So I have been gathering all of the necessary parts for my Z32/Cobra BBK swap for about 8 months now and installed them yesterday. My current inventory is as follows:
30mm Z32 TT rebuilt calipers
Ford Motorsport 13" Cobra rotors
Jeff92Se's hubcentric rings & relocation brackets
PDM SS lines
Axis semi metallic pads

It looks phenomenal and install was prety basic and went smooth until I had to bleed the brakes. I didnt even touch the rears and only bled the fronts using a 1 man bleeding kit with the small bottle and clear tubing. I followed the instructions closely until all the air bubbles were extracted from the front hydraulic system and only clear, clean synthetic fluid ran through the lines. Then I noticed that when I was depressing the brake pedal that the fluid was flowing through the lines without any issues but the caliper pistons weren't moving to squeeze the pads onto the rotor! Before installation I thoroughly inspected the rebuilt calipers to ensure proper function (new seals & rings, pistons were greased, all bolts tight etc...).

Could it be that I didn't bleed the rears first? My other thought is that when I installed the front calipers, the pistons were pushed ALL the way in. Could it be that the brake fluid is bypassing the piston cylinders all together due to no space for the fluid to seep in? Should I slide the pistons out a touch then retry the bleeding system? Any thoughs/help is greatly appreciated because my car isn't driveable as of today.

 

Don't you have to close the bleeders for the calipers to work?

 

Yes, Kev. When I said depress the brake pedal, I was referring to after the bleeding process. Sorry about the unclarity.

 

As of right now my master cylinder reservoir is full, lines are free of air, bleeder screws are tight, and pedal goes to the floor effortlessly. Front Z32 pistons aren't being pushed whatsoever, but arent stuck because before the installation they were slideable with some needlenose pliars. Right now after hitting the brake pedal I can literally stick my fingers in there and wiggle the brake pads around. Would bleeding the rears then the fronts again make any difference?

 

I would rebleed them all.

 

Bleed all 4 calipers. Rear Passenger, Rear driver, front passenger, front driver.

 

Rebleed them all starting with the rears. Before considering any other possible problem, you need to eliminate this first.

 

Rebled all 4 in order and the pedal still goes to the floor. However, my front pistons began to clamp the pads onto the caliper after the bleed. Its not enough to stop the car but I saw slight wear on my new rotors from the pads after I stopped from a very slow roll in the driveway. I cannot completely stop the car without use of the ebrake. Pedal is still mush.

 

Keep bleeding. Any leaks?

 

Found the culprit! The fitting from my new SS lines stripped the inner of the aluminum caliper slightly. I'm gonne try to JB weld it a touch to see if I can permanently seal it in there.

 

You sure you just didn't install the calipers on the wrong side? The bleed screws should be at the top of the caliper...You're describing my exact situation and it turned out that I had two right calipers...
Here's a picture of what I'm talking about (although these are 6th gen calipers) :

 

Calipers are on the correct sides. Both the left and the right side calipers have the bleed screw towards the top. I'm waitin for the JB Weld to fully cure to see if I can sneak on the SS line tight enough for the hydraulic pressure to operate the system. Thanks guys.

 

Now I have a severe rubbing issue. Jeff's hubcentric rings snap nicely into the rotor's hub side, but as I slide it onto the hub it snaps out due to the weight of the rotor. I must have tightened the wheel on there to press the ring back into the rotor at least 5 times per side but it still sits crooked.Then I tried to slide the ring itself around the hub (and it fits quite well, nice n snug) then slip the rotor over it then put the wheel back on. For the life of me I can't get the rotor to fit over the ring as to be centered, even using lug nuts to hold it on. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong with this project has happened.

 

It's odd, I never had this problem. But I've never installed these with new rings either. The rotor should just recenter itself when you tighten the lugs. This is what I would do. Start all the lugs so they are finger tight. The rotor should NOT be centered yet if what you say is happening. Then you will have to jiggle the wheel around until you feel the rotor center itself. The continue to tighten the lugs. One other guy spins the wheels and GENTLY tightens the lugs until he feels the rotor center itself.

 

When the ring is seated against the back of the hub, and I try to slide the rotor onto the ring, I cannot get it centered even using the method you described in the above post. I can either snap the ring into the rotor, or slide it onto the hub. I don't know why I can't center the rotor onto this thing.I've tried all 5 lugs using a rubber mallet to tap it on there but once I get one side on, the other slips out.

