Flashback: Brake Caliper Refinishing Project 2009

I have had some interest lately on how I did the refinishing on the brake setup for the S13… specifically the plating of all the bolts/hardware. I tackled this project before the birth of this blog, so I’m going to revisit the process so it will now be in writing for others to reference.

I have Stoptech 4-piston BBK on the front and Z32 rears. The Stoptechs were the original black color and the Z32’s were the OEM dark cast iron color…virtually a flat black. Back in 2009 I decided that I wanted something a little more flashy. So I set my heart on white… not over the top but would still “pop” behind the wheels. I contemplated between painting the calipers and powder coating the calipers. After seeing how the paint on the OEM STi Brembos would discolor from high heat and the clear coat would come off the OEM EVO Brembos, powder coating was an easy choice. So the first thing was to disassemble everything:

I used compressed air to easily pop out the pistons:

I decided to keep everything organized the way it was removed… that way each piston etc. would be in the same exact spot as when it came out:

Back from the powder coater… I also had the hats on the front rotors done in black and taped off the rear rotors to do those. I went ahead and also had them coat the front caps for the hubs:

Next was all the hardware. Since I couldn’t powder coat those items, I did some research and decided I would zinc plate them myself. I stumbled upon Caswellplating.com… I was in heaven. I put together a kit to zinc plate my hardware and ordered it up. I wanted to try a couple different things, so I also ordered black chromate and gold chromate to “tint” the hardware. This is my at home setup:

All of the hardware had to be completely stripped of all paint, corrosion etc. down to bare steel before plating. Here is what it looks like right before plating:

This is a rough listing of the steps involved in plating:

Wire brush hardware to remove all paint and loose rust

Acid bath hardware to remove all corrosion

Bath hardware in distilled water

Bath hardware in a heated degreaser solution

Bath hardware in distilled water

Insert hardware in plating bath

Bath hardware in distilled water

Insert hardware in chromate bath if you so choose

Bath hardware in distilled water

Let dry

I did all the top hat hardware in a gold chromate:

I also coated some of the other pieces in a gold chromate. For some reason the 4 bolts and 4 pins in the picture ended up in the batch. So I had to strip those back down and do them in black chromate:

I did the crossover lines and all the main bolts that would be visible in a black chromate. If you are wondering why they look “wet” in the pictures, it’s because I sprayed them with WD-40 as a final step. This is suggested after they are taken out of the black chromate bath and they are dry:

Here are some pictures of the rears right after assembly. I also sanded the powder coat off the top of the raised “NISSAN” lettering and hand painted those with some Duplicolor gloss black:

Here are some pictures of the fronts right after assembly. I had a sticker place make me some high-temp die cut Stoptech stickers since the original “STOPTECH” lettering from the factory is painted on. The stickers are still perfect today!

Flashback(exterior)

I thought it would be cool, in a gay way, to see the transformation of the car in the past 4-5 years.  I will do a three part series:  exterior, interior and engine bay.  So we’ll start out with the exterior.  I’ll let the pics speak for themselves and add a few specs in there to help you know what’s going on in the pics.

2006/2007:  WedsSports TC-005’s 18×8.5 +32 245/40 and 18×10 +44 275/35  Very high ride height.  Buddy Club R+Spec coilovers.

2008:  Work Meister S1-2P’s 18×8 +32 235/40 and 18×9.5 +44 265/35.  A little lower on Cusco Zero 2E coilovers.

2009:  Work VS-KF’s  18×8 +21 225/40 and 18×10 +20 265/35.  Lower again on modified Cusco Zero 2E’s and a 25mm rear pull.

2010:  Work Meister S1-3P’s  18×9.5 +12 245/35 and 18×11 +30 285/30.  Lower yet on Stance GR+ coilovers.  +20mm ChargeSpeed wide front fenders and same 25mm pull.

A Few Crappy Pics

I figured I better post up some pics of the car and wheel fitment before an angry mob comes and burns my house down. I am always hesitant to post pics because I’m used to the quality of what Kyle can do. Taking build pics and my fabrication at work is no big deal, because well….. they are build pics. But these are like “finished” pics. They deserve someone taking them that is better than me. However, it is just a blog. So here are some average pics after I washed it this evening. I must also say that it is very satisfying washing it for the first time after all of the hard work…… although it doesn’t really look like I did much.

A simple side shot to show stance. I need to go a smidge lower in front…. I’m talking like 1/4″ or so.

Rear fitment…. I likey! No stretched crap here. 18×11 +30 with a 285/30

Front fitment….. overall pretty happy. The fenders came out nice. They are not perfect like the OEM, but they are damn close! 18×9.5 +12 with a 245/35

Front bumper with the license plate holes filled.

Tucked bay: As mentioned in a previous post, I have some more goodies coming next week.

I guess that’s enough for now. Stay tuned for some new bay pics once my shipment arrives next week. Then it’s off to Import Alliance in Nashville a week from today!

No More Jack Stands

Got the car off the jack stands finally….. first time sitting on the new wheels.  I worked on getting ride height and camber dialed in tonight.  I will probably try to go another 1/2″ lower in the back, but will have to wait and see how the front sits.  I am obviously waiting to get the fenders back to dial in the front ride height.  I received word today that all of the body panels will be ready for pick up tomorrow.  Unfortunately with my work, I will probably have to pick the stuff up Sunday.  Luckily I have three friends that work there and can come in and unlock the joint for me on Sunday.

