Hopefully Gary and Dave can answer these since I'm referencing the tech meet at Gary's back in the spring (i lost my notes on this stuff, so sorry for going over ground previously covered).

I'm about to set out on an ambitious (for me) bit of maintenance for the 350, and would like a bit of info.

1. I'm going to replace the brake pads with the Cobalt Sport GT pads, front and back. From looking at the tutorial on this site, this looks to be pretty straightforward. David, you suggested getting the rotors resurfaced when doing this--can you suggest a shop you trust that does that?

2. I'd like to flush the brake fluid--does anyone know an online tutorial for this (preferably with pics?). I've never attempted this--I watched you guys do it with ZZNoTop's contraption, but i think i can give it a go. I recall you guys used the Valvoline Synpower synthetic, correct? (DOT4?)

3. What was the fluid you guys used for the rear differential?

4. What was the fluid mix you guys used for the transmission?

Thanks in advance for the response,

david

 

If you're in the Springs, I wouldn't mind giving you a hand with this if you'd like. Bleeding the brakes will require two people anyways. One person pumps the brakes until pressure is built up, then they simply hold their foot on the brake pedal to keep pressure on the system. The other person should have a small hose attached to the bleed screw on the caliper they are bleeding. The other end of this tube is in a bottle with brake fluid in it. As person one is pressing the brake pedal, the other person opens the bleed screw and the old fluid is pushed out, down the tube and into the bottle. Then you close the bleed screw and the other person can let off the pedal. Then you just keep repeating until fresh fluid comes out and move on to the next caliper. Start with the one caliper furthest from the master cylinder and finish with the driver side front as its the closest to the master cylinder. Hope that helps.
Oh, and get a pump attachment for the diff and gear oil. Any other way is just crappy. Again, if you're local I can bring mine.
Will

 

I host a little minor meet at my house. Need to change my some of my fluids as well. As far as Rear Diff fliud I use Royal Purple. The Tranny I'm using Syncromesh but want to change and try out Royal Purple there. I'm using the OEM weights.
Will: I still have your break fluid container and hose from when you help me before La Junta. LOL

 

I'll chime in here, since I think David's out of town right now, at the SCCA Runoffs in Kansas.

1 - I can't recommend a specific shop for this one, but I would think that any Nissan service dept would be a good choice (probably a lot better than one of those Brakes Plus or Just Brakes places.) I would just suggest that you ask whoever does this to use a very light touch on the lathe, and not remove any more surface material than necessary. Lots of those places will grind rotors down to near-minimum specs, effectively robbing you of a lot of usable material.

2 - I'll second what Will said, and add that the proper bleed order on the Z is non-intuitive...it's left rear, right front, right rear, left front. Not what you would think, but that's what the service manual says. You're right, Valvoline SynPower (it's marked as DOT 3/DOT 4, I believe) is the local fluid of choice. There are better fluids out there, but they are a bit more $, and some don't have as long of an in-use life as the SynPower does.

3 - I believe we used a Valvoline-sourced gear oil for this, but I don't have the specifics in front of me, as this was something that David brought over and donated to the cause. The Royal Purple that Robert_K mentioned is a good fluid as well. Whatever you go with, just make sure to get the proper weight...I believe the spec is documented in the manual somewhere, which I don't have handy to look up at the moment.

4 - We used a 50/50 mix of Redline MTL and MT-90 (Royal Purple is also a popular brand for transmission fluid.) You can get this from local race shops (AAI, Morten's Motorsports/Peterson Fluid Systems, 3R, etc.) It's definitely not something you can find at your local AutoZone, but it's worth hunting for. If you're not in a hurry, you can also find it online:

http://www.truechoice.com/products.asp?dept=1153

I'll also suggest that you bed those Cobalt pads in HARD, in order to minimize noise. Also, you can put some anti-seize paste (I'm partial to Perma-Tex for this) on the lateral edges of the backing plate during the install to help minimize noise.

Good luck with the project! This is definitely a do-able weekend job (as you've seen).

Gary

 

Awesome info Gary! Think I'm going to try that Redline MTL & MT-90 50/50 mix.

 

gary, will and robert,

thanks for the info! i'm not in the springs, but i'm willing to travel down there. Will, we met at Gary's place in the spring, and I'd like to meet robert, too. I'm fairly flexible on time, but i don't have the pads yet. but, even if you decided to do it soon, i'd be happy to come down and watch and learn.

 

Just my opinion, but if you're going to do all of this work, I'd definitely do a set of stainless steel braided brake lines at the same time, if you can swing the extra cake.

-E

 

I've seen folks talk about this-that sounds like a pretty involved process. Is it? What is the bebfit of the SS brake line?

 

SS brake lines don't expand while braking. Also you get a lot better pedal feel from them. If you really can front the cash I suggest the StopTech Stage I Kit: StopTech stainless steel brake lines, 3 bottles of Motul RBF600 brake fluid and street performance pads. Lines and pads are for both front and rear. FITS STOCK CALIPERS (LINK). I have the Stage II kit that includes slotted or drilled rotors. I went with the Slotted. Great street brake kit upgrade!

