jeromio Posted February 19, 2001 Share Posted February 19, 2001 For some reason I thought that fabbing these brackets would not be this labor intensive. Here is what I am finding myself up against: - Half inch plate is really thick. No, make that REALLY thick. - My friend's super honkin Plasma torch can cut 1/2 inch plate - just not very well. I had to go really slow. It was REALLY hot. So I ended up stopping and starting alot which made for some ugly cuts. It also beveled really badly. The inside "hole" part was especially hard, so for bracket number 2 I ended up using a hole saw, which took Forever. Looked nice, but of course the largest saw was about 1/4" too small, so I had to grind out the hole. Ugh. Both holes are nice and snug against the carrier though. - Grinding. Lots of it. And a little touch up welding too. These wil not be all that pretty. I just couldn't wait the 3 weeks to have them CNC cut (not to mention it woulda cost dollars). - Lining up those 4 mounting holes was, for some reason, a problem. Bracket one has one hole that ended up being about 2mm off and another that's about 0.5mm off. I guess I'll weld 'em up and try again. Don't know what happened that first time, but the second bracket has all 4 hoels lining up pretty nicely. - The final step - welding up the two parts (I cut out the "ears" as one piece, with a 1/4" of metal connecting the two). I'm going to have to make a jig. I guess I'll just take the drawing's number for the spacing between the 2 parts. Although it seems like some of those numbers were not all that perfect. Which leads me to some questions: - for mock up, does anyone have a suggestion for faking the position of the stub axle so that I can try out the fit before final welding? If I put in the inner bearing and seal, I doubt I'll be able to insert and remove the stub easily. How far off the carrier does the stub end up? I was thinking of putting 2 or so layers of tape on the edge of the carrier and then resting the stub on the tape. Since the caliper floats, this dimension is not severly critical.....right? At some point I'll post this stuff (with some lame pics) on my website for anyone else who may want to try this... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted February 19, 2001 Share Posted February 19, 2001 quote: Originally posted by jeromio: For some reason I thought that fabbing these brackets would not be this labor intensive. Here is what I am finding myself up against: - Half inch plate is really thick. No, make that REALLY thick. Which leads me to some questions: - for mock up, does anyone have a suggestion for faking the position of the stub axle so that I can try out the fit before final welding? If I put in the inner bearing and seal, I doubt I'll be able to insert and remove the stub easily. How far off the carrier does the stub end up? I was thinking of putting 2 or so layers of tape on the edge of the carrier and then resting the stub on the tape. Since the caliper floats, this dimension is not severly critical.....right? At some point I'll post this stuff (with some lame pics) on my website for anyone else who may want to try this... I don't know which disc setup you are going for, but this may help. Inserting the inner bearing without the seal would be your best bet, if you plan to pull the axle out again. Once your sure of everything then put the seal in. Getting the stub axle in and out afterwards wasn't a problem. I believe the bearing is tighter to the housing then it is to the axle. The stub axle sits 1 25/32" from back of hub to face of bracket mounting surface on the housing. YES, the offset is critical. The caliper is a floater, but the hanger for the caliper wraps around the rotor. You have about 2mm of clearance on each side of the rotor. It's best to not have enough offset rather then to much. You can always grind afterwards like I did. Offset was 15mm using the rotor and calipers from a '82 ZX. Distance from center is critical too. If anything, go long on this one, but not to long. My pads are almost rubbing the hat of the rotor. Again, about 2mm of clearance. Hope this helps. I have all these measurements in autocad, if you need them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JAMIE T Posted February 20, 2001 Share Posted February 20, 2001 Jerimio, Which drawing did you go with? I am considering doing this also. I was going to use the drawing that is posted on this site somewere, I think it was posted by Mike Kelly, and some others, maybe you posted it:d I was considering making mine out of a piece of billet alum. I have a lathe I can cut the center hole out with, I feel your pain, I to have used a hole saw to cut out some thick plate and it sucked I will cut out my brackets with a band saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted February 20, 2001 Author Share Posted February 20, 2001 Aluminum would've been much easier to work with. We didn't have any 1/2 aluminum handy though. Plus, I can't weld that stuff. My friend can, but it would've meant alot of back and forth for mock ups and then final. Oh well. These suckers are gonna be heavy though. Alum is a good alternative if you can weld it. The drawing I am using is here: http://members.home.net/pparaska/image/brakemods/MaximaBracket_mod.jpg (I have a sized version posted here: http://240z.jeromio.com/images/RearDiscBracketSized.JPG ) I'll be using 82 turbo calipers and rotors. not sure that there's any difference between these and the NA units. The rebuild kits are impressively loaded with rings and seals - I was expecting just the one O and maybe some slider boots. I hope it's fairly intuitive - I haven't got a ZX manual. I seem to have only gotten one EBrake spring. I'm either gonna have to go scrounge around in the mud at the salvage yard or go to the dealer. It'll suck to have to pay $15 for a single spring when the calipers cost $25/pair. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 20, 2001 Share Posted February 20, 2001 Depends on the aluminum I think. 6061 T6 at 1/2" is a major C.S. to cut through. Strong as all get out, but man.. I attempted some bike parts using it and working it without a mill is not a treat at all (and even with a mill it takes quite a while). FWIW. Is there any reason why this bracket can't be out of thinner steel (like say 5/16") and just bent to the proper offset (using a bunch of heat obviously)? Just curious. Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted February 20, 2001 Share Posted February 20, 2001 quote: Originally posted by jeromio: I seem to have only gotten one EBrake spring. I'm either gonna have to go scrounge around in the mud at the salvage yard or go to the dealer. It'll suck to have to pay $15 for a single spring when the calipers cost $25/pair. Would that spring thats missing be on the caliper marked left?(the right caliper has one and the left doesn't) Mine was missing when I pulled them from the yard. I just found this out today. I'm wondering if it came this way. If you plan to pull one from the yard, just buy something else and put it up on the counter with what ever else you got. More then likely they'll give the spring to you for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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