280ZX 5 lug swap - front Z31 calipers?

[BleachZee]

When swapping on the Z31 hubs, I want to keep the rotor the full 11" and use the Z31 calipers.

 

Does the Z31 cailper bolt on? (I would bet not) Is there a bracket made to bolt it up; how do I make one myself if I can't buy one?

 

The 280ZX mounting is not the same as the S30. I can't use a Toyota 4x4 caliper.

 

If someone else did this exact swap on a 280ZX and made their own bracket... would you make me a duplicate?

[zcarnut]

...Does the Z31 cailper bolt on? (I would bet not)...

 

No it does not. The caliper mounting bolt(s) spacing is different.

[BleachZee]

So because I'm obviously up against making a custom mounting plate, should I go with the single piston Z31 caliper or should I get the 'late' (86-89?) Toyota 4-piston calipers which are made for vented rotors? The pad surface area is simular in size I think, but do the 4 tiny pistons have more braking force than one large single piston? I'm going to be runnig stock 280ZX rear brakes drilled to 5-lug.

 

I'm going with big wheels and a spacer so I'm sure that caliper clearance wont' be an issue. (unless I get a flat and try to put a spare wheel on!)

[GLENN280ZX]

Hey I'm Doing That Swap Now. Give Me Till Sat. And Ican Give The Info You Need On The Braket. As Far As The Caliper Goes Look At The 2 Side By Side.... They Are The Same Sept For The Brk. Hose. Dont Worry About Changing To The 300 Single Piston, Are You Using The 300 Bub?? If You Are Than You Know That You Will-be Moving The Center Of The Wheel To The Outside Of The Car About 3/4". This Dosent Matter As Long As You Know,,, And You Need To Get A Wheel That Doesnt Have A Centered Off-set.when You Do The Rear You Need 2-300 Axles 2- Black Companion Flanges And 2-280zx C-v Axles. Dont Worry About The Size Of The Outter Brg, The Are A Swap, But You Must Use The 300's Tapered Brg. Sleeve Then You Use The 300 Non-vented Rotor After You Turn The Outside Dia. Down To Match The 280's And Bingo You Have A 280zx 5-lug Almost Bolt-in. This Works On The 82-83. 79-81 You Must Drill The 280 Rotor 5-lug Or Make Caliper Brkts To Use 300 Rotors. (this Is What I Have Done To The Rear Of My '80zx) Hope Tis Helps.

[BleachZee]

Excellent! Yes I have an 87 300ZX parts car. (note, signature pic)

I was planning to use the 300ZX hub, rotor, and caliper on the front. I did know about the 3/4 inch extension of the hub. I was going to consider that in fitting my wheels. I may just be able to take my car in and get some fitted to see what spacers I need.

 

I have a 1982 280ZX.

On the rear I was told to just re-drill the stock hub and rotor. I thought that idea was fine and I would use the factory rear 280ZX brakes. Will that still work? I could set up a proportioning valve if the front brakes were too strong.

[frank280zx]

Hey I'm Doing That Swap Now. Give Me Till Sat. And Ican Give The Info You Need On The Braket. As Far As The Caliper Goes Look At The 2 Side By Side.... They Are The Same Sept For The Brk. Hose. Dont Worry About Changing To The 300 Single Piston, Are You Using The 300 Bub?? If You Are Than You Know That You Will-be Moving The Center Of The Wheel To The Outside Of The Car About 3/4". This Dosent Matter As Long As You Know,,, And You Need To Get A Wheel That Doesnt Have A Centered Off-set.when You Do The Rear You Need 2-300 Axles 2- Black Companion Flanges And 2-280zx C-v Axles. Dont Worry About The Size Of The Outter Brg, The Are A Swap, But You Must Use The 300's Tapered Brg. Sleeve Then You Use The 300 Non-vented Rotor After You Turn The Outside Dia. Down To Match The 280's And Bingo You Have A 280zx 5-lug Almost Bolt-in. This Works On The 82-83. 79-81 You Must Drill The 280 Rotor 5-lug Or Make Caliper Brkts To Use 300 Rotors. (this Is What I Have Done To The Rear Of My '80zx) Hope Tis Helps.

 

so yu mean you need a 300 axle of two cars ???

 

any pictures or better discription of this swap ? it would make a great sticky !

[BleachZee]

Not to repost stuff, but here is some info I found in one of my searches I did.

 

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Get the front hubs and rotors off an 84-89 300ZX Turbo, or an 86-89

non-turbo 300ZX. Remove the hubs and rotors off of your 280ZX struts and

slide the 300ZX hub onto the spindle. You will note that the spacing for the

rotor does not match the caliper. You will need to make or fabricate a

spacer to match the difference between the rotor and where the caliper

mounts to the strut. Another way to do this is to seperate the disk from the

rotor and make a spacer that fits between the hub and rotor.

 

This is also an excellent opportunity to upgrade to a better front brake

caliper. The 300ZX disks are 11" diameter and vented-- even bigger than your

280ZX disks. One swap that I saw that worked really well was the use of

Toyota four-piston truck calipers on the 300ZX disks. The Toyota calipers

are very common and easy to find. They are however, very heavy as they are

made from iron.

 

Another brake caliper to use is the one off of the 86+ Mazda Turbo II's.

This is an all-aluminum, four piston caliper, and can be found quite easily.

The RX-7 caliper is very light, and there are plenty of performance pads to

be found for them. This is the setup that I am using on my 510. You will

have to build a spacer to use these calipers (but you have to do that

anyway) and you will need to match the RX-7's caliper bolt pattern (easy to do).

