Rear Drums and Discs(Terry?)

[Drax240z]

Well my rear brakes are toast, no shoes left! I know a lot of you guys have dealt with this same problem, I'm trying to figure out my options (low cost options) at this point. Buying new shoes is one... Anyone have anything else to offer up for options? Spending more than a couple hundred is right out at this point, leaving most rear disk swaps out of the picture. Terry, I was curious to hear a bit more about what you did with your rear... oh yeah, I have access to a machine shop and welders, etc. Let me know what you guys think!

[blueovalz]

When I built all this brake stuff originally, I was strickly "salvage only" due to very limited funds. Two approaches I took were 1) using the later model 280ZX rear rotors and calipers (switching to the turbo caliper mid way), and 2) A more performance oriented set-up was the front Maxima rotors with the '82 Cressida front calipers, both on the rear (No E-brake mind you). Cost; $35/wheel for parts, then add turning and any hardware kits needed to rebuild the calipers if they needed it. I think it ended up costing about $55 per wheel. I welded a homemade 1/4" steel caliper bracket onto the bearing carrier on the non-vented application. The steel is good quality and takes a weld very well. It was cheap, not fancy, and had no WOW appeal, but it worked great.

[Dan Baldwin]

If your drum ID is within spec, new Nissan shoes and you're OK. I used Nissan shoes for dozens of track events, and never had any problems, though I did have to adjust the shoes once per track day. If you need new drums, they are about $115/each (whew). Once the drums get to their maximum allowable ID, the liners will crack under severe (race track) usage. Disc swap ain't exactly cheap, either. I did the Maxima bracket/280ZX caliper and rotor swap. Be aware that you need to maintain good front/rear brake balance, or you'll only reduce braking performance. I removed the Z prop valve and installed a ZX one, balance seems pretty good. An adjustable prop valve isn't a bad idea, or you can try different cf pads front and rear to get the desired balance (fronts should lock just before the rears). I also used a 15/16 ZX master cylinder, which increases pedal effort ~15%. Now I'm using Carbotech Panther XP pads, which have a noticeably higher cf, bringing pedal effort back to normal and giving very good, reliable performance on the street and at the track. A fair amount of dust, though.

[blueovalz]

To add to what Dan said, When I finally got around to upgrading the front brakes to the 300ZX 4 lug and the 280ZX front caliper, then I had to eventually gut the proportioning valve to get the balance back again. It seemed the front conversion added more bias than did the rear conversion, but the two together balanced out very well.