How To: Z32/Z33 Big Brake Kit

The total cost of this can range anywhere from well under $500 to $700+ depending on the parts you decide to use. I was able to pull this off for $400 using a lot of cheap stuff, that will be upgraded very soon anyways.

What you need to buy:

- 30mm z32 calipers* with clips (used, rockauto, craigslist, etc.)

- z33 Brembo (350z Track) 12.75" rotors (cheapest I found was rotorpros, obviously there are better, more expensive options out there) (you will need to grind your calipers to fit these, but you will have complete pad contact on the rotor)

-or-

- 6th gen. Maxima 12.6" rotors (these will have a mm or two of pad overhang, but are generally cheaper than the z33 rotors)(you will NOT need to grind your calipers to fit these)

- 240sx to 300zx caliper brackets (the blue ones on ebay)

- 240sx to 300zx brake line adapters (ebay. There are some cheap options but I went with Agency Power and they work great.)

- pads of your choice (price can vary on this one. rotorpros sells them for $30 and they are pretty terrible. I'd recommend spending $70 on some Hawk HPS pads.)

- brake fluid of your choice (enough to bleed the entire system, I recommend ATE superblue.)

Tools you will need:

- Jack and jackstands
- Whatever socket size to remove wheels with appropriate socket wrench
- 14mm socket or wrench
- 17mm socket or wrench
- proper socket for caliper bracket bolts (mine were 19mm, some are hex)
- 10mm flare wrench for brake line
-or-
- vice grips, two of them
- a BFH to remove stuck rotors
- 1/2" drill bit (and a decent drill)
- c-clamp
- 1/2" bolt or something with similar diameter
- blue loctite (optional)
- a friend

What to do:

1. Jack up car, remove front wheels.

2. Using 17mm wrench/socket, remove calipers

3. Remove stock rotors, use BFH as necessary

4. Drill out your new 5x114.3 rotors to 4x114.3. It's actually really easy to do.

- a. grab your old stock rotor, slap it against the new rotor (on the hat side obviously), stick the 1/2 bolt through one of the holes, line up the hub center, and clamp them together (SEE PIC BELOW)

- b. lay the rotor sandwich down with the stocker facing up, have a friend hold onto it to keep it from spinning, and using your 1/2" drill bit, drill out the remaining 3 holes. It helps to have a few extra 1/2" bolts laying around so you can stick them in the new drilled holes to keep everything lined up.

- c. unclamp, clean em off with some brake cleaner or whatever, and repeat with the second rotor. Test fit on your hub to make sure it all works out.

5. Remove new rotors from hub, and grab your spiffy new brackets. Bolt these onto the spindle using the stock 17mm bolts, I used loctite since I don't trust aluminum threading too much.

6. Take your conversion brake lines, and put them onto your new z32 calipers, make sure they are reasonably tight (you will re-tighten them again later) so that no fluid will leak when you put them on. If you haven't done so already, fully compress the four pistons in each caliper with your c-clamp, and install the new pads and hardware as necessary. Also, be sure to remove the two clips from the stock brake lines before proceeding.

7. Using the flare wrench or vice grips, undo the stock brake line from the hardline. Be sure to have your friend nearby with the new caliper (with conversion line installed) in hand. The goal here is to undo the old line and replace it with the new one as fast as possible, this will prevent brake fluid from spilling everywhere.

8. Put the new 12.75" rotors back on, and bolt up the calipers to the brackets. Replace the clips to the brake line and make sure all brake lines are tight and no fluid is leaking.

9. Bleed the brakes. I'm not going to tell you how to do this, but I recommend bleeding all 4 calipers so you can flush the entire system with the new fluid. This will minimize any chance of air in the lines as well.

10. When you are all done, put the wheels back on, get the car on the ground, and follow the proper procedure for bedding the new pads.

Preparing to redrill the rotors:

***Note*** Wheel clearance can be an issue here, they take up more room than OEM Brembo's do. I am currently running 5mm spacers with Nismo wheels (effectively a +42 offset now with a forgiving spoke design) to clear this setup. OEM 04-06 rims may need 10 or 15mm spacers, but don't quote me on that.

hellabrakeflush:

I bought these calipers used and they had previously been ground down. It looks like this should NOT need to be don't for the install, but I can't 100% confirm that yet.

Complete pad contact:

Here's the setup with the wheels on: