Brake Upbrade

[QWK32]

i think you mean Hard Brake line, not handbrake line. on the back of the caliper there is a small length of hard pipe before it connects to the flexi pipe.

[DaveB]

Oops, I thought that sounded a little weird! Thanks Josh

[KiwiRS4T]

Thanks Simon, that's great. Perhaps this sort of info could go near the start of the thread, ie. something like:

S2 RS-Four V upgrade to R34 brakes all-round, standard R34 GTT pads, calipers and rotors front & rear bolt straight on using the original R34 caliper bolts, backing plates may require slight trimming on the rears, use R32 GTR lines front & rear, need R34 handbrake line from caliper to hose. (R33 may also fit?).

Does that sound about right?

Maltech do a range of steel braided brake lines off the shelf for Stagea. The rears fitted OK but the fronts were a bit short so had to modify the brackets a bit. It would be good if someone who had their car of the road for work could send them their brake lines as a pattern to get a better fit.

[QWK32]

couldn't you just tell them a measurement of the length?

[bubba]

The only thing that concerns me about changing to skyline brakes is the lack of pad surface area..

Yes there will probably be a little more clamping force, yes the rotors are bigger (which is a big plus) but are these really going to offset the size of the pads? the pads on my stag are HUGE, easily twice as much surface area as my skyline pads!

[QWK32]

The only thing that concerns me about changing to skyline brakes is the lack of pad surface area..

Yes there will probably be a little more clamping force, yes the rotors are bigger (which is a big plus) but are these really going to offset the size of the pads? the pads on my stag are HUGE, easily twice as much surface area as my skyline pads!

they aren't that much bigger.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/post-a201105-

Edited February 23, 2009 by QWK32

[chuckie]

they aren't that much bigger.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/post-a201105-

WELL LOOKING AT THEM IT IS A ENOUGH OF A DIFFERENCE TO STAY WITH STOCK SETUP ,& may be make a few improvment`s so you don`t waste time & money,few change`s to you current set & you can make 30% that will make a difference ,as we have mintex pad`s here we have a good range so it`s ok + most are DD family car NOT RACE CAR ,& at 1700kg + in most ,i have been to RDA here in perth & no luck there ,i have one other looking for then i have asked them for SLOTED, he said yes if he find`s,then may need to get 50set order but with not many about i hope this wouldn`t be a worry if they come at RIGHT PRICE,iam looking to do test between rebond`s mintex,& stock pads soon see what the difference is ,will do that one my car so we keep it the same across broad,i will let you now what twe find,cheer`s chuckie

[chuckie]

I would like to KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW A BRAKING SYSTEM REALLY WORK`S as many i have chatted with DON`T AT ALL.THAT`S NOT SAYING PEOPLE ARE but it`s not something people KNOW ,cheer`s chuckie.

[QWK32]

with a four piston caliper you have both pads being pushed on the rotor. with a twin piston only one is pushed onto the rotor, the other is just a 'buffer/pad' for the other to push against. now i know the piston diameter in the stagea twins is slightly bigger than diameter of the skyline caliper pistons, but the overall surface area of piston to pad is greater on the 4 piston than the twin. because of this the force the quad piston caliper can apply to the rotor is greater than the twin could apply, which IMO more than compensates for a 15% approx smaller pad.

the other plus is rotors/pads for the S2 are hard to get unless you get from nissan, skylines are not. i know some of you are trying to source alternatives for the front and rear, but they are already easily available for the R33/R34 and you can pick them up cheap through the constantly running group buys.

[chuckie]

with a four piston caliper you have both pads being pushed on the rotor. with a twin piston only one is pushed onto the rotor, the other is just a 'buffer/pad' for the other to push against. now i know the piston diameter in the stagea twins is slightly bigger than diameter of the skyline caliper pistons, but the overall surface area of piston to pad is greater on the 4 piston than the twin. because of this the force the quad piston caliper can apply to the rotor is greater than the twin could apply, which IMO more than compensates for a 15% approx smaller pad.

the other plus is rotors/pads for the S2 are hard to get unless you get from nissan, skylines are not. i know some of you are trying to source alternatives for the front and rear, but they are already easily available for the R33/R34 and you can pick them up cheap through the constantly running group buys.

