Akebono brakes cannot be rebuilt?
 

I was told by one of the Z guru shop mechanics that Akebonos on 370Z cannot be rebuilt. Supposedly, NISSAN says do NOT take two caliper halves apart, and they will not reseal properly. Nissan has a very specific guide to do this, but wasn't able to confirm anywhere. I was recommended to just buy the new calipers instead when the caliper life is "done" via too many track days, etc.

Anyone can chime in?

I agree to that, the deformation from heat will ultimately destroy its ability to be joined back together accurately. If for whatever reason they are structurally damaged from heat abuse, they'd be to deformed either way to put them back together, let alone take apart.

You probably already have a shop, but this is probably the most authorized race shop for nissan parts

https://www.nissanraceshop.com/produ...iper-rh-red-3/

If you are looking to just refresh the pistons/piston seals, you shouldn't have to take the caliper apart.

https://www.nissanraceshop.com/produ...0z-g37-rear-2/

https://www.z1motorsports.com/brakes...it-p-6891.html

little bit cheaper here...

Thanks guys.

I call BS on taking the calipers apart.:D When they powder coat the calipers. They have to take them apart to replace the o-rings between the 2 halves. Rebuilding a 4 or 6 piston caliper isn't that hard to do. Been there, done that. :icon17:

damn. knowing that you track the z, i feel like i should take mine apart now Lol

I wouldn't take the calipers apart unless you see some leaking, or want to change the o-rings between the 2 halves. To freshen them up. Just replace the pistons, seals and duct covers.

BUT if you want to get adventurous.

This is what I do with putting the halves back together. I use HI-Spot bluing compound. This stuff shows the high spots between the 2 halve. Put a small amount on a piece of paper towel. Wipe it across one half. Putting a VERY thin coat down. Bolt the halves together. Torque to spec. Then unbolt it. Look at the half that didn't have the bluing compound on it. It should have the bluing on it. Good mating should show about 95% to 100% contact transfer of the bluing compound. Where there is no bluing, is a low spot. To fix that. Use a honing stone and lots of WD40 to stone the halves. You will have to repeat the process several times to get it right. The last couple of calipers I did. After checking the contact one time. Everything was good.

Try not to get the bluing compound on your skin. It's like walnut stain. It ain't coming off for awhile. :eek:

In the machine shop we used Dykem for practical jokes more than anything. perfect when someone lays their safety glasses down, add it to the nose bridge and temples. Also works great on handles of all kinds, coffee cups, especially if they are blue or black colored to begin with, backside of tools, ect. :icon17:

I could tell you all kinds of stories! :eek:
Inside of work glove finger tips.
The underside of tools laying on a bench.
The backside of a broom standing in a corner.
The backside of a flashlight sitting on a urinal. :eek: My favorite. This was classic when it happened. It happened to a foreman to boot!
The flush handle of a toilet. :eek:
The backside of the microwave handle. :shakes head:
The ear piece on the phone on the foreman's platform. :eek: :happydance: :roflpuke2::tup::tiphat:
The controls on a forklift, overhead crane.
Disconnect a air nozzle from an air line. Squeeze some inside of it. Reconnect the air line. Blow off your work piece. EVERYTHING is now blue. :eek::rofl2::roflpuke2::inoutroflpuke::bowrofl:
Also putting mustard and ketchup packets under the toilet seat.
Rubbing limburger cheese on the sweatband on a welding helmet.

The best one that I do not recommend is the score a 20 oz plastic soda bottle with a razor