 

It's an involved process basically because it requires disassembling and bleeding the brakes... but if you're going to change pads and bleed brakes anyway, you're going to be doing 90% of the work of changing your brake lines already.

As Robert_K said, it gives you quicker/better brake response because you aren't trying to blow your soft stock brake lines up like ballons, and better pedal feel/feedback so you feel more of what is happening and can modulate your brakes better.

I believe your stock brake lines also get softer as they get hotter, so if you're pushing your car hard and really heating up the brake fluid, it only makes things worse.

-E

 

ok, i'm on board with the stainless lines. it was something i was thinking of, but after reading up on it, it seems to be a worthwhile upgrade.

so, here's the quandry:

(1) my original plan was the cobalt sport GT pads recommended by dkmura. those pad for the non brembo calipers are $204 for the set. if i purchase the stoptech SS lines, they are $96 for the front and $77 for the rear, for a total of $377 (plus whatever the brake fluid costs).

or,

(2) the stop tech stage 1 kit, which includes the SS lines, "street performance" pads (no brand specified) and 3 jugs of motul brake fluid for $339.

not a huge price difference, but you get three bottles of the motul fluid (worth $45) with the stoptech kit.

 

The street performance pads that come with the StopTech kit are typically Axxix Ultimates, but I think they've been known to ship Hawk HPS, too. You might talk to a vendor and see if you have a choice here. The Cobalt pads are more track-worthy (though still not a true track pad) than either of these options, but can also be a little louder, so there's a definite trade-off here.

Motul has a much higher boiling point than the Valvoline fluid, but it also absorbs water from the air more quickly, and thus requires more frequent bleeding/flushing to maintain a high level of boiling resistance. After using Motul for several track days, I've recently switched back to the Valvoline for less frequent (and less expensive) maintenance. But both are good choices, and a definite upgrade over stock.

I think the SS lines are a great upgrade, and worth the money (although be prepared for a somewhat messy install...you'll never forget what brake fluid feels like after putting on the lines).

I don't know if this helps or not, but at least it's more info to consider.

 

gary,

thanks, that helps. i emailed stoptech to see what pads they would use, or if i'd have a choice, but they haven't gotten back to me yet.

it seems like the best set up is the stoptech lines, the cobalts, and the valvoline fluid.

 

Stoptech confirms that the pads with the stage one kit are the Axxis Ultimates.

 

Yeah from StopTech you get the Ultimates. You can request something else from the certain vendors. As I said before I have the Stage II kit and love it. I'm sure the rotors don't make that much of a difference.

BTW: There is good info here about the kit: https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-suspension/196921-stoptech-stage-2-stock-caliper-upgrade-kit.html

 

the performance nissan guys seem to like the Axxis pads better than the hawk hps, which seems to have been a well-accepted pad amongst folks on these boards.

i think the best combo is what i stated above-the SS lines, the cobalt pads, and the valvoline synpower

 

Pretty much any combo that has been talked about in this thread will be an improvement over stock (especially the brake lines). For street use the Cobalts are probably about equal with the Axxis pads, and for track use, the Cobalts definitely outclass the Axxis pads.

The biggest downside to that setup, in my opinion, is the potential for brake squeal with the Cobalts. But at this point, we're really just splitting hairs. Congrats on the upgrade decision!

(Also, I think I remember Robert mentioning the possibility of a mod gathering at his house…that's definitely something I'd be interested in coming down for - even just to hang out and help with these kinds of mods).

 

like i said, i'm up for it, too.

the brings us to the question of rotor resurfacing. if we have a tech day at someone's place--presumedly on a saturday, my silly question is how does one go about resurfacing the rotors?

is this actually necessary if there's no perceptable rotor wobble with the remnants of the stock pads? dkmura suggested resurfacing the rotors when changing the pads--but do folks do this when they change out pads just for a track day, even?

i'm not trying to cut corners, but just trying to think out the logistics of all of this business--especially if its down in the springs where i don't exactly know where everything is

 

Typically you don't resurface rotors yourself...you would take them to a shop before (though it wouldn't necessarily have to be immediately before) changing the pads. As for me personally, I do not resurface rotors when changing pads from street to track...I only resurface if there is a noticeable wear variation on the rotor (such as grooves or scoring across the face).

I suspect that David recommended turning the rotors to give yourself a fresh start with the upgraded pad, and to make sure that you get all that you possibly can from your upgrade.

 

gary,

sorry, i wasn't clear.

the point, on some level, of me/us working on these brakes at robert's would be for me to learn, or be told, how to do the pad removal, caliper removal, etc. While it may look pretty easy from the pics online, I was hoping for a helpful atmosphere with the local Z folks to do this. So, if i have to figure out how to take the calipers off to get the rotors resurfaced, then reassemble the whole thing, then there's not a huge point in going down to robert's to do it. (other than working on the diff and trans. fluid, which is also fine).

i'm not trying to be snotty, but like i said, just trying to plan it all out so i can learn, and not be a significant pain in the **** to anyone else in the process.