CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

OK guys. I know I’ve mentioned a ‘mild front BBK’ that I was working on, just never said what it was. Well this is it. You can put 2002-03 Maxima (A33B) brakes on your 3rd gen. I wrote this writeup so that even somebody who has never touched their brakes can follow these instructions and perform this mod.

What’s different:
Rotors are 11.65”x24mm, rather than 11.02”x22mm for stock 3rd gen rotors. Basically, you get more leverage by having the pads further from the center of rotation, just like with any BBK. Pad surface area is basically the same as stock, and the caliper pot is the same size as stock… but you can’t use a 3rd gen caliper because the offset isn’t the same between the piston housing and the slidepins. Total cost, including fluid, was ~$225. $95 for rotors and lube, $100 shipped for the calipers, tqmembers, and hawk HPS pads with 5k miles on them (dumb move using used pads… it’ll take a while to break them in right), $10 for fluid and brake cleaner, and like $15 for bolts and washers, if that.

Parts you will need:

• A33B calipers
• A33B torque members w/ slidepins (hopefully they will give you the 14mm bolts)
• A33B torque member mounting bolts (M14 instead of M12, 19mm head.) w/ washers
• A33B brake pads
• A33B rotors
• Brake line connector crush washers (iirc same part# for J30 or A33B)
• ½”-chucked drill
• 9/16” drill bit that can bore through metal

Pros:

• You can put them behind 16” wheels
• Only about $120 more than a regular brake job.. one-time cost
• Keep your stock brake lines
• Thicker rotors can withstand slightly more heat
• Look better behind aftermarket wheels than the puny stock brakes do
• Cheaper than a 17”-minimum BBK
• Good compliment to z31 rear disc swap (11.38”x11mm non-vented rotors)

Cons:

• To convert back to stock brakes, or mount a different BBK later you will have to redrill and tap m14 threads, OR, swap for a set of un-overbored hubs.
• Not quite as much improvement as a 17”-minimum BBK (6gen/z32 or cobra/z32)
• Rotors more expensive than stock
• Still just a single-pot caliper

How to do it:
(Click here for pics of the installation. The number above the picture indicates what step it is.)

1. jack front of car up, put on jack stands, remove front wheels
2. remove the 2 12mm bolts that hold the calipers to the slidepins
3. pull the caliper off (probably need 2 hands for this) and then hang it on the lip of the spring seat, so you don’t stretch the brake line (or just tie it up there with string)
4. then remove the 2 19mm bolts that hold the torque member to the knuckle, and remove the torque member (in the pic, I had removed my old pads before loosening the bolts).
5. take the old rotor off. If it’s been a while since your rotor was removed.. it might be rusted in place. Beat it off with a hammer (if you don’t plan to use it on some other maxima) or a rubber mallet (if you do plan to reuse it sometime).
6. now you see the bare hub. You probably still have a dust shield in place…. I don’t. if you have one, just leave it be. It shouldn’t interfere with this mod.
7. the only actual modification you have to do, is to bore out those 2 holes on each knuckle you took the 19mm bolts out of, to a 9/16” hole. If you don’t own a ½”-chucked drill, now is a good time to buy one. And make sure your 9/16” drill bit is fairly long like mine was… you’re gonna basically have to lay the shaft of the bit against the hub to get a straight line into those holes.
8. Once those holes are bored out, grab your new a33b rotors, clean them up with brake parts cleaner. Then secure them onto the hubs with 2 lugnuts each.
9. now go get your a33b calipers/tqmembers/bolts/washers/pads, and take everything apart from the torquemembers. The slidepin bolts on these brakes are 14mm (unlike 12mm on the stockers). Take the slidepins out of the boots, and clean off any rust on the slidepins, then lube them generously and put them back into the torque member. The one with the rubber thing on the end of it goes into the lower hole, when mounted. Clean the pad retainers with brake part cleaner, then lube them generously. Smear lube on the backsides of the pads, and also a dab on the ‘ears’ where they fit into the retainers… but DON’T let any get on the actual pad friction material.
10. Put your a33b torque members up in position, and tighten the new 19mm bolts, torqued to 120 lb/ft. Turn the rotor a little bit and wipe off any lube that might have accidentally rubbed off from the pad retainers.
11. Now put the a33b pads in. The one with the squealer clip is the inside pad, and the clip goes at the top (one left, one right). Outer pads do not have clips, and can go on either side.
12. Use a 4” c clamp to fully retract the piston of your a33b calipers, and fit them over the pads and bolt them into place with the 14mm bolts, torqued to 20 lb ft. the bleeder bolt (see pic 14) should be on top. Calipers should be labeled L/R anyhow.
13. Grab your old calipers, and lodge them between the rotor and strut, hooking the piston on the top strut/ bolt for stability. Use a 12mm wrench to loosen the brake line banjo bolt. Get rid of the old copper washers, wipe off the connector and bolt. Put your new crush washers on, sandwiching the connector, and thread the banjo bolt into the back of the caliper. Torque to 13 lb/ft.
14. Now go bleed your brakes (might as well do a full fluid flush) according to FSM procedure. Order is left rear, right front, right rear, left front.
15. Put your wheels back on and spin them by hand to make sure you just hear a slight dragging sound (listen to the video). If all is good and no binding, then put the car on the ground and tighten the lugnuts, then go break in your brakes. Different types of pads break in differently… so follow the instructions you got with your pads as to how to break them in, etc.
16. Enjoy your stronger brakes!

A few pics:


Thanks to Internetautomar and 95BLKMAX (click for the 4th gen writeup) for their input in getting this mod to work.

Pearl93VE

iTrader: (14)

This is actually a great write-up; a nice mild BBK for guys who don't have a lot of $$$, but still want a little upgrade, and parts are plentiful (junkyard anyone?), surprised no one has commented on this yet.

Torgus

iTrader: (10)

nice write up.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

Driving impressions? Any hang ups/problems?

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

hardware-wise, everything is perfect. the problem i'm having is that I put on USED pads (still plenty of material, see first pic at bottom) that i got with my calipers... so the pads were already broken in onto other rotors. So you can see that the pads haven't even fully seated onto the rotor surface yet.. so either i just gotta wait it out and let the pads come to me, or go sand them a little bit and try and match them up quicker. I'm sure that if I'd had brand-new pads, i would have noticed a big difference.

But as far as fitment, everything is spot-on. And under light braking they do bite quicker, i've noticed.

burhan92SE

hmm interesting...i might do that since i need more power in my brakes now....nice write up tho..

maxima94ever

iTrader: (3)

Can you put up a rear brake job write up for better calipers than the ones the 3rd gen. has. like what kind of rotors and specialy calipers, the rear calipers suck.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

As far as I'm concerned you're wasting your time messing with 5.5th Gen front brakes, if you look at the 00-01 and 02-03 front brake inboard sides, the amount of rotor surface removed to clear that larger knuckle assy, really had a negative impact on the heat sinking ability of these rotors.......The best setup IMO would be the 6th setup cause it virtually install and forget......Both my 2000 and 2003 Maxima(s) suffered from extreme brake warpage. The 2000 went thru 5 sets of rotors with every combination of pads and rotor desings possible. The 2003 was upgraded to crossdrilled rotors and EBC/Hawk pads and then just said "**** this!!!!!" after warping them twice and upgraded to crossdrilled 6th Gen rotor w/Hawk HPS pads and never looked back since..........Most of the hard work has been done once you enlarge the knuckle/spindle thru bolt bores.......just my 2 cents

BklynsmoeVE

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=CMax03;7920634]As far as I'm concerned you're wasting your time messing with 5.5th Gen front brakes, if you look at the 00-01 and 02-03 front brake inboard sides, the amount of rotor surface removed to clear that larger knuckle assy, really had a negative impact on the heat sinking ability of these rotors.......The best setup IMO would be the 6th setup cause it virtually install and forget......Both my 2000 and 2003 Maxima(s) suffered from extreme brake warpage. The 2000 went thru 5 sets of rotors with every combination of pads and rotor desings possible. The 2003 was upgraded to crossdrilled rotors and EBC/Hawk pads and then just said "**** this!!!!!" after warping them twice and upgraded to crossdrilled 6th Gen rotor w/Hawk HPS pads and never looked back since..........Most of the hard work has been done once you enlarge the knuckle/spindle thru bolt bores.......just my 2 cents

are you saying that the 6th gen brake swap is a better bang for the buck then the 5th gen set up this thread's is about? is the cost pretty similiar or not even close?

keepitclean

nice in depth write up.keep it up the good work.

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

in order to put up a writeup it would have to be something i had done before, no?

and the 91-94 rear calipers are fine. you just need some of those with ebrake cables, a set of '86 z31 rotors and 89-90 caliper adapter brackets (what bolts on behind the hub) and voila. big rear brakes. the thing is that the writeup varies depending if you have a 89-90 rear disc car (caliper swap), a 91-94 rear disc car (inner bracket swap), or a rear drum car (strut swap plus one of the first two depending what year your disc struts come from)

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

what, this? i never warped mine.. never had any problems with mine whatsoever.



and crossdrilled is only an upgrade in terms of looks... weakens the rotors, reduces heat-capacty via removing rotor mass, and reduces surface area for pad contact... maybe that's why you kept warping your 5.5g's cuz i sure never did. http://forums.maxima.org/advanced-su...-not-work.html

at any rate, the 5.5gen setup worked very well on my car once the pads got broken in. never had any issues with fade or anything, even in the mountains. and the entire setup was less than $200 including the 9/16" drill bit.

