as an Elise or Miata or AW11 would be. Granted, I like to minimize how much weight I add under any circumstances, but I wouldn't lose sleep over 10 lbs, even if it is spinning.