Stainless Steel Brake Lines

This weekends project on a friends car was to install some Earls Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines, and of course replace the fluid with some ATE Super Blue as previously discussed on here. So lets knock out a few facts as usual on these lines. First off its a very noticeable upgrade for a braking system, and its cheap usually around $100.00, so this falls in the good dollar per mod money. What's the advantage? there is a number of advantages, however the top ones are, OEM rubber lines tend to expand under braking thus you loose the fee on your pedal. So with these installed you obtain much improved brake pedal feel during braking as the brakes heat up, you still maintain the feel up until the brake pads fade. The lines also do not flex as much and become more durable from debris on the ground. This is just part of the brake upgrades that consist normally of lines, fluid, pads, and rotors. You will lose fluid in the process and have to bleed your brakes after the install so you might as well flush the fluid afterwards. I would put this mod as a very easy mod for anyone to install with basic tools and knowledge, the hardest part will be bleeding the brakes, so if you're not confident, I would not tackle it because until the brakes are bled, you can not drive your car.
Tools needed
-10mm open ended wrench
-Vice Grips (just in case)
-14mm Socket
-10mm Socket
-Ratchet
-Pliers
-19mm Open Ended Wrench (Or An Adjustable Wrench)
-21mm Open Ended Wrench (Or An Adjustable Wrench)
-Drip Pan

Get the car up on all four jack stands and remove the wheels. Doesn't matter where you start but the front lines are different than the rears. However, the Earls happened to be marked and also marked Left and Right. If you start on the rear, use 10mm open end wrench and loosen the brake line from the hard line, don't forget to have the drip pan under here as the fluid will drip out. A quick tip is if the 10mm feels like it is starting to round, stop and put the vice grips on it to loosen it, once it's loose use the 10mm again to finish removing it. Now once that is un hooked, use the pliers to pull the metal tab off so that the hardline end of the brake fluid will be loose and able to be removed. Next, remove the black cover of the brake spring, it has a 10mm bolt on the top and side, finagle this off. Now remove the two bolts holding the line to the shock and the caliper. Finally, use a 14mm socket to remove the brake line from the caliper, make sure the crush washer is off the caliper and the bolt there is one above and below the brake line. Discard the brake line and make sure to keep the bolt. Installing the new brake line is just the opposite, you may have to play with the line to get it to bend correctly. The tab you removed is replaced by a nut on the top and bottom of the factory bracket. Tighten than then tighten the fitting back into that from the hardline, when it comes to the caliper re-use the old bolt, replace a crush washer above and below the line and tighten down, make sure not to over tighten. The front is the same process, if your coilovers do not have brackets on them for brake lines, just throw a zip tie around the shock and through the tab on the brake line to keep it from getting tangled. Make sure everything is tight and add fluid and refer to my post on replacing brake fluid and bleeding. Once completely done, take it for a spin and enjoy the added brake feel!

Super Blue

Well In preparation for the Wake The Dragon S2KI meet coming up, I went ahead and changed my brake fluid. My old fluid was dirty, so I had picked up a liter of ATE Super Blue Dot 4. When fluid shopping remember you can go up in DOT from 3-4 (DOT 3 and 4 also mix), and so on but to go from a 5.1 to a 4 will require draining and cleaning. So why go from a 3 to a 4. DOT 4 has a higher boiling point, and attracts less moisture. However moisture has more of an effect of 4 than it does on 3. Brake fluid attracts moisture, so the longer it's in your car, the more water builds up in the fluid, the more water you have the more decrease in boiling point. This is where the "My brakes quit working" comes from. Something got the brakes hot, then in turn, boiled the fluid because of the lowered boiling point and the brake pedal went to the floor. It's a good idea to change your fluid often throughout the year, some people will recommend every time you change brakes or open the brake system up. I normally just stick to a few times a year (to prevent corrosion) or when its looks discolored. Now lets move on the ATE Super Blue fluid. It's blue and they also sell a brown color so that when you change fluid you can change colors, so that you are always able to tell when all the old fluid is out. ATE is also not expensive $12.00-$15.00 for a liter and it will be plenty. Lets get into the process of doing this, it's very easy. It could be easier with a bleeder pump that pressurizes the system but I don't have one.  any way took about 15 minutes start to finish.

