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Darren's Brake Upgrade Project

Darren_S15

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Over a year ago now I decided my brakes are not really up to the job like most of us and started to decide what to do about this.

After many hours of searching the web and thinking I decided Id go for some R33 GTR Brembos up front and some R33 GTST rears.

I had decided that once I get them I wanted to make them look all nice and was going to rebuild them with a lick of paint.

Joined both the GTROC and SkylineOC in an effort to find some calipers that needed a good home and after a couple of months I found what I was looking for at a reasonable price.

And here they are when they arrived, I had removed some of the clips and pins before I took these photos, but Im sure you will agree they are a pretty manky...

















More to follow...
 

Darren_S15

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Next I had to start sorting them out so off to the garden with a bottle of gunk to see what kind of state they are really in under all that dirt.

It was at this point I decided they needed a respray, but I did not want to mess around, I was going to get them powder coated.

Found a local place who said they would chemical dip them, bead blast and then powder coat them for me so they would look like new.

As all my samco hoses are orange I wanted to continue this theme to my brakes.

The fronts had to be split so that the pad plates could be removed and the piston chambers masked well enough, but they rears would be fine as they were.

The other issue here was that all the pins and clips would be manky and the calipers all new looking, so I sent all these bit off to be replated.

Here are some shocking pics from my iPhone of how the calipers came back.





 

DeanS15

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looking very, very nice mate.:cool: taking a lot of time to get that looking right i see - db power also do braided lines in that colour if you're in the mood for colour coding:thumbs:
 
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Looking awesome mate!! I would love to do this and will do when I get some money! how much did you pick them all up for if you dont mind me asking
 

Darren_S15

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The next stage was to send them off to get them rebuilt.

Now I did originally plan on doing this bit myself as just replacing the seals would not be to hard.

But sadly the powder coating guys lost the o-rings that sealed the caliper halves and I was slightly nervous about bolting them back together and getting them to seal.

So with this in mind I found a place who could make up new o-rings for me and then rebuild them ready to bolt on, so I went with this option.

And when they arrived back they looked like this...







Just needed to add the Brembo sticker to the fronts again.



Then add the new yellow stuff R pads, pins and clips.







I went to add them to the car this weekend but have had a few issues with the bolts not being correct, but as soon as they are on Ill get some more pics here to show the finished artical.

Got some 324mm EBC Turbo Groove discs, and Goodrich braided lines to finish off the front.

Not done the rears yet as I still need to get the R33 rear hub setup, and its freezing outside right now so Im going to wait until it gets warmer :nod:

Overall very happy with this little project so far, only a few niggles that I dont need to mention here, and if anyone wants any more info about any stages of this just ask.

Ill keep this post updated with the progess.
 
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Yeah, im very interested in this thread as this will be what im going to go for!!

They really do look awesome mate!! :thumbs:
 

Darren_S15

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DeanS15 said:
looking very, very nice mate.:cool: taking a lot of time to get that looking right i see - db power also do braided lines in that colour if you're in the mood for colour coding:thumbs:
Hey mate, yeah its taken me a lot longer than Id hoped. Since JAE my car has not moved becasue my front brake was sticking, and I think driving back from JAE cooked it :(. But nearly there now :D

C1TPT said:
Looking awesome mate!! I would love to do this and will do when I get some money! how much did you pick them all up for if you dont mind me asking
Thanks mate. I managed to get front Capliers with pad and discs for £350 and the rear Calipers with pads and discs for £60 posted. But I have no plans of using the standard pads or discs. Took me a while to find them for that price as a lot of people want silly money for them, and I was not looking for any in mint condition.

Suspect said:
looking forward to seeing them on the car as they look very cool.
Thanks :thumbs:

Watch this space for updates....
 

Darren_S15

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They do look good mate....but did you notice one of your Brembo stickers is upside down ?
Oh yeah whoops.

They may well be off for another re spray now due to the postie, so I'd need to get them restickered anyway.

Could even get them sealed under the lacquer like the originals if that's the case.
 

Darren_S15

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Quick update on this.

So last week they went back to the guy who rebuilt them for me after a couple of them got marked in the post.

He is going to respray them totally for me and resticker them the correct way.

Then to make them even better lacquer over the stickers to make them look more like the real thing.

Hope to get them back ready to fit for next weekend, so as soon as I get them I'll add some more pics.

Just hope they fit under my wheels now or I might need to get some spacers.

All being well I hope to get the r33 hear hub convo done early summer So I can fit the rears ready for JAE.
 

Darren_S15

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Well finally after 5 months of having my car garaged up the day came that I was able to finally get these calipers onto my car.

Ive only got the fronts back at the moment but Im not ready to fit the rears just yet anyway.

So here is a before pic just to remind us:



And here are the after shots:















I think they complement the orange samco hoses very well, which is exactly what I wanted.

Sadly I have not had a chance to drive the car anywhere yet as my MOT has expired while its been off the road, so thats a job for next weekend.

Once they are all bedded in they will hopefully stop the car nice and quick...
 

craig8585

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They look awesome mate, well done.

Yellowstuff pads too? Good choice :)
 

DeanS15

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very, very nice mate. i see the cars coming together nicely ;)
 
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