How to: fit rear Brembos to a classic.
12 September 2007, 02:11 PM
#1
How to: fit rear Brembos to a classic.
Just been doing this over the last couple of days, (it doesn't really take that long, I've been taking my time inbetween other jobs).
Since I had the discs off again today to adjust the handbrake, I thought I'd take some pics and do a bit of a "how to".
Firstly, I wouldn't recommend ANYONE to undertake this unless you are competent and confident with brakes. They WILL result in an accident if you get it wrong. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Enough of the warnings, here's "how to":
1. Chock front wheels, loosen, but do not remove, rear wheel nuts, ensure handbrake is "off".
2. Jack up the car, preferably support it on axle stand, and remove rear wheel.
3. Loosen, then retighten, (but do not overtighten......you only want it tight enough to avoid brake fluid weping out. DO wipe up any brake fluid that does weep out, it's an excellent paint stripper), the brake pipe connection at the rear of the caliper. We do this now so as to make it easier to do once the caliper is off, and your new one is ready to fit. The nut is 14mm, and unscrews anti-clockwise.
4. Undo, and remove, the two 14mm bolts which screw the caliper to the backplate. They are behind the backplate, and are not part of the caliper itself.
5. Rock the caliper from side to side across the disc so as to retract the pistons and free off the caliper from the disc.
6. Remove the caliper and tie it out of the way with wire or string to avoid stress on the flexible brake pipe. It can also be positioned carefully onto the rear arb.
7. The rear disc should now pull off. If it's tight, insert M8 bolts into the two tapped holes in it's face, and tighten each a couple of turns at a time until it frees off. Remove the disc. This is what you should see, this is the n/s wheel):
The arrows refer to various parts I'll mention below. Note that in this pic I have already drilled out the spot welds holding the stone guard onto the backplate, removed and discarded the stoneguard, tidied up the spot welds, and repainted the backplate to keep it neat and rust-free. I used quick drying enamel, Hammerite type. There are 7 spot welds, you can see where they need to be drilled, it's where the metal is depressed. You don't need to go right through the backplate, I used a 7mm drill. If you look closely at the pic above, you'll see dimples where I drilled the welds out. Two are shown in a later pic.
8. Remove the two top springs. I used long-nosed pliers. Note that they are coloured yellow and blue, (yellow and blue arrows), and MUST be replaced as they came off, so note which one goes where and how they fit, which hole in the brake shoe etc. Do not lose the tiangular plate that is below the springs, see white arrow in pic below.
9. Remove the two fixings, red and green arrows. Again note that the tops are different sizes and need to go back in the same place they came out of. removal was done again using lnp, grip the circular top, press down compressing the spring, and turn the top until it frees off. You may have to keep the centre it's fixed to in place with a finger from behind, I did.
10. Once these are off, the brake shoes can be removed. Note how the adjuster fits, it's right at the bottom, shown in another pic:
It's the orange arrow at the bottom.
11. Between the shoes is a forked flat plate with a spring at one end. Note how it fits BEFORE taking the shoes off, it only goes back one way.
12. The shoes are now joined by a thinner spring at the bottom, remove it.
13. You should now have one loose shoe, and one fastened to the handbrake cable. Discard the loose shoe.
14, Turn the other shoe over. The handbrake actuator can be seen attached to the back of it. Remove the "circlip" type thing and the wave washer below it. Compare the shoe to the ones you have in your kit, and refit the actuator to the correct new shoe. DO NOT forget the wave washer. (I removed and replaced the "circlip thingy, (it appears to be made of a soft metal), with long nosed and ordinary pliers, a flat bladed screwdriver, and a bit of swearing.) You can now discard the old shoe you took the actuator off.
15. Now replace both shoes, putting a little copper slip onto the face of the backplate where the shoe edge will touch. Replace the two circular clips, trapping the flat plate with spring on one end between the shoes as you refit them.
16. Replace handbrake adjuster, and lower, thin, spring.
17. Replace top triangular plate and two coloured springs, taking care to fit the yellow one to the LEFT.
18. Now fit the new bracket for your new caliper. Have a look at the pic below:
You can see the bracket sticking out from the backplate. This shows the o/s wheel. The red arrows are a couple of the spot weld drillings I mentioned before. You can also see the spacers for the caliper fitting with their machined flats, and their bolts, in place, but withdrawn to allow the caliper to fit.