Tools required are a 

10mm box wrench 

10mm deep well 

Ratchet

Clear tube bleeder valve

Bottle for old fluid

Clean Funnel

Jack 

4 Jack Stands

Start off buy jacking the car up and placing it on 4 jack stands and remove all the wheels. Start at the right rear, the furthest from the reservoir. Something I normally do is use the 10mm socket to just crack the bleeder port because I don't like to break these. After I initially crack them the wrench works good. You may also have a dust boot over the cap you can just pull it off by hand. As you can see I customized an empty bottle of transmission fluid and stock the hose in that to catch the old fluid. Now place the box end wrench on the bleeder point, attach the clear hose over the port and then loosen the bleeder with the wrench a quarter turn. That way you can easily tighten it back up. Now with the bleeder, open fluid will start to move out, have a person sit in the car and pump the pedal, stopping from time to time, close the bleeder and add new fluid to the reservoir,  once you start to see blue fluid or clean fluid come through the tube, close the bleeder, top the reservoir off and continue to the rest. Make sure not to pump the brake pedal with the Reservoir Cap removed, now continue to the Left Rear, Front Right and Front Left. Once I have blue or clean fluid at all four corners, I have the person pumping the pedal pump it ten times and hold it to the floor, then I hook my tube up to the bleeder and crack it if I see no air bubbles, I close it and move on to the next, if I do, then I close the bleeder, pump the pedal hold the bleeder open and repeat the process. Also if you are using a dual piston caliper I always do the outside bleeder valve first and then the inside. And the last bit to add when you start to drive the car be cautious at first, incase the brakes have air in them. 

You should have a ton of fluid left over so before you lower the car its a good idea to change the fluid for clutch, that happens to use brake fluid. The reasons to change this are the same as before. This is also very easy. 

Tools Needed 

Funnel 

8mm box end wrench

Drain Pan

Under the car on the left side of the transmission you will find the clutch slave cylinder, atop of it on the side you will see a familiar bleeder valve, but it requires a 8mm wrench this time. I am never patient enough to try to get a clear hose to fit on the bleeder valve so I will just put a drain pain under it and let it go where it goes, then clean it up afterwards. So the steps are the same, open the bleeder port have a person pump the pedal, close the bleeder port, add fluid and repeat until you see the blue or clean fluid come out. Once you have done this you can bleed the slave cylinder, by having the person pump the clutch ten times hold the pedal down, open the bleeder port, and then close it. If you see air repeat the process until its all gone.

Remember that the feel of the brakes will be tough to truely judge until you have the vacuum from the engine running, going to your brake booster and car on the ground rolling. Also some good upgrades prior to doing this would be stainless steel braided brake lines and and stainless steal braided clutch line, and of coarse some Mugen reservoir covers in case the system ever boils.  One last thing I like to do is take a paint pen and write the milage and date of the fluid change on the brake reservoir, you will be able to scratch it off with your finger nail when you replace is next time. 

Spoon Mono Blocks

So the other Day I get a call from my friend Brice, and he was super excited about installing some Spoon Monoblocks on his car, but then again so was I. Let me give you the skinny on these.... Obviously very well made, but then again they were made by Nissin who also made the OEM caliper on the S2 and also very light weight.  Installation was super easy.

Is there cutting of the dust shield? Yes its about a 2 inch piece you cut off Tin Snips will do the job to clear the new bracket just cut the corner of the dust shield off on the top and bottom.
Can I use my Brake pads from the stock caliper Yes I would upgrade to a more aggresive pad than OEM if you have not.
Can I use my OEM brake rotors? Yes In fact I prefer Honda Genuine brake rotors unless upgrading to good aftermarket rotor.
Can I use my OEM Brake lines? Yes However you might as well upgrade to Stainless steel lines. Spoon brake lines are not required, you can use any stainless steel brake line that is compatible with the stock caliper.
Do I have to flush my brake fluid? No however you will have to add and bleed the brakes. But this is a great time to upgrade to some ATE Super Blue. If you adding all the stainless steel lines You should flush the whole system.
Will it clear my Wheel? If your running a Volk Racing CE28N You will need a +55 or lower to clear. Different wheel and spoke design may require more.
How do I install the Pads? Remove the 2 allen bolts from the back cover pry a screw driver between the rotor and pad to push the piston back and install the pad then reattach the black cover making sure not to over tighten these bolts.
Novice level? If you can bleed brakes you can do this, but you will need sockets with metric allen stocks.
Is there a Left or Right. Yes the bleeding ports will go pointing towards the top to allow the air to escape during bleeding.
And don't forget the Reservoir Covers to absorb the brake fluid if it leaks out during hard driving.
Feel free to contact my with any questions or help.

What is so nice about a caliper like this? Well the braking feel is greatly improved as well as stopping distance. Also to change the brake pads is a breeze! So you can have track pads and street pads. All you do is take the black cover off thats on top of the pads and pry a screw driver between the pad and rotor to push the pistons back and pull the pads out and put the other pads in, re attach the black cover and your done. takes longer to remove the wheel. Be sure not to over tighten these bolts. I would highly recommend these as a must to have without spending tons of money on a AP Racing or Endless kit.