Just purchased 1974 260z, have brake and wheel bearing quest

[danman]

I just bought a car. 1974 260z. The steering wheel shakes and it pulls to the right when brakes are applied. The right side front disk is worn down and groves are cut in rotor. The left looks like new. So I think the left caliper is not grabbing and right side is doing all work. In addition the rear shoes are almost down to nothing and the wheel cylinders are leaking. I am figuring about $350 per end for new calipers, rotors, pads, wheel cylinders, drums, shoes, etc. For about $550 per end I can buy MSM kit with 4x4 calipers up front and Maxima calipers in rear. Another option is the Arizona Z car kit for $750 per end, but have to buy master cylinder as well and plumb for proportion valve. First off if I buy Arizona kit and new master cylinder will I also need brake booster, if I do, will the existing petal linkage work? Second question, what kit should I do? The car has a 280ZXT motor and many other upgrades, making me think that I need more than stock braking. Have you guys tried any of these upgrade kits and what do you think? Also are there other options which I have not explored? I am willing to save up for Arizona kit if it is worth it. By the way I have 16" Panasports, will I have problems with any of these kits fitting under my wheels? The Arizona Z car kit is the four lug version not five lug upgrade.

 

Also wheel bearings need repacking, when I pull off I have feeling they will need replacing, Nissan dealer's price is very steep. Victoria British has great price on them. Are they same quality? Car will be very fast when tuned up to specs, I don't need bearng problems. Are Victoria British bearings acceptable, or should I bite the bullet and pay dealer prices? Any other sites that sell good quality bearing kits?

 

Thanks for the help, I am sure I will have many other questions down the road.

[DavyZ]

Dan,

 

It's hard to comment on the bearing VB sells except that unless they specify Nissan in the picture, you can be sure they are something else. That does not mean they are bad however. I bought bearings from a local bearing shop because they could get me some high quality ones quickly.

 

I you want to discuss bearings and brake systems, I would suggest looking at what Modern Motorsports has to offer. Ross Corrigan is a great guy and has a very thorough knowledge of things mechanical. Here is a link: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/default.php

 

I hope this helps.

 

Davy

[danman]

Went to local Monument Car parts and spent some cash. Bought complete set of mogul bearings, reman. calipers, rotors, brake hoses, pads, new wheel cylinders, shoes and drums. All stock setup. I need to take car 30 miles to original shop that did upgrade work to see what exactly was done to car (previous owners sunk ton of money into car supposedly about $30,000 total, and all the items do add up plus very clean install when new, a little rough now but good tune-up will fix her up all compression within five pounds of eachother on comp. test) and brakes are too scary right now to risk it. My life is worth more than $300 in parts. I still would like to do a good brake upgrade and am willing to save up to do it. Best upgrade I've seen is Arizona Z car. Are Willwood brakes the best available, kit sounds nice. I would like to stop the car as well as it takes off. The car is truly incredible, cold air intake, spearco intercooler, supposedly HKS stage III ceramic turbo (yet to identify turbo to confirm) , HKS boost controller, upgraded fuel injectors, computer from Jim Wolf, the suspension is incredible, needs steering rack bushing (already ordered), and came with good tires and nice Panasport 16" and the interior looks pretty good, older custom interior job done, a little rough now, but nice when new.

 

Thanks everyone for all the previous posts about buying car with a good deal of the work done. Now I just have to bring her back to her former glory.

[Modern Motorsports Ltd]

Went to local Monument Car parts and spent some cash.

 

No offense but sorry to hear that. You described what sound like some very wonderful go fast parts and then bought replacement parts for OEM brakes? Even in a time pinch I'd go with some KVR pads at a minimum to prevent the easy fires of OEM pads and the very poor rotor wear of many typical semi metallics. As you noted you will be wanting more braking to maintain both your own safety (and that of others) as well as to balance the enjoyment of your power increase. Naturally I'll appear biased but I'd prefer the extremely reliable positive pedal feel and longevity of PBR's DOT lightweight aluminum calipers with patented floating system used worldwide on DOT & racing setups vs. the fixed caliper Wilwood setup thats rather intolerant of any deviation in parallelism in the rotor path, including that induced by their own cheaper flexprone calipers, or bearing wear/rotor imperfection etc. That's just for starters....Nissan swapped the fixed piston calipers on their Z32's 3 times for similar reasons. Yes Dave's (AZ Zcar) items work fine, but I've heard from his customers as well, it hasn't answered all their desires. You said 'best' so one can discern openly.

 

With respect to clearing your panasports, any typical OD rotor/brake upgrade setups will clear those wheels. Even my 13" Xtreme setups clear under most 16" wheels (they'd clear your panasports), fine another 13" setup that does that and I'd be surprised:)

 

Take care and good luck with your car.