The bracket fits using the bolts tapped into holes in the bracket body. Tehy can be seen on the above photo, the are cap heade, (Allen headed), bolts. Pass the bolt through the backplate from the front, fit a CIRCULAR spacer, then the bracket, and tighten by hand. Fit the second bolt, spacer etc, and again tighten by hand.
19. Pass the other two bolts through the holes in the new bracket from the rear, fit their spacers, the ones with a flat edge, which gives clearance for the backplate. Now tighten the bolts holding the new bracket to the backplate. They take an 8mm Allen key. Do them up nice and tight, but don't overdo it.
20. Fit your new disc. If it's too tight, and won't go over the brake shoes, remove it and LOOSEN the adjuster. (Turn it's centre slotted bit UPWARDS.) Once the disc will JUST fit, your adjuster is fine. If the disc is a loose fit, remove and turn adjuster DOWNWARDS until disc will JUST slip over shoes.
21. Have your new caliper ready, with it's old brake pipe removed, and it's brake-pipe-bolt and washers nearby.
Remove the brake pipe from the old caliper, and quickly refit it to the new one, using the bolt and washers that came off the Brembo caliper. Do it up tight, and wipe off any fluid that spills.
21. Fit Brembo caliper, tightening bolts into the caliper from the rear, you know, the bolts that you passed though the bracket from the rear? Again, nice and tight, but don't overdo it.
22. Refit wheel, lower car to ground, and do the other side.
Bleed brakes in this order: n/s rear inner nipple,> n/s rear outer nipple, >o/s rear inner nipple, >o/s rear outer nipple,> n/s front,> o/s front.
Press firmly on pedal to seat pads. Ensure brakes work before driving on the road. You MAY need to adjust the handbrake from inside the vehicle.
It took me about 3 hours to do the first side, and 3/4 hour to do the second.
Here's a pic of the Brembo caliper "renovated" cosmetically by me.
Alcazar
Since I had the discs off again today to adjust the handbrake, I thought I'd take some pics and do a bit of a "how to".
Firstly, I wouldn't recommend ANYONE to undertake this unless you are competent and confident with brakes. They WILL result in an accident if you get it wrong. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Enough of the warnings, here's "how to":
1. Chock front wheels, loosen, but do not remove, rear wheel nuts, ensure handbrake is "off".
2. Jack up the car, preferably support it on axle stand, and remove rear wheel.
3. Loosen, then retighten, (but do not overtighten......you only want it tight enough to avoid brake fluid weping out. DO wipe up any brake fluid that does weep out, it's an excellent paint stripper), the brake pipe connection at the rear of the caliper. We do this now so as to make it easier to do once the caliper is off, and your new one is ready to fit. The nut is 14mm, and unscrews anti-clockwise.
4. Undo, and remove, the two 14mm bolts which screw the caliper to the backplate. They are behind the backplate, and are not part of the caliper itself.
5. Rock the caliper from side to side across the disc so as to retract the pistons and free off the caliper from the disc.
6. Remove the caliper and tie it out of the way with wire or string to avoid stress on the flexible brake pipe. It can also be positioned carefully onto the rear arb.
7. The rear disc should now pull off. If it's tight, insert M8 bolts into the two tapped holes in it's face, and tighten each a couple of turns at a time until it frees off. Remove the disc. This is what you should see, this is the n/s wheel):
The arrows refer to various parts I'll mention below. Note that in this pic I have already drilled out the spot welds holding the stone guard onto the backplate, removed and discarded the stoneguard, tidied up the spot welds, and repainted the backplate to keep it neat and rust-free. I used quick drying enamel, Hammerite type. There are 7 spot welds, you can see where they need to be drilled, it's where the metal is depressed. You don't need to go right through the backplate, I used a 7mm drill. If you look closely at the pic above, you'll see dimples where I drilled the welds out. Two are shown in a later pic.
8. Remove the two top springs. I used long-nosed pliers. Note that they are coloured yellow and blue, (yellow and blue arrows), and MUST be replaced as they came off, so note which one goes where and how they fit, which hole in the brake shoe etc. Do not lose the tiangular plate that is below the springs, see white arrow in pic below.
9. Remove the two fixings, red and green arrows. Again note that the tops are different sizes and need to go back in the same place they came out of. removal was done again using lnp, grip the circular top, press down compressing the spring, and turn the top until it frees off. You may have to keep the centre it's fixed to in place with a finger from behind, I did.
