Guest scca Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 first i dont know... i have never had first hand luck of the correct bracket.. i trust scotty though too..i think the part number gives you the correct bracket but finding it used seems rather difficult! i was SO happy to finally find a 81 maxima i paid them $20 for the one bracket they had,, took it home and NO fit maybe theres a build date issue, this bracket bolted onto the a-arm and is offset but doesnt have the correct bolt pattern to bolt up to the caliper, maybe closer to the 81 style caliper?? also the offset was TOO MUCH the caliper (IF it was the right bolt pattern) wouldnt line up over the rotor anyway.. ------------------ Mike mike@fonebooth.com http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html raceparts and brake upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 Ok guys, I have started gathering info on this already. Couldn't wait. For the '82-'83 ZX calipers and rotors to work, from what I can tell by measuring everything I have, the bracket has to have an 11mm offset + the thickness of the bolting side of the bracket to the axle housing. After measuring from mating surface of hat to center line of rotor I came up with 35mm. We have 30mm of opening when the caliper is fully opened(measuring from the piston to outer fork, because it is a sliding caliper), center then being 15mm. The caliper mounting point is 16mm thick. Adding all this up comes to 66mm. Now, the distance from the hub(rotor mounting surface) to axle housing(bracket mounting surface) I came up with 55mm. Subracting one from the other leaves 11mm. Once you add the bracket, which would take off from the 55mm we would have the actual thickness of the bracket where it mounts to the housing and the offset measurement. Saying the bracket is 13mm(roughly 1/2") would bring us to the measurement of 24mm from outside bracket surface to outside caliper mounting surface. That being the over all offset. Everyone agree? Looking at the dimensional drawing of said bracket gives the measurement of .61", which is a hair under 5/8th(almost 128th). So, 24mm(15/16th) being the offset that we need and the bracket being just under 5/8th gives us over a 1/4" difference. Is this what you figured the offset was off SCCA? I have illustrations I'm working on paper right now. Can anyone confirm any of these measurement? I will be working on center off hub to outside rotor measurements aswell as caliper extreme measurements as soon as I get some pads for the calipers. looks like I'll be spending more money on this without knowing it will work. Someone got a thickness of the ZX pads? Can someone confirm how much offset the straight bracket has, on the back side? Sorry, had to edit a screw up. [This message has been edited by spotfitz (edited January 15, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 dont worry about the pads et al. all you need to do is use the "hanger" the part that the caliper itself bolts to. this has to be centered over the rotor and thats all. once it fits the caliper attaches to it. you dont need the caliper itself to determine the measurements. ------------------ Mike mike@fonebooth.com http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html raceparts and brake upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 quote: Originally posted by scca: dont worry about the pads et al. all you need to do is use the "hanger" the part that the caliper itself bolts to. this has to be centered over the rotor and thats all. once it fits the caliper attaches to it. you dont need the caliper itself to determine the measurements. I'm bad. Yes you are correct. Centering the rotor in the 14mm of play within the "hanger" and adding up all the measurements gives us a measurement of 3mm + bracket thickness. With a thickness of 13mm+3mm gives a 16mm overall offset, which is dead on the chili for the dimensional drawing of the bracket. So we are back to square one? I don't think using washers and longer bolts for this bracket would be a good idea. One of the yards called me back today(really scary) and he is checking into it, using the dimensional drawing. I'm hoping to hear something more tomorrow. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I knew there was a reason I took that measurement. It was pretty late last night when I was doing the calculations. BTW, do you remember the production date of the '81? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 17, 2001 Share Posted January 17, 2001 i'll be going back to that yard in a few days to get the "82" maxima brackets off the car there. i will get the serial # and build date off the other one for reference.. ------------------ Mike mike@fonebooth.com http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html raceparts and brake upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted January 18, 2001 Share Posted January 18, 2001 quote: Originally posted by scca: i'll be going back to that yard in a few days to get the "82" maxima brackets off the car there. i will get the serial # and build date off the other one for reference.. I have seen atleast 6 '82's and they were all weld on's(sedans and wagons, and some of the sedans being sticks). If by some chance they are bolt on's then that would state that there was a difference in N&S versions. I'm still thinking that the '81 is the only one with a bolt on. I have yet to hear from the yard. I'll call them tomorrow. I'm looking into how much it would cost for me to make some aluminum ones, but alittle beefier. The guy I work next to has been coming around after his cancer problem. If I see him tomorrow I'll be asking him some ?'s. If I can get them for a good price of good quality then I will post and see responses and determine if I should order more. I don't want to cut you out SCCA, but if I can get them cheaper then power to the masses. Maybe we can work out a deal for an upgrade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 18, 2001 Share Posted January 18, 2001 i havent started on making them as of yet. so if you can do it for less go for it. i dont think aluminum will work for this though. the angle where it has to bend will make the part there less than 1/4" thick so making it out of plate steel may be better. alum would be nice but you'd have to do them on a CNC machine to get the correct measurements froma block of billet and i would think this would cost more than $50 each then. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 Everyone, I have seen the bolt on brackets at the local yards. I pulled a pair that use the calipers from the early 280zx (the ones with a closer caliper bolt pattern). I purchased a set new from Nissan several months back that use the later caliper bolt patern. I was planing on using the later brackets on my car with the rotors & calipers from an 84 300zx due to there 11 inch rotors but the e-brake hooks up at an ocward angle. After recently replacing the rear brakes on a 92 240sx I've thought about using the sx calipers & rotors because the angle of the e-brake is perfect for my 240z. It seems worth reducing rotor size. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. After looking through a rotor spec. book it seems that rotors all have the same offset. Only the diamiter & thickness of the rotors change. Its been a while since I looked through the book so I don't remember the differences in thickness but maybe I could use the 240sx calipers with a larger rotor. I need to find my book. Anybody try this? Just for clarifcation if I remember correctly the conversion done on Ideal's site used the early brackets & calipers. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 240sx calipers are a direct replacement for 82-3 280ZX ones. so they use the stock 280ZX diam rear rotor.. the larger rotor is a no go if you use the maxima bracket.. FYI ALL i use is the 240 calipers i havent used a 280zx one as they are just too old and 240s are easier to find and in better condition due to this. i generally try to buy calipers from 92-94 cars only. anything older i use as a core or for parts. ------------------ Mike mike@fonebooth.com http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html raceparts and brake upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 I just went to see how much to fabricate the offset Maxima brackets. $200 for both, ouch. I think that was what you got qouted SCCA, wasn't it. I do have an idea though. Most of the tooling is for the offset and ofcourse all the holes. I dropped by the bone yard on my way home and borrowed channel locks and found the '88 Maxima that I knew of that already had the rotor and caliper pulled. I removed the straight bracket from it, got it for free. I can get the other for free if I want it, which I may if this plan will work. I am going to head over to the machine shop again tomorrow and see what it would take to make this straight bracket work. It would basically be cutting off the "ears" and welding on a 5/8" ear to the back side of the straight bracket and grinding down the welded on ear to the thickness of 1/2". That would give the correct offset. Do to the fact that it is easier to grind down steel then the weld, it may be best to have the new ear already ground down before attachment. This I will leave up to the machinist. Hardest part would be the grinding and the positioning of the new ears. There is a big difference in the shape of the straight bracket compared to the offset one, but nothing that should cause it to not function as it should. This should be alot less work to fabricate and the only materials would be for the new ears. There isn't much tooling involved. The ear could be just a straight piece of stock with a hole drilled in the end. Positioning the new ears would be the general concern then. What do you guys think. I plan to roll with it tomorrow morning. Hopefully my Z will be back together by next weekend. I'll keep everyone posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 20, 2001 Share Posted January 20, 2001 i'm shooting for a price of $125 pr.. made of plate steel. if i can do for less i will i am guestimating until i have firm quotes . $200 a pr seems a bit steep.. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 20, 2001 Share Posted January 20, 2001 once you get into 2 piece brackets its the same as making them from scratch. i can make a bracket out of 2" angle iron 3/16" thick and then weld ears onto it but the labor is intensive cost would be about $125 -150 a pair. i have already made a trial set but want to get one piece ones made instead ------------------ Mike mike@fonebooth.com http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html raceparts and brake upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted January 20, 2001 Share Posted January 20, 2001 quote: Originally posted by scca: once you get into 2 piece brackets its the same as making them from scratch. i can make a bracket out of 2" angle iron 3/16" thick and then weld ears onto it but the labor is intensive cost would be about $125 -150 a pair. i have already made a trial set but want to get one piece ones made instead The way I see it the only thing being fabricated is 4 total pieces of steel 5/8" thick X 1 1/4" wide by about 3" long with a 3/8" hole drilled into the end and that same end having the corners cut off. Cutting the straight bracket ears off is not much work, for that matter I could do that part. The way the straight bracket is constructed it would be VERY easy to line the ears up, which have the exact bolt spacing! I'm doing drawings on the new bracket right now. The only thing that is taking so long is measuring every detail to know exactly how far away from center the caliper has to sit. I'm in the process of triangulating(sp?) that. Yes, I thought $200 was steep also, especially from a guy that just told me he use to have a 240 w/ a 327 under the hood!! I'm hoping to get the drawings done by tonight. If you want I can put them up on my website for viewing. It could be about another hour before I get the drawins all together. What a way to spend a Friday night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted January 20, 2001 Share Posted January 20, 2001 Well, after dropping by the machine shop this morning with a big box of donuts I gave him my discette of drawings and dimensions along with the straight bracket and the caliper hanger, just for alignment purposes. He said that it would be alot cheaper to do it this way and he would look over the drawings and would have a price by Monday or Tuesday. As I was leaving I started talking with a guy that worked there. We started talking cars, ofcourse and he showed me this Neon that he had put a V6 in. We discussed what I was doing and he told me to drop back by on Monday and get a card from him. He said I could contact him for any other parts and all I would have to pay for would be material and maybe a 6 pack or 2. Got to love having new friends in a machine shop when your fabricating parts that are hard to come by. I'll let everyone know how much on this straight bracket/offset bracket setup, sometime next week. Now I'm going to get some seats for the money I already payed on the Maxima brackets I can't get at the bone yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno74Z Posted January 20, 2001 Share Posted January 20, 2001 I think my other replay to the Z32 brakes got buried in the Z32 thread but just to let SCCA and Morgan know that the bracket was very easy to make and cost me $12.00 for the steel. I have one welded on and Monday, the other will be done. With a little black paint and I'm set. I used my new Maxima bracket as a template/ guide and my friend with a plasma cutter just zipped it out - follow the dots as they say. Naturally, I used my wood template to scribe the base of the bracket (the part that is welded the lower control arm) and I soon will have rear disks brakes. Danno74Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 20, 2001 Share Posted January 20, 2001 dan - once you start talking weld on brackets all the pricing changes dramatically! the ones on my Z are weld on and were free.. the wrecker gave me 2 - 300ZX rear a-arms that were rusty and i cut the caliper hanger off and welded it on.. free and easy.. its the welding that most dont want to do.. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted January 21, 2001 Share Posted January 21, 2001 Agree on the welding part SCCA - you still looking into having brackets fabbed? Bolt ons are so much nicer - easier to remove and put on etc. etc. My project may actually be speeding up some - it seems th epowdercoating shop up the street has closed. Unless they've moved close by I'll be painting parts instead of powdercoating them which would've taken longer. Bummer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 21, 2001 Share Posted January 21, 2001 i'm still trying for the bolt ons... the wrecker was closed yesterday and didnt get my maxima brackets. hope to get them tomorrow, MAYBE theyll be the right ones and i can give as a sample for production. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruben Posted January 24, 2001 Share Posted January 24, 2001 I had read several post a couple of months ago that the Maxima brackets (44155-04S10) were impossible to get. So on a whim I ordered a second set of the brackets from nissanautoparts.com on Dec 13, 2000 and just received them. I don't know what this means except that perhaps there are still a few out there. Mike (aka. scca), if you still need a set of the brackets to use as a template let me know and I can ship them out on loan to you. I am pretty sure these are the correct brackets since they match the set I had ordered previously and installed on my '72 240Z. I installed the '83 280ZX rear calipers on these brackets. Ruben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted January 25, 2001 Share Posted January 25, 2001 i'm still waiting on that wrecker... yes if your not in a hurry i'd gladly use one to copy- only need one as they are identical.. make sure you got the right ones.. oh and what did they cost in the end ?? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.