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Now that I'm back on track with the build I'm reviewing brakes. right after buying the car I immediately bought a new set of centric calipers which were powder coated red and hawk pads for my first track day. this was a good decision because I didn't want to take the chance that 80k miles on stock calipers might put me into a wall. Those stock OEM replacements did pretty well actually at my skill level as a beginner so that was a good choice for $350.
I just re-sold the sport Brembo calipers that I had bought last year and rebuilt. I have another set of black powder coated brembos. I spent three days exploring brake options at my budget level which is under $3,000 and I was looking at wilwoods and akebonos and the Z1 and czp kits weren't ideal... so just looking at the Brembos again sitting on my workbench and thinking, they have 12.75" rotors versus 14" Akebono rotors... but they are a huge upgrade from stock and I can put the $ toward something else for now...
I'll paint them gold and put them on the car. maybe down the road I'll upgrade the brakes but this is an upgrade compared to what I'm used to.
Sorry about the messy posts. This site doesn't work well on mobile so I'm editing on PC, and need to just post from the PC from now on...
Today (so far) I installed a set of GKTech solid steering rack bushings, because I already had the front end disassembled and it was convenient. I like the quality of GKTech's stuff. I've got a few more GKTech parts to install this weekend. I think the car might be back on its wheels in a few days after sitting on jackstands for 7 mos.
I'm sort of obsessed with bushings now... it's the first thing I look at in any car. I usually start with wheels/tires because suspension and brakes need to work around wheels, but I really nerd out with the bushings. Some cars don't handle solid aluminum bushings as well as others. Poly 75D is basically as hard as a bowling ball, which might as well be solid but it does give a little bit--enough to not stress some cars with less than robust frames. It's too bad there isn't more 75D poly available for the 350Z. I'm obsessed with solid bushings but 75D gives similar results. Maybe it's more expensive than aluminum? I don't know, I just ran across it when exploring bushings for other cars.
In these photos I pressed out the old bushings and installed the new ones from GKTech. This is honestly not an upgrade I would have thought to do had I not run across the part on their website. Interesting. I really don't know if solid will improve steering but I'll find out soon.
3rd day in a row this weekend in the garage. Feels great but also sore as hell, lol. The rear diff won't come out. I dunno what it's hung up on. I can rotate and push it up a bit but it won't slide out of the subframe. I'm gonna try to jack it up an inch.
Anyway, about to install the Brembos today so i revisited my comparisons again. Do i really want to install them for one year then upgrade? worth a second thought. I bought new OEM hard lines and OEM SS lines with blocks, and pads already. These lines look nice installed.
Reason I'm obsessing: season is over, got all winter to work on it, as well as prep the 03 for sale.
One big undeniable plus for the Track Edition is the Brembo sport brakes. W/o them, the car is just a base model. A stripped down base model in my case. If i put them back on, the car is worth more and easier to sell. And right now is a better time to decide with both cars in pieces.
I'm leaning again toward a new BBK. Put the Brembos back on the 03 for sale
The Akebonos are an easy choice but I'm still looking at the Wilwood 6-piston kits. Seeing it up close helps. this is a good video because it shows both sets side by side.
Have you considered the StopTech ST-40 kit? They'll (StopTech support) recommend the proper piston size depending on your year/model and rear caliper size. Good pad selection since the pads also fit a Porsche model caliper.
*edit - I just did a quick google search and that might be just out of your price range.. (I bought mine quite a few years ago.. didn't realize the price had increased so much). BUT - Black Friday is coming.. look for deals.
hey thanks for stopping by my new hopefully more focused build thread. they say it's good to know what you want so that you're not beating around the bush. mostly last year I didn't really know what I wanted and was thinking trailer full race car and going competition license etc. then I found I really love driving different cars and don't want to go hardcore track so I'm in between.
the stoptech looks pretty hardcore to me with the front being 3800, the rears 2700 that's pretty expensive. do you think they hold up better and that's why they are more expensive? I'm not afraid of the cost if they will last longer. this is like an all winter long thing so I could spend two months working on brakes instead of one month and put additional funds into it. but I'm just not sure about the cost benefit.i minmax these things.
the Akebono is a great choice and even going with the remanufactured option is a great choice because I think they would work just fine for about $2,000 total front and rear.
the wilwoods are about 3,600 front and rear and that's a good midpoint between Akebono and stop tech.
I think I already mentioned I've done 18 track days so far in a year and a half so that's my schedule and I'm not going to comp I'm staying in de 3/4 and going with alternate clubs instead of NASA because they've been more fun. so I'll never get to being as good as @Dr Hoon on track and that's totally fine I don't really need to compete I am just having a hell of a lot of fun.
so that being said I probably wouldn't want to spend $7,000 on brakes. actually at that price level I would probably go with AP. since they offer a NASA discount.