Love The Wheels

The Meisters arrived on Tuesday. I had to fix an oil leak tonight, so I figured I would bolt up one of the fronts while I had the car jacked up. I must say these will easily be my most favorite wheels I have ever owned. I will probably get the tires mounted tomorrow. Which means I need to get busy on the fenders. I picked up the 20mm ChargeSpeed fenders from my good friend Nate last week. I’m pretty sure these are going to be the perfect fender for this wheel and a 245 tire. I just need to bolt up the fender and slap on the wheel with the tire to make sure. If they are a go, I’ll start filling the vents so I can get them off to get painted. Here a few pics of the fronts to give you an idea….. and just as a reminder so you don’t have to go back and look for specs,  Fronts:  18×9.5 +12  245/35  Rears:  18×11 +30  285/30.   I’ll get some shots of the rears later.

Totally Pumped

I got a call from Rishie at Auto RnD today that my wheels arrived in Cali. They will ship out tomorrow and I should have them sometime next week. I am excited to say the least. Hell, Halo Reach beta and a set of fully polished 3-piece Meisters all in the same week…… it’s better than having five more fingers and another set of balls! You can bet I’ll be taking plenty of worthless pictures the minute they arrive….. I think most of us car nuts are gay like that!?! I’ll want to get my tires mounted ASAP so I can figure out fender sizing. Luckily, I have this great shop that my friends and I have our tires mounted at. They are the only authorized BMW suspension, alignment and tire mount/balance shop in town. They have to use all of the best equipment in order to be authorized by BMW. Because there’s nothing worse than small scuffs on your brand new wheel’s lips.

Bummer

I received word back from Work Wheels of Japan today and the A-disk up front isn’t going to happen.  Worse yet, the L-disk isn’t even going to happen.  That means I have to run the R-disk, which is going to yield me the least amount of lip.  So now I will be going to a slightly lower offset than originally planned.  I will be at a 18×9.5 +12 which comes out to a 83mm lip.  The rears will still be an O-disk, as planned, with a 109mm lip.  The S1-3P chart for reference:

Done Deal!

Ordered the wheels today.  I must say it’s really hard to part with that much money just for a set of wheels.  I wanted to use this post to comment on where I bought them from.  I have used Auto RnD in the past with really good luck, so I hit Rishie up again.  I must say he is just like me when it comes to doing business and talking to the customer.  I must of talked with him at least five times at 10 -15 minutes a pop.  He never seemed in a rush to get off the phone and listened to everything I had to say.  He really knows his stuff when it comes to fitment.  I already knew exactly what I wanted as far as sizing, but he confirmed that my purchase was going to fit exactly how I intended.  So my hats off to Rishie for the great customer service.  I am always willing to pay a little more, not that I did, for great service.  Another benefit with Rishie, when special ordering wheels from Japan, is that he ships the wheels air freight to the States.  So he has received wheels as fast as four weeks, compared to the usual three months by slow boat.  So if you are ever in need of some Work Wheels, Volks, Advans etc., please contact Rishie at Auto RnD….. and tell him Toby sent you.

The only thing I don’t know yet is what face disk I can run on the front.  The rears are obviously an O-disk, but the fronts are a little up in the air.  I’m hoping I can run a standard A-disk over the Stoptechs.  My old S1-2P’s were an A-disk, but the face was 1″ diameter bigger than it is on a S1-3P of the same size diameter wheel.  So an L-disk might be the only option.  Basically the 18×9.5 +16 A-disk has a 96mm lip.  Whereas if I have to go to a L-disk face, then I would have to go down to a +10 offset to get that same 96mm lip…… damn big brakes.  Rishie sent over the Stoptech caliper specs to Work of Japan and we are simply waiting on approval of the A-disk.

First Order Of Business…..

…… New wheels for this year. As usual, I run a different set of wheels each year. I feel it keeps the car looking fresh, and the fact that a set of wheels can change the entire look of a car. Every set of wheels I buy I seem to be going to more aggressive setups. However, I refuse to sacrifice tread width for lower offset. So last year I pulled my quarters to get another 25mm or so. However, I bought the VS-KF’s off a friend, so I didn’t get to choose the exact width/offset I wanted. I would have gone with a wider wheel in back and front.

So this year I am going back to the S1 Meisters, only in a 3-piece variety. I will be doing a 18×9.5 +16 and a 18×11 +30. Sticking to my guns, they will be wrapped in 245/35 and 285/30 respectively. In order to fit the fronts, I will be going with a 25mm front fender. Of course a nasty vented fender has no place on my car, so I will be promptly filling it and modifying it in whatever way necessary to fit like OEM. I think the only viable choice in a 25mm or 30mm is the D-Max N1. So hopefully I don’t have to modify it too much.  I will also be fabricating my own inner wheel liners to at least hide the door jam on the back side and intercooler piping on the front side.

After much deliberation, I chose to go with the full polished. I had been contemplating the color for about 3 weeks now…. taking into consideration the theme of my car, the big white calipers that will be peaking out behind them and so on.  The nice thing about Work is that they will take any paint code you give them and paint the faces to your liking. I had thought about matte gunmetal, gloss black, gloss silver, metallic purple, blue etc. Unfortunately for my pocket book, I went with the most expensive option. If I can figure out how to post a poll up, we’ll see what color/finish others think I should have gone with. In the meantime, here is what I went with: