Diy - Decreasing The Wheel Gap!

[imported_Crimson490]

No, I'm not talking about reducing the fender/tire gap...but the rotor wheel gap. I went with the common front brake modification using the modified Prelude rotors, and the ITR/Accord wagon calipers and pads. A sweet upgrade using genuine honda parts!

OLD

NEW




First off, let me just thank Brian from Fastbrakes who was responsive, helpful, and kind!

I won't go into every detail here, but I will note some of the issues I had, so others looking to do this might benefit from some little FYIs. Any other questions, just ask!

- Getting the old off...
The only special tool I had to buy for this was an impact screwdriver. And it was well worth the $15. It took the two stubborn flat head screws off of the rotor in seconds.

I was a little frustrated about getting the old rotor off. Helms said nothing about the possibility that the rotor might still be stuck even though you've removed the two screws. Fortunatly, I had a Chilton's book that recommended using two 8x1.25 bolts and threading them into the rotor to help pop it off.

- Getting the new on...
You need to modify the caliper so it fits properly to the rotor. I got mine already modified, and I think it was the inside face of the caliper knuckle. When you fit your unmodified caliper you'll clearly see which face to grind down.

Don't worry that the Prelude rotors don't allow you to screw the flat head screws back on to hold the rotor in place. Apparently, most non-Honda cars do not have these. Use a lugnut to hold them in place while you reattach the caliper.

You'll have to bend/notch out a portion of your heat/dust shield so that the larger rotor is able to clear it. A dremel works great here.

If you have 15" rims like I do, I needed to remove the stick-on weights that keep your tires balanced. Either reposition them so they don't hit the caliper, or go to a shop and have them use the clip on weights for the edge of the rim. **EDIT: In the final analysis, this step was not really necessary, as I had about 1/8" clearance between caliper and balancing weights on the 15"s. After having tire shop try to rebalance using only the clip-on weights, they could not get the car to ride smooth. So, I ended up going back to the stick-ons.**

This being my first brake job ever, with a little skill, it took me about 5-6 hours.

HTH

[imported_AznMenace]

wow, thats pretty dang decent for your first b.j. . Anyways, I meant brake job if anyone is tired and didnt notice.

Would this be a beginners DIY or rather a intermediate? How much did all that cost you and i'm guessing you found them at a junk yard?

Is there a big difference in stopping distance or would you rather have done the drum to disc conversion instead of replacing your front disc.

[imported_Crimson490]

I would classify this as an intermediate DIY. Beginner DIYs are like, removing your front bumper, or installing a short ram. This requires you to actually remove stubborn bolts, modify parts for clearance, and reassemble correctly so that your car is safe on the roads. You should have some help when bleeding the brake lines, and there is a little bit of technique to it. Pretty straight forward, but time consuming and a bit of a challange!

I got the rotors and calipers from Brian at Fastbrakes.com for $270 - he does the modification to the rotor so that it matches up with your civic's 4x100 bolt pattern. He happened to have modified calipers at the time, but I think typically that is something he'll not do. Apparently it's just taking a dremel or die grinder to some surfaces to remove a bit of material. Now that I know what I need, if I ever have to replace something, I might try to find it cheaper at a junkyard, but his prices are pretty reasonable. You aren't going to find modified prelude rotors in too many junkyards tho and these were brand new. The calipers he sent looked newer than my 3 yr old civic calipers! Pads I got for $10 through a friend at Performance Friction. There wasn't much else but brake fluid.

I haven't done any stopping distace type tests, but these are at least as good as the old setup. I may look into a bigger master cylinder and see if that helps... But my main motivation to do this was to get rid of my warped stock rotors. I wanted a larger rotor to help prevent that from happening again. The pads I got weren't outrageously high performance - just a step above OEM. Maybe for my next brake job I'll throw some badder gripping pads...

Drum to disk? nah. You should do this first, since your front rotors carry a much higher percentage of the braking power of your car. Plus, the front end upgrade is probably cheaper and easier. Besides, rear drums = sleeper yO!

HTH!

[imported_Lacuna]

Is this upgrade only available for newer models? Or would this be good for 5th gens to?

[imported_Crimson490]

you should be able to do it. I'm not sure that your setup would be that much different from mine.

check out Fastbrakes

They have applications for just about everything.

[Calesta]

Nice. I love my FastBrakes kit- just have to fill in the "Wilwood" in the calipers with some black paint to make the car a little stealthier.

[imported_AznMenace]

alright.. I have installed my own struts, i'm guessing it is near that level of difficulty. Lol, all about the sleeper eh?