 

have you tried glueing the ring onto the rotor to see if that helps?

 

That was an idea....Possibly JB Weld it into the rotors rear side, let it dry, then slide it onto the hub. Now I'm noticing that when the ring it in the rotor (off the car), it doesnt sit flush with the face of the rotor. Possible slight bend in the ring itself? I got them new and took them out of the package for the firdt time 2 days ago. So my next guess would be to glue the rings into the rotors and sand down the backsides of the rings until they are smooth n flush with the rotors.

 

Ok!!! I got everything working perfect!!! I bled and rebled the system..played with some washers...everything matches up perfect. I started the car, pumped the brakes a few times and the pedal felt awesome!! On the third brake pump, the pass side brake line shot out of the caliper. The ss fitting stripped the soft aluminum caliper's inner yesterday, so I JB Welded it in there and it felt strong. I guess the brakes hydraulics are stronger! What can I do to secure the line in there. If I retap the caliper to a larger diameter, then where can I find a fitting that is compatible to my brake line? I'm 90%there.

 

Get a replacement rebuild caliper? Or try helicoils? Can you take a pic of exactly whats messed up?

 

What are helicoils? Is it some type of insert? No spare calipers...it took me 8 months to find a decent set of 30mm aluminum ones as it is.

 

I got mine from www.rockauto.com in a few days.

http://www.emhart.com/products/helicoil.asp

 

That sounds like a safe route. thank you kev...Now I just gotta find out what size the threads are.

 

Kevin, a very reputable .Org member brought up a valid point to me in repairing that caliper using a Helicoil kit. He said its possible the helicoil kit may not work due to the flared out "nipple" inside the caliper. If I tap it out using the kit, I wouldn't be able to get right up n close to the seal due to its bullet outward shape, leaving me with about 2 or 3 untapped coils. I will try to hape some pictures when I get the caliper off of the car. I looked on the Rockauto website for the helicoils, but I didnt seem to find it. Once I get the measurment of the threads I will give them a call. Any chance you may know how much $$ I'm looking at?

 

I'd take it to a machine shop and have them deal with it professionally. What happens if that thing pops out on the freeway?

So you pm'd matt huh?

 

The rockauto site for for replacement calipers if you wanted to go that route.

 

replace that caliper, JB is great but there is no way I would take a chance on brakes..... Just my .02

 

JB DIDN'T work. I was thinking about a machine shop also. I heard from two sources today that there is a way to weld steel to cast aluminum. I had my doubts about the idea but 2 experienced friends told me that it is possible.

By the way Jeff....I did PM Matt. I figured he knew a lil touch about brakes. Plus, I wanted different opinions.

Kevin - Are Rockauto's calipers OEM? They actually say "NISSAN" on the face of them?

 

Yeah, here is mine:

All the different brands are just the companies that rebuild them.

 

...using OEM parts obviously. Many of the rebuild/reman sources around New England use blanks.

 

No you can't do that.

Most likely, they will drill and tap out the fitting to one larger size and insert a steel threaded insert.

Like this http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=413688

 

Yes, I have heard very positive feedback about the steel threaded inserts Jeff, Thanks!!

 

were both pairs black like that? i got the same Beck/arnley from autozone and right side was black while left side was aluminum silver..... so i returned them lol !

 

Na one side was black and other was gold. I didn't care because I was going to apply G2 Caliper paint(best paint available IMO) on them anyways.

 

ya thats what im doing.. but the black ones have a smoother surface for applying paint.

one thing i liked is that white material they used on the NISSAN... you have any idea how i can do that?

 

Mines not white, that is how OEM is IIRC.

It is the "grooves" in the aluminum.

 

how ya? they come like that from the factory ??? lool i thought it something they attached to the letters.

how did you go about painting the calipers without getting any paint on the NISSAN part?? im planning to use clay bar on the letters to cover it

 

I used the brush that came with the G2 system and then I used a toothpick to get in between the letters.

 

Ok, well a reputable machine shop in my area told me that they take care of these types of problems all the time and said that it wouldn't be any problem to slap in a metris helicoil-type of insert. Now I'm just waiting on the parts which had to be ordered. Hopefully I'll have my max up n going (and stopping) again by Thursday the latest. Thanks guys!!

 

hey, are those 4 piston or 2 piston?

 

4piston, search if you want more info.