o and no 13" cobra rotors no care.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Well let my correct you.....the Oem's warped 2 times before I upgraded to crossdrilled rotors, and tried Oem and aftermarket pads with the Oem rotors and then changed to something better IMO....The 00-01 & 02-03 removed more material off the rotor inboard side. Especially if you compare the to the 3rd and 4th gen 11.0" rotors. Even going up to the 5.5th Gen rotors on my 2000 Max was a waste of time.....(1) 75-80 mph panic stop and they were warped each time......I panic stopped my 6th Gen rotors from 130 mph and least 4 times after bedding them in.....no problems ever....So the xdrilled therory crap of yours can be put to rest......the brakes are te weaklink of the 5-5.5th Gens....But I'm not sure what my 3rd Gen's weight really is but maybe it's less than the 5 & 5.5th Gens..... just maybe!

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

then clearly you're doing SOMETHING wrong. like i said, i never had a SINGLE problem with my 5.5gen brake package. not. a. single. problem. maybe there was something wrong with your cars vs there being something wrong with the brakes.. and i never said that the extra size of a 6th gen rotor wouldn't make up for the loss of drilling them.. you're putting words in my mouth. of course THEY can... they're almost an inch bigger. i was talking about crossdrilling the same size rotor as what you already had being a failed concept.

so let me ask you.. did YOU ever put 5.5gen brakes on YOUR 3rd gen? Can you vouch for how much they suck on a lighter weight car? keep in mind that a VG5 is less than 3100lb vs your porker of a car. oh you didn't ever run them on a 3rd gen? so you mean you're just talking out your azz to someone who actually DID do the swap on their own car?!?! wow what a concept. :matt93se:

Conrad283

iTrader: (2)

Extreme brake warping on multiple sets or rotors is due to user error. just my 2 cents.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Really?? Explain..........I drive my 345,000 mile, 1986.5 Hardbody pretty freakin aggressive and I'm on my 2nd set of front rotors that had never been warped.....My truck is 25 yrs old.....It's been to the top of Mauna Kea and it's only 2wd and the brakes were smoking their a$$ off coming down that mountain but never warped.....been in hundreds of panic stops never warped.....I'm not the only person who's owned 5th/5.5th Gen Maxima(s) and complained of the warpage issues so please don't insult my intelligence nor my mechanical aptitude....the 5/5.5 th gen rotors are missing about 1" of brake surface on the inboard side, when compared to the 3rd and 4th gen Maxima(s)....So please help me understand your position....how many 5/5.5th gens have you owned? yall can do the mod I just thought I would warn you of the 5.5th Gen shortcoming!!! I installed 5.5th Gens on my 5th Gen with no cure to the warpage issue!!! I've had the same 6th gen brake rotors on (2003 Maxima) since 2003 and they're on their second set of Hawk pads.....Are you sure it's my error??????

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

Cmax....two things cause brake rotor warpage...cheap rotors and/or incorrect bed-in procedure...

you have done one or the other or both to have gone through 5 sets of rotors...period..it's not the 5.5's brake system thats at fault here...

Conrad283

iTrader: (2)

Yes

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

I have a 5.5th...it stops so smooth my 3rd gen got jealous, so to keep her happy I have to give the old girl a BBK implant .

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

OK I guess I'm the only **** that experienced that as well.....If I did something wrong like my bed-in procedure or cheap parts (not my style to do this) I should've had the same problem with all my cars and those I upgraded to 6th gen brakes.....explain that!!!!! My truck should be eating up brakes (25 yrs old on it 2nd set of rotors), My 2003 Maxima w/6th gen upgrade should've been giving me problems (2nd set of pads in 7 yrs), My Mirage should've been giving me a headache with it's puny lil' a$$ rotors ( got T-boned and totalled)......I'm not new with this and I've worked in repair shops for years and I've been doing it correct since I was 11-12 yrs old....I'm in my 40's now......good luck to your thread I got some extra 5.5th Gen rotors laying around if someone interested in some small boat anchors!!!!

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

You're funny.........

maximo018

iTrader: (6)

Hes not the only one. My 5.5 front rotors are warped as we speak. They were bed in when I got the car but after a few panic stops they were toast. Panic stop now and they grind kinda hard. OEM rotors installed by dealer tech. No matter I have 6th gen rotors sitting and waiting. Just gotta get 6th gen calipers.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

nice write up capecad, written very well and includes very thoughtful opinions
whats really cool about this the whole hand down effect
6thgen bbk on 5.5(5) gen, and then the hand down of the
5.5gen bbk on the 3rd gen
( i think 4th gens can do the 5.5gen bbk too IIRC)

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

that's where i got the idea from.. since alot of the front-end components are either shared or very similar.