Page 1: Summary
Page 2: Exterior Pics
Page 3: 98 SL2 (Sold)
Page 4: 96 Sunfire SE (Sold)
Page 5: Rear-Wheel Disk Brake Tutorial
Page 6: Cat-Back Dual Exhaust Setup
Page 7: My Car Purchasing History
Page 8: Christmas Eve '04... Ouch
Page 9: Christmas Crash Repairs
Page 10: Theft Recovery
Since I hated having drum brakes in the rear, and with hopes of having enough cash someday to purchase some nice wheels, I decided to swap the drums out for disks. Thanks to double_d99, I was able to get my hands on a new radiator (two actually: one new, one repaired) along with a nice rear-disk conversion kit, all at a good price.
Hopefully one of these days I'll have the money to upgrade to Powerslot rotors all around, paired with some EBC Greenstuff pads. Top it all off with braided stainless steel lines and I'll be done with the brakes.
Now on with the tutorial!
12-18/19-2004
Rear wheel disk brake conversion... Without replacing the entire rear suspension.
1: Purchase needed equipment.
1a: Includes the following...
-(2) Rear rotors.
-(2) Rear calipers (one right, one left, each with bracket).
-(2) Emergency brake cables for disk brakes.
-(4) Pads (make sure they're going to fit in the caliper before taking anything apart...).
-(4) 14mm (maybe 15mm...) studs used to hold caliper in alignment.
-(4) 10mm caliper bolts used to mount the caliper.
-Brake fluid (at least one pint).
-At least one can of PB Blaster or equivalant product.
-Silicon grease (possibly, used for caliper studs).
-10mm box-end and/or ratcheting wrench.
-3/8" or 1/2" drive 10mm socket (preferably 6 point).
-7/16" box-end or ratcheting wrench.
-3/8" or 1/2" drive ratchet/impact wrench with extension.
-15mm (maybe 14mm...) socket.
-Good pliers (needlenose or regular).
-PH2 screwdriver.
-Multiple beverages (alcoholic or non, your choice).
2: Park the car.
3: Jack up the rear end of the car and support it properly. If you've got a lift, go ahead and raise her up.
"I swear the box said they were drop springs..."
4: Take off the rear wheels.
5: Release the emergency brake.
5a: Remove the console. You'll find four Phillips head screws holding the console in.
At the rear...
And the front...
5b: Remove the parking brake cables (you might have to do this step after removing the drum backing plates).
6: Remove the drums. May take a slight bit of persuasion. Should look like this with the drum removed...
7: Take your pliers and remove the springs holding the shoes in place.
8: After the springs have been removed, pull the shoes outwards and away from the backing plate. Pieces will fall on the ground, it's ok.
9: Take the shoe farthest to the rear, push it forward enough to give the emergency brake cable some slack. Lift and remove the cable's end from the harness attached to the shoe. Should look like this with everything removed.
10: Remove the four 10mm bolts that attach the hub and backing plate to the suspension. A 1/2" drive ratchet makes easy work of these. Use PB Blaster if necessary.
11: Hose down the open holes (where the four mounting bolts were) with PB Blaster. Spray generously behind the backing plate where the plate joins the suspension. Flood the backside of the assembly where the hub fits inside the hole.
11a: Crack open beverage of choice. Kick back and relax while the lube does its work.
12: Pull off the hub (I found this to be the most difficult part).
13: Remove the e-brake cable from the backing plate. Joey from 6th Planet recommends inserting a flat-head screwdriver into the slot and widening the piece enough to slip the cable out. Instead of doing that, and instead of pushing the fingers in... Since I'm not planning on using these cables again, I just busted those sumb-tches off with the pliers.
14: Remove the bracket that holds the e-brake cable in place with the trailing arm.
15: Yank the e-brake cables out.
16: The suspension after everything is removed...
17: Install the new hub.
18: Install the new rotor and caliper as a single unit. Place the pads in the caliper, put the rotor in the caliper as it would sit when installed, then put the two in postition to be bolted in. If the caliper is excurted too far to put the rotor in, you'll need a special tool to thread it back into place. A C-clamp simply won't do, these calipers screw into position. But since I didn't have that special tool, I did what I do quite often... I improvised. Get two open-end wrenches, preferably large (I used a 14mm and a 15mm). Use these two wrenches to twist the caliper (you're screwing it in, clockwise) into position. Pushing opposite ways on each side of the caliper piston will yield effective results. Just be sure not to damage the piston seal in any way, so don't let those wrenches slip.
After this, bleed the brakes (a friend comes in handy, bleeding them alone SUCKS, but it's possible with proper "equipment").
Here's another good tutorial regarding the conversion...