[Phyte]

Went to local Monument Car parts and spent some cash. Bought complete set of mogul bearings' date=' reman. calipers, rotors, brake hoses, pads, new wheel cylinders, shoes and drums. All stock setup. I need to take car 30 miles to original shop that did upgrade work to see what exactly was done to car (previous owners sunk ton of money into car supposedly about $30,000 total, and all the items do add up plus very clean install when new, a little rough now but good tune-up will fix her up all compression within five pounds of eachother on comp. test) and brakes are too scary right now to risk it. My life is worth more than $300 in parts. I still would like to do a good brake upgrade and am willing to save up to do it. Best upgrade I've seen is Arizona Z car. Are Willwood brakes the best available, kit sounds nice. I would like to stop the car as well as it takes off. The car is truly incredible, cold air intake, spearco intercooler, supposedly HKS stage III ceramic turbo (yet to identify turbo to confirm) , HKS boost controller, upgraded fuel injectors, computer from Jim Wolf, the suspension is incredible, needs steering rack bushing (already ordered), and came with good tires and nice Panasport 16" and the interior looks pretty good, older custom interior job done, a little rough now, but nice when new.

 

Thanks everyone for all the previous posts about buying car with a good deal of the work done. Now I just have to bring her back to her former glory.[/quote']

 

 

NOOOO!!! Take those calipers and pads back! Get a set of calipers for a 1984 toyota 4x4 4runner. They are a direct bolt in replacement and you will get 50% more stopping power!!! Only gotcha is you'll need to slightly bend the brake lines to bolt up, or just put in stainless lines. This upgrade is about the same cost, but the benifit is huge!!

 

Phyte

[Modern Motorsports Ltd]

"NOOOO!!! Take those calipers and pads back! Get a set of calipers for a 1984 toyota 4x4 4runner. They are a direct bolt in replacement and you will get 50% more stopping power!!! "

 

I'd caution against hyping to such a degree that caliper only mod while keeping the OEM rotor. Did you stop 50% quicker? You will gain some modulation that will aid braking in a shorter distance. On repetitive stops or a long high speed scrubbing stop you still have the solid rotor issue. It's mainly the OEM rotor that is the z's weakness, yes the 4x4 caliper helps but certainly not with the typical solid rotor heat sink issues which are what typically lead to the Z brake weaknes (rotors heat/temp rises/exceedes the pads happy zone, fade/weaker brakes come on..).

 

I'd either freshen OEM and always pick good pads for best fun, and for a 2nd step of nominal cost, the vented rotor 4x4 setup. This has been echoed on this site dozens of times in the past by a fair number. Perhaps noone has been echoeing this the last year I've been mostly absent. On a budget one can elect to source good calipers and rotors used, have the rotors tuned and only buy pads and the rotor spacers. Perhaps refresh the caliper seals if required.

[Phyte]

"NOOOO!!! Take those calipers and pads back! Get a set of calipers for a 1984 toyota 4x4 4runner. They are a direct bolt in replacement and you will get 50% more stopping power!!! "

 

I'd caution against hyping to such a degree that caliper only mod while keeping the OEM rotor. Did you stop 50% quicker? You will gain some modulation that will aid braking in a shorter distance. On repetitive stops or a long high speed scrubbing stop you still have the solid rotor issue. It's mainly the OEM rotor that is the z's weakness' date=' yes the 4x4 caliper helps but certainly not with the typical solid rotor heat sink issues which are what typically lead to the Z brake weaknes (rotors heat/temp rises/exceedes the pads happy zone, fade/weaker brakes come on..).

 

I'd either freshen OEM and always pick good pads for best fun, and for a 2nd step of nominal cost, the vented rotor 4x4 setup. This has been echoed on this site dozens of times in the past by a fair number. Perhaps noone has been echoeing this the last year I've been mostly absent. On a budget one can elect to source good calipers and rotors used, have the rotors tuned and only buy pads and the rotor spacers. Perhaps refresh the caliper seals if required.[/quote']

 

Ok, I got a little excited and was hyping up a little yes. What I should of said is 50% more pad on the rotor. I have yet to do the upgrade, so I should just keep my mouth shut I guess

 

Phyte

[Modern Motorsports Ltd]

Ok, I got a little excited and was hyping up a little yes. What I should of said is 50% more pad on the rotor. I have yet to do the upgrade, so I should just keep my mouth shut I guess

Phyte

 

No worries, just that their are thousands of lurkers that come and go, some only very briefly and they can assume a reply such as yours was based on experiencing numerous brake systems and deciding the solid upgrade was optimum. Never underestimate the power of the internet to inform or otherwise:)

 

If your 50% pad gain was linearly true for braking theory and actuality with no other influences.....rear drums would be a lot more exciting than they are

 

Take care and enjoy your calipers........it's still not too late to go vented or KVR or...just options......I've seen enough go thru several upgrades and $'s till they settle happily into a satisfying setup with full peace of mind.