The StopTech's haven't failed me. I do rebuilds every couple of years just for peace of mind depending on how much I'm tracking them. I matched them up with a used set of rear Brembos that I got super cheap. The Akebonos are just really large. You might be limited in your wheel choices there, or need to use spacers or something to get them to fit. The Wilwoods, I heard some negative things from Savanna Little's posts (I think) tracking those (not sure of the model and this again was years ago). And the pad selection might not be as robust.. But I honestly haven't done a ton a research there.
But, you know your budget. They'll both stop you on track. You'll make it work.
Sorry for the distraction. I probably should have just deleted it after seeing the current prices.
Oh i see, you're just talking about the front brakes. It is cheaper doing a mix like rear Akebonos with front Stoptechs. I wonder what the problem was that you mentioned about Wilwoods? of course that's just one report, not a consensus. I would just take a guess that it's pistons getting stuck.
A thread here from way back in 2004 about the Wilwood bbk with a positive report. someone mentioned that the Wilwood pistons don't have dust sleeves like the Brembos so maintenance is important.
I am still very undecided on the brake upgrade. I've still got some work to do so getting my hands dirty on the car will help me to decide. this weekend I expect to nearly finished the work so the brakes will be the holdup. I'm leaning on just putting the Brembos on for now since it's not really a big deal to remove them again. I tend to overthink these things way too much.
Shoot man, I forgot you said you still have a set of Brembos. Just clean those up and use them. Done. Save up or buy more track time. Buy more safety gear. 4 point roll-bar, seat, harnesses, HANS.
I had this G2 paint sitting on the shelf so I decided to give it a try on the Brembos today. it ran in a few places but for a cheap paint job it's a decent 6-footer. looks pretty good If you don't get up close. I figured why not? I was going to get them powder coated. this is very sloppy, I'm not happy with messy results but it will work for a while. This G2 paint works better on small calipers. The Brembos are large and contoured all over making it very hard to cover it with a paintbrush. lol. but messy gold is better than black.
Stalled on routing the Brembo SS hardlines but i found a photo online and will continue tomorrow. (The problem was the mounting point on the new coilover). (and I hate how the caliper paint turned out so I will be taking them all apart and sending them in for powder coating-- but I'm going to get the car on the road first).
Otherwise the front end is put back together. There's a lot of new stuff here to adjust/sort before it's road worthy.
GKTech tie rod ends
LCA ball joints
SPL LCA bushings
SPL comp rod bushings
Hotchkis sway bars
SPL sway bar end links
Z1 adjustable UCAs
Fortune 500 coilovers
I welcome constructive criticism if anyone sees anything wrong with my work. I already know I have a problem with the new tie rods and will have to adjust the steering.
Got the diff off without removing the subframe. The SPL bushings are practically welded in place. But, the Nismo diff I'm swapping also has them so it's a non issue. I measured the rotation and the Nismo is a 3.5-ish. Stock, I believe. Disappointing considering it's a built 1.5. I was hoping it was a 4.0+. here are a couple photos for anyone that's curious. Since it's not an increased ratio, I might have to get it rebuilt for better acceleration.
There's probably no point to this but if anyone's interested here is the comparison between the Nismo diff and VLSD from my '04 Touring. they both run fine but I'm tempted to send the VLSD to Z1 for better acceleration. That's more important for my goals than top speed.
I'll leave the Nismo alone. It seems to run fine.
Any suggestions on which LSD to put in it? I've been following the LSD thread but not ready to do it myself.
Stalled on routing the Brembo SS hardlines but i found a photo online and will continue tomorrow. (The problem was the mounting point on the new coilover). (and I hate how the caliper paint turned out so I will be taking them all apart and sending them in for powder coating-- but I'm going to get the car on the road first).
Otherwise the front end is put back together. There's a lot of new stuff here to adjust/sort before it's road worthy.
GKTech tie rod ends
LCA ball joints
SPL LCA bushings
SPL comp rod bushings
Hotchkis sway bars
SPL sway bar end links
Z1 adjustable UCAs
Fortune 500 coilovers
I welcome constructive criticism if anyone sees anything wrong with my work. I already know I have a problem with the new tie rods and will have to adjust the steering.
ball joints look new. Where did you buy from? The ones I got keep ripping at the boots.
10-17-2022, 09:26 AM
Aeneas137's Street/Track Build
Feels great but also sore as hell, lol. The rear diff won't come out. I dunno what it's hung up on. I can rotate and push it up a bit but it won't slide out of the subframe. I'm gonna try to jack it up an inch.
