S brake conversion & caliper rebuild - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

ekam · 06-13-2009, 09:30 AM

I just thought I'd make a quick post here about my S brakes conversion & caliper rebuild. I got a set of used S calipers from fellow board member "Fred Demara" as he's parting out his car.

Cleaning:
At first I tried to spray them with brake cleaner which was not a good idea as the mix of grease & brake dust wouldn't come out at all. Off I went to get a bottle of Simple Green and everything comes right out with a tooth brush.

Rebuild:
I've contacted Jim @ zeckhausen.com to order the dust boots & inner seals since Porsche do not sell the inner seal (they believe their calipers do not need rebuilding - or you have to buy new set of calipers from them, ha!) Jim was very useful on looking up the size of the dust boot & seals.

I've ordered the following from him which is complete set.

Fronts
2 x 40mm Caliper Rebuild Kit - 2 Dust Boots & 2 Seals (143.99040)
2 x 36mm Caliper Rebuild Kit - 2 Dust Boots & 2 Seals (143.99036)

Rears
2 x 30mm Caliper Rebuild Kit - 2 Dust Boots & 2 Seals (143.99030)
2 x 28mm Caliper Rebuild Kit - 2 Dust Boots & 2 Seals (143.99028)

I also called guys at Suncoast to order the following:
- pads
- bleeder valves
- spring kits
- caliper bolts
(dampers & wear sensors are missing here since I can reuse the current ones.)

For front rotors, I've ordered the Performance Friction 2-piece rotors from Dan @ VividRacing.com. Again the parts were shipped very quickly.

I'm waiting to take the calipers off to my friend's workshop to pop out the pistons, then they're off to get powder coated.

Oh I've even got a dozen Porsche stickers made for $20 at a local vinyl shop.

The front brakes will be done first as I'm still collecting parts for the rears as they're NOT drop-in and slightly more complicated (requires fitting parking brake assembly from the S as well as getting caliper/rotor spacers available thru FVD Germany.)

I'll update this thread again once I get more updates... thanks for reading!

Cloudsurfer · 06-14-2009, 08:29 PM

Oh the joys of caliper rebuilding! I am very curious to see how the 2-piece rotors work out though as I am leaning toward these when I do rotors on my car.

ekam · 06-14-2009, 08:54 PM

Inner seal, dust boot and pistons are all out (along with a nice amount of green brake fluid!) Will drop it off for powder coating tonight.

Sammy · 06-15-2009, 04:09 AM

Would you be willing to weigh the 2-piece rotors as I am considering the upgrade as well? I am extremely curious as to the actual weight difference.

Sammy

ramo80 · 06-15-2009, 04:35 AM

a cost total would be awesome as well!

ekam · 06-15-2009, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sammy

Would you be willing to weigh the 2-piece rotors as I am considering the upgrade as well? I am extremely curious as to the actual weight difference.

Sammy

I'll weight them but I don't have a stock S rotor weight to compare it to. Dan from Vividracing said it saves about 1-2lbs each corner.

ekam · 06-15-2009, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramo80

a cost total would be awesome as well!

It's going to be over $3k Canadian money for all 4 corners using OEM stuff when it's all said and done.

After this there's going to be no more mods I swear...

Sammy · 06-15-2009, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekam

I'll weight them but I don't have a stock S rotor weight to compare it to. Dan from Vividracing said it saves about 1-2lbs each corner.

If all else fails I'll pull one of the rotors off of my car and weigh it (2002 S).

ekam · 06-25-2009, 05:40 PM

Rotors and pads are here. Not expecting the hats to be natural anodized.

They weight 20lbs each (with the plastic bag).

I'm looking into getting the rotors cadmium/zinc plated. More update next week.

ekam · 08-18-2009, 08:36 PM

Oh.... shiny....

roadracer311 · 08-18-2009, 10:49 PM

curious, why did you plate them?

ekam · 08-19-2009, 04:40 AM

Learned my lesson on a pair of non-painted/coated rotors from my last car. We use huge amount of salt here in the winter time, it only takes one drive on the street to rot your rotor on the parts where the pads are not touching - hats, outer edge of the rotor. Very very ugly to look at. Once they're rusted there's no way to get it off.

Paul · 08-19-2009, 06:26 PM

What does that coating do to the friction properties of the rotor's braking surface or does it just "burn off"?

ekam · 08-19-2009, 06:36 PM

It'll be rubbed off so yes I will take it slow when I first drive it after they're on the car.

ekam · 08-26-2009, 12:40 PM

Got the calipers. Yes I know I need new bleeder valves.

yimmy149 · 08-26-2009, 12:45 PM

I think I used to own a hypercolor shirt like that

ekam · 01-16-2010, 08:33 AM

Previous pic was crap. Planning to go to a few track days next year to use up my brakes before the swap.

Mike_Yi · 01-26-2010, 04:48 PM

Red? Why red? Black would have looked so much nicer.

Nice calendar BTW.

ekam · 06-20-2010, 05:36 PM

So today I finally (finally) put the seals and dust boots in the calipers. Will let a shop install the front pair first to see how it works out.

Sorry, fingers were dirty so I just quickly snapped these with my crappy camera phone.

Pat · 06-20-2010, 06:31 PM

You may want to search for my post regarding rotor weight. I don't remember exactly, but I seem to think the two-piece rotors save about six pounds per corner.