S2 pad`s are not hard to get & have not been a worry for a year or more as my POST HAVE BEEN on here ,MINTEX are as stock are with wear indicator on them & at $80 a set that`s good,i still have REBOND`S in mine & have been very happy with them as have a few other`s running them as well ,iam going to get another set of REBOND`S & see if i can have different compound put on them see if they are any better but i like to try to improve thing`s & hope to see a change in may brake`s ,i don`t see why NISSAN would as many have said make a CAR that`s UNDER BRAKED ???,i do drive my car HARD & do give it hard time in hill`s when out there so i can`t complain at all ,cheer`s chuckie

[StageaTypeS]

I would also like to add the following as I have done the conversion myself. When I did the swap I noticed that the original pads were bigger than the skyline ones and I asked my mechanic what he thought about things, his view was there wasn't enough difference in the size to make any real difference and the compound of the pad and the clamping force of the caliper would have more impact on stopping. You can read that anyway you like but here is what I have found in the real world of driving.

Stagea S2, r33 gtst calipers all around, EBC Redstuff pads all around, RDA slotted rotors, Standard rubber lines (Although will be upgrading to steel braided lines in the future)

We have an industrial park not too far from us which I did some testing of my brakes both before and after my upgrade.

On the original brakes from 100kph to stop I could only do this 3 times before getting major brake fade.

After the upgrade and after maybe 2000km of casual driving I put the new setup to the test. (I didn't want to warp the discs early on hence the 2000k of driving) I did 8 stops from 100kph to standstill with a little bit of fade but nowhere near as much as I had with the standard setup. After the 6th stop the brakes were smoking quite a bit but they were still pulling up pretty good.

I think that certainly with the lack of availability of parts for S2 brakes then going to the skyline setup is the best thing you can do. If and thats a big If you could get slotted rotors and good pads for the S2 then it might pull up good, but you are certainly not going to get the range of choices that you get for the skyline e.g. Rotors DBA, RDA, Project MU, Dexcel. Pads Mintex, EBC, Project MU and so on.

[chuckie]

PS please find me a set of FRONT PAD`S for LESS THEN $80 , for your 33/34 set up ,there is a few over here in west that are doing some bit`s to see how much we can improve stock setup ,ie new nissan rotor`s SLOTED mintex pad`s,i have taken a new nissan rotor to RDA nothing on shelf,going to go in with car & see what fit`s & what`s close ,& CDA every one buy`s from over here so if they can`t get them ,THEN IT NISSAN ONLY ,but we hope to have good deal through local dealer if this is the case,+ if someone is selling there stock brake`s i would be interested in them as many thing there worthless ,Cheer`s Chuckie.

[bubba]

Charles, I think I'm going to give 34GTT brakes a go if I can find a set of front calipers for a good price. I'll probably just use some RDA slotted rotors and see how it goes. We can then compare

Not really a huge priority, new turbo on 32 first!

[Mr GTS4]

has anyone done the rears yet?? can they post pic's and instuctions, just to finish off the tread..

[StageaTypeS]

I have done rears, R33 Calipers and new disks. They just bolt straight on, I am pretty sure that rear brakes from R32,R33 and R34 skylines are all the same so I can't imagine there being any problems in doing this. (Pic attached although its not that great)

The standard rear stagea brakes are pooh.

[Mr GTS4]

do you have to do anythin with the handbrake cables?? ( or should i say footbrake)

[StageaTypeS]

No don't think so (My mechanic did my conversion for me as I am mechanically incapable) My car is a manual type s so has a standard handbrake not sure if this is any different to the autos. I believe the rear drums that the handbrake uses in a stagea are identical to those of a skyline hence the new disk just fits straight over the top and you bolt on the new calipers.

[chook]

rears are simple, as I mentioned before, just a slight cut away of the backing plate with an angle grinder, handbrake setup is same.

[DaveB]

Maltech do a range of steel braided brake lines off the shelf for Stagea. The rears fitted OK but the fronts were a bit short so had to modify the brackets a bit. It would be good if someone who had their car of the road for work could send them their brake lines as a pattern to get a better fit.

Sorry Robert I did read your post about the Maltech lines, they look good and I would give them a call but I think that if I swap calipers, I will probably need different lines. Chook I think said he used R32 GTR lines, with R34 GTT brakes, on a series 2 stagea... can anyone confirm that they fit? Also if R32 GTR lines fit would R34 lines just fit?

[JAV360]

I also fitted r34 gtt rears to my S1 (may she rest in peace or should i say pieces)

I did a how to, will dig it up.