10. Once these are off, the brake shoes can be removed. Note how the adjuster fits, it's right at the bottom, shown in another pic:
It's the orange arrow at the bottom.
11. Between the shoes is a forked flat plate with a spring at one end. Note how it fits BEFORE taking the shoes off, it only goes back one way.
12. The shoes are now joined by a thinner spring at the bottom, remove it.
13. You should now have one loose shoe, and one fastened to the handbrake cable. Discard the loose shoe.
14, Turn the other shoe over. The handbrake actuator can be seen attached to the back of it. Remove the "circlip" type thing and the wave washer below it. Compare the shoe to the ones you have in your kit, and refit the actuator to the correct new shoe. DO NOT forget the wave washer. (I removed and replaced the "circlip thingy, (it appears to be made of a soft metal), with long nosed and ordinary pliers, a flat bladed screwdriver, and a bit of swearing.) You can now discard the old shoe you took the actuator off.
15. Now replace both shoes, putting a little copper slip onto the face of the backplate where the shoe edge will touch. Replace the two circular clips, trapping the flat plate with spring on one end between the shoes as you refit them.
16. Replace handbrake adjuster, and lower, thin, spring.
17. Replace top triangular plate and two coloured springs, taking care to fit the yellow one to the LEFT.
18. Now fit the new bracket for your new caliper. Have a look at the pic below:
You can see the bracket sticking out from the backplate. This shows the o/s wheel. The red arrows are a couple of the spot weld drillings I mentioned before. You can also see the spacers for the caliper fitting with their machined flats, and their bolts, in place, but withdrawn to allow the caliper to fit.
The bracket fits using the bolts tapped into holes in the bracket body. Tehy can be seen on the above photo, the are cap heade, (Allen headed), bolts. Pass the bolt through the backplate from the front, fit a CIRCULAR spacer, then the bracket, and tighten by hand. Fit the second bolt, spacer etc, and again tighten by hand.
19. Pass the other two bolts through the holes in the new bracket from the rear, fit their spacers, the ones with a flat edge, which gives clearance for the backplate. Now tighten the bolts holding the new bracket to the backplate. They take an 8mm Allen key. Do them up nice and tight, but don't overdo it.
20. Fit your new disc. If it's too tight, and won't go over the brake shoes, remove it and LOOSEN the adjuster. (Turn it's centre slotted bit UPWARDS.) Once the disc will JUST fit, your adjuster is fine. If the disc is a loose fit, remove and turn adjuster DOWNWARDS until disc will JUST slip over shoes.
21. Have your new caliper ready, with it's old brake pipe removed, and it's brake-pipe-bolt and washers nearby.
Remove the brake pipe from the old caliper, and quickly refit it to the new one, using the bolt and washers that came off the Brembo caliper. Do it up tight, and wipe off any fluid that spills.
21. Fit Brembo caliper, tightening bolts into the caliper from the rear, you know, the bolts that you passed though the bracket from the rear? Again, nice and tight, but don't overdo it.
22. Refit wheel, lower car to ground, and do the other side.
Bleed brakes in this order: n/s rear inner nipple,> n/s rear outer nipple, >o/s rear inner nipple, >o/s rear outer nipple,> n/s front,> o/s front.
Press firmly on pedal to seat pads. Ensure brakes work before driving on the road. You MAY need to adjust the handbrake from inside the vehicle.
It took me about 3 hours to do the first side, and 3/4 hour to do the second.
Here's a pic of the Brembo caliper "renovated" cosmetically by me.
Alcazar
25 March 2010, 01:19 PM
#3
No mate, sorry, my photobucket account got vaped for some reason and I lost a load of pics.
Reading the guide and looking at your car should do it, though, as mentioned, some parts are ready colour coded. If you are unsure, take pics of the various bits BEFORE dismantling, so you can see how it goes back together.
TBH, it's NOT difficult, the second one took me 3/4 hour including drilling, painting, paint drying etc.
Reading the guide and looking at your car should do it, though, as mentioned, some parts are ready colour coded. If you are unsure, take pics of the various bits BEFORE dismantling, so you can see how it goes back together.
TBH, it's NOT difficult, the second one took me 3/4 hour including drilling, painting, paint drying etc.
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