Stuff you will need
Wheel brace
Jack (preferably trolley)
wheel chocks (or wood/brick)
Wheel stands
10 & 12mm spanner
12, 14, 17, 19 sockets
Brake Fluid
Vice grips (optional)
24 & 27 socket (transfer brake only)
What & Why
Ok so this is a brake upgrade that anyone could tackle it. BenT's kit comes with instructions and its not hard but this is more so to give someone the confidence to tackle it by seeing how easy it is.
For this upgrade I'm using Vitara vented front discs with the calipers and discs off a LWB Vitara. I'm then using the Sierra fronts on the rear with BenT's kit. I used a transfer handbrake off a 1ltr case.
I go through rear pads quickly - I don't look for mud but it finds me. I do take the rear drum off to wash but its a pain, and I like the idea of rear discs so no loss of performance after water and having an overall performance increase.
Disclaimer
These are your brakes, they stop your car, they stop you hitting things, they are important. I take no responsibility for you making a mistake and messing up you ability to do the aforementioned things....
Vitara Front
1. Chock the rear wheels, car in gear and jack up the front, use vehicle stands and then take the front wheels off.
you can now see the front caliper and disc, check out the condition of the disc and your pads make sure they're safe for use. If you have rubber front hoses clip the vice grips onto the line which will stop a lot of the fluid draining out
# Brake fluid is corrosive to painted surfaces so be careful throughout this whole process. if you get it on a painted surface wash it with soapy water quickly.
2. Undo the 2 bolts behind the caliper. Hold the caliper up out of the way with some wire.
you can now take the disc off, give it a tap with a soft faced hammer. If this doesn't do much then there are 2 bolt holes in each disc. Put a bolt in and alternating tighten them up until they pop the disc off.
3. You should now have the bare backing plate. Some people ditch this and you can see why in this pic - it's a good mud trap. But for the road worthiness I chose to leave it. I did however trim the top (marked in the pic) to make brake bleeding easier . You'll find out about this later.
4. If you're using second hand discs then give them a clean with sand paper working in circles. Nothing too coarse I used 240grit. This is especially important if you're using new pads, it just gets rid of any glaze and helps bed new pads in.
Ok reverse everything so far - put disc on, finger tighten caliper bolts on and we're done on the front for now. This could be done by itself for a good improvement. As we're removing other parts we won't bleed out the system just yet...
Rear Disc conversion
1. Jack, chock and prop the rear, remove tyres and this is what you'll see. The bolts in the middle hold on the drum. Take them all off and you'll be faced with the second pic.
These pins hold the pads in. Half turn them with pliers while pushing down on the plate and they pop off.
2. Now grab the pads and wrestle them out, careful not to get shot in the eye by the springs. Put it all in a box. Disconnect the handbrake, take the split pin out and push out the pin holding it in there. Pull all the handbrake stuff off and put it in that box.
3. Pull out the 4 bolts attaching the axle to the backing plate. Clamp your rubber hose with vice grips and disconnect the hardlines from the wheel cylinder. Put it all in that box, most of the bolts you won't need as the kit has new ones!
So you don't have to drain the diff oil you will have to jack one side up. I had vehicle stands under the chassis and then used my trolley jack under the spring plate on one side raising it about 10cm higher. Give the car a good shake make sure its solid!
Now make sure nothing is still connected. Put the drum and wheel back on as we're going to use it as a slide hammer to pull the axle. So doing the bolts only on part way then pull back on the wheel shocking the axle out. ! make sure the vehicle is well supported !
As soon as the axle pops, support the weight and undo the wheel and drum as they will be resting on the seal. This what you should see...
Ok put the brake backing plate in that box. We have 2 options here, if you're doing wheel bearings and seals go for it. I wasn't so I had to cut the smaller backing plate off the axle - very carefully using a grinder.
4. Clean everything. This includes the axle and seals and diff face. Make it all pretty. Oh this pic shows it all dirty, not my version of clean!
Give the bearing surfaces a wipe of grease. Carefully slide the axle back in and tap it home.
5. Put the caliper mounting plate on. Follow BenT's instructions as placement is different for NT vs WT. There is also a bracket for holding the flexy hose I have a really crap pic of it, it goes on the bolts holding this plate on.
Using the supplied bolts and nyloc nuts bolt her up.
6. Disc adapter. Seat the supplied wheel studs using a press or vice. I snapped my vice and hit myself in the head with the large pipe I was using on it. So I used a deep socket and careful hammer (not recommended but worked). The wheel studs hold your wheel on so make sure they're seated well! Fit disc adapter
Fit discs again remove any glaze first and fit disc and loose fit caliper
7. Final step. Fit hardlines. I went to my local Enzed, they had a T piece in stock and made me a hardline going to each side. Get a piece of fencing wire and bend it up for the length of the line. It'll also make a good template which makes bending the new lines easier. I also chose to put my hose bracket on the diff.
Bleed the system. Now important tip, the bleeder nipple must be the highest point when bleeding, so both front and back calipers had to be repositioned to achieve this. I just spun them on the disc.
Start bleeding at the back passenger and work around to the front passenger caliper. Tighten everything up and that's the brakes done!
Garage test, then road test and follow bedding procedure for new pads. Come back check all bolts and check for leaks.
Final step, that box of bits put it in the back of the shed as one day someone will be like "does anyone have a spare (drum/wheel cylinder/pad/spring/whatever) I need one for the weekend so I can go wheeling" and you can help them out.... or throw it in the bin.
Brake proportioning.
Mine is awesome with just the calipers, no adjuster needed. My fronts lock before the rear and my pedal feel is great. I'm stoked as straight-away it felt really good, heaps stronger.
Final word of warning. Brakes are important, if you're not sure about anything that your hearing or feeling seek professional advice.
Transfer Handbrake TBC...