 

** note from Ross: these pads are ~4x3", a huge pad by any standards!**

 

The rear disks are easy to convert to five-lug. I am using 280ZX rear

trailing arms so I have direct experience with this part of the project.

First remove the four-lug disk, caliper, and stub axle from the control arm.

You will need a large impact wrench to remove the stub axle, they have a

single, very large nut that requires an impact to remove it. Slide the stub

axle out of the control arm and use a press to remove three of the four

studs. Since the four lug pattern is 4x4.5, and the 5-lug pattern is 5x4.5,

one of the studs is in the correct place. I had a spare 5-lug disk that I

used as my pattern. Slide the disk over the remaining stud and center the

disk onto the stub axle. Once you are sure that the disk is centered, mark

the other four holes. Use a drill press to drill the holes just barely

larger than the new studs that you are going to install. You want the studs

to just fit through the hole. Using the press again, press the other four

studs splined ends into the stub axle. One of the studs will be close to the

edge of the stub axle because of the 5-lug pattern. We determined there is

enough material to support it, but if you are concerned you can easily add

more material.

 

You can redrill your rear disks for a 5-lug pattern, which would be nice

because then your rear caliper would work, or use the 300ZX turbo rear disks

and calipers, but they are a larger diameter so you will need to make a new

caliper mount.

 

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This sounds like you only need the front hubs. I have not found any info saying you need rear 300ZX hubs. Just re-drill.

[GLENN280ZX]

I myself am using 300 axles and rotors,on the rear. But my first 5lug set up was a set of drilled 280 axles and rotors, this set-up worked everyday for 8 yrs,and yes their is one stud in the rear set-up that looks a little close to the edge, but i had no problems with this. the main 2 resons that i choose the 300 set-up are:The 300 axle is bigger at the wheel flange(but the outer dia. of the brg. is the same. no need to fear they swap) and i didnt have to drill and tap any holes, just add the nissan motor sports longer studs.upTo ansewer one question:use the non-vented rotor but turn it down to the 280 dia. and you can use your 280 caliper,,,if the car is an 82-83. question 2:use any 300 5-lug axle,(z31) but use the painted black dust shield comp. flange, this one is the same depth as the 280 cv flange.the other ones are too deep.You need to use 280zx axles or 300 short-side cv axles(pass. side)'cause there is no 300 u-joint type comp. flange out there. If you want to use u-joint type axles you must drill 280zx axles.

[BleachZee]

...so you're doing this swap tomorrow? Take pictures please!

 

Do you know what years had the black painted dust shield companion flange? I've got an 87 non-turbo 2-seater I'm pulling parts from. I'm still leaning towards just drilling the 280ZX hubs in back.

[frank280zx]

yes please pictures, and this should become a sticky in my opinion !

[tec280zx]

I switched to z31 brakes upfront except I used the whole z31 strut assembly. I didn't find much improvement over the 280zx brakes but I plan to upgrade to z32 calipers down the line which will now bolt right up.

[frank280zx]

hmm now that is a good idea, how did it affect ride height?

any pictures of that ?

[tec280zx]

I'll get some pics later today. I'm still using my stock s130 springs so the ride height is the same. Basically, I used the s130 springs, z31 strut assembly, z31 steering knuckles, and z31 calipers/brake hoses. It all bolts up, just needed to re adjust the tie rod.

[BleachZee]

WOW! I had thought of that, but never mentioned it or asked because I figured that was the easy way to do the swap and if nobody else had done it then it obviously would not work. Hahaha! ok, if you say it bolts right up then that's what I'm doing. So much easier and no hokey caliper adaptors needing to be made. I'm replacing bushings, tie rod ends ect, so I'll definatly get an alignment afterwards.

 

How about strut inserts? I have new 280ZX inserts I wanted to use. Will those go into the 300ZX strut assembly or do I need Z31 front struts now?

 

Anyone know how the Z31 and 280ZX front springs compare? Are the Z31 springs more stiff? maybe cut one coil off them for a slightly lowered and more firm ride?

[tec280zx]

bleech, the s130 struts are won't fit, they are about an inch too tall. Not sure about the springs. The only drawback is that this setup will give a slight positive camber at stock height. Its barely noticable, but I can see it. I'm pretty sure with lowering springs it will balance out.

[frank280zx]

so the z31 bolts up to the s130 arm, and then you use the z31 knuckles?

is it to much to ask if you can mark what part comes of what on the pic !

[BleachZee]

...this setup will give a slight positive camber at stock height. Its barely noticable, but I can see it. I'm pretty sure with lowering springs it will balance out.

Good news actually, although I just purchased bump-steer spacers for my S130 struts. Now I won't need them and I need some front Z31 strut inserts.

 

I would love to see pictures before I begin. When I do the swap I will document the entire process with pictures and an article writeup.

[tec280zx]

Ok, heres a few photos I shot real quick. I can take better ones when I change the ball joints on wednsday.

 

[BleachZee]

Looks like you put a 280ZX 4-lug hub on the 300ZX strut/spindle. Is that the 300 caliper or the 280 caliper?

 

Are the 280ZX and Z31 wheel bearings exactly the same?

 

When I got to do this I'll be using all 300ZX parts so I can just buy 300ZX wheel bearings I guess.

[frank280zx]

hmm intresting it could also be a 300 disc but 4 lug hub, thatway utilizing 300 brakes