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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
November 2002
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My Brake Conversion - Complete (with pics)
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Thu, 22 July 2004 14:06
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Hi guys, I'm pretty bored and just got my old digital camera working on this PC. So, I thought I'd bring you all a bit of free tech stuff from Shifty's Garage 
While this was all done on my Mark II, in practice the majority of the work can probably be translated to many Crown/Cressida models and probably a whole host of other RWD Toyotas.
In my opinion there are two ways you can approach a budget-conscious brake upgrade. You can (a) find a rotor that is easy to fit, then figure out what calipers to run... or (b) find an easy caliper upgrade and work from there with your rotor choice.
Me, I decided that rotors are circular and as such there's not a lot you can do wrong. So, I decided to find a caliper that would go on with minimal effort.
After a bit of crude measuring I established that the Toyota Mark II has the same bolt spacing and thread pattern as most other medium to large RWD/4WD Toyotas. To confirm this, I borrowed a caliper from a friend with this bolt spacing and bolted it up with no problems. This then gave me the choice of calipers from almost any other Toyota coming with the same bolt pattern.
After a bit of shopping around (and cleverly feigning disinterest) I got a pair of 4-piston 60-series Toyota Landcruiser calipers in good condition for $70 from ABC Wrecking in Oxley. Note that Salisbury Wrecking offered me basically the same parts for more than double the price, but in a far worse condition. The moral of the story is, know what you're looking for, act like you're not interested, and be prepared to go somewhere else if you're not happy.
I then spent a few hours cruising the DBA catalogue, and after all my research settled back on the same rotors used by a number of people on Toyota Celicas when doing the Toyota Hilux 4-piston conversion.
I was lucky enough to source a set of these second-hand (but unused) and as such saved a few dollars. As a bonus they were the slotted variety, which were exactly the ones I wanted. On paper, the rotors were the right thickness, approximately the right diameter, and everything else checked out fine. When trial fitting them, I found that the rotor holes ALMOST lined up with the holes in the factory hubs, but not quite. Rather than being dodgy I took them to a machine shop to have them enlarged neatly. This only took about a month, so if I do it again I'll probably enlarge the holes with a file (about a millimetre is all that is needed). Pay careful note to the fact that this may throw things out of balance a little, hence me having everything set up by a professional on a jig so that the alignment was spot on.
Once I bolted it all together, I found that the rotor JUST fit inside the caliper which was a bonus. Had this been an issue I would have taken it to the machine shop to get it run down a few mm as necessary. The one drama I had is that the caliper fouled on the steering idler arm (apparently this is what it is called). This was remedied by running a washer on either side to space it out an extra couple of mm. The resulting toe was corrected by dialling in different settings on the tie rod ends. A pro can do this for you in no time - you don't even need to tell them you've touched the brakes as this will probably just confuse them. You can see the washers in the bottom picture.
The final stroke of luck was that my factory brake hoses connected straight up to the new calipers without a problem! This wouldn't have been an issue, custom rubber brake hoses are quite cheap - and contrary to popular comment, braided ones are well priced too.
This shot shows the reconditioned factory Mark II brake master cylinder. I took this to Slacks Creek Brake and Clutch along with a few small trinkets from my wallet. Upon my return I was pleased to find that my trinkets, when combined with the brake master cylinder, resulted in a much more shiny appearance:
Just to be safe, I made a similar transaction regarding the brake calipers I had purchased. They, too, came back looking shiny and new. At the same time I took them my brake hoses, which despite fitting up perfectly were showing the signs of 30 years work. I replaced these for about $25 each.
As basically everything was brand new, I used good quality Motul brake fluid (only about $10-$15 a bottle, don't be cheap) and bled the brakes on all four corners. While at it I took the drums off the rear to check that all was in order. There were no leaks, and plenty of meat on the pads, so I bled them out carefully and then left well enough alone.
Front brake pads are generic items for the moment - more a money issue than anything else. Once I get the thing on the road this will basically be the first point of action!
This shot shows the finished product with the brakes completely assembled:
This shows you how it all fits together under steel rims, viewed from under the front of the car:
If I was doing the same swap again, I would probably look at using rotors from a Mitsubishi Magna, coupled with calipers from a Toyota 4Runner. The rotors are considerably thicker and these calipers have greater spacing which allows you to run a thicker rotor. No guarantees this will work though, do your own measuring.
In my situation, I needed to change wheels, as while it is a very compact 'big brake' setup, the calipers stick outboard a little more and foul on the inside of the factory rims. After a heap of research and failed testing, it seems that RT104 Toyota Corona steel rims are probably the best suited for this particular application. They also look the part and don't ruin my 'sleeper' look.
Aside from all that, happy converting! Oh, and as for the rest of my conversion, don't ask:
The car is yet to go on the road with the new brake setup, so I can't really comment on how much of an improvement it has been. I have a feeling that due to the fluid capacity of the front calipers I will need a valve for bias adjustment, but that is yet to be seen and if I ever get the thing on the road I will post in this thread how it went.
Comments/opinions welcome
[Updated on: Thu, 22 July 2004 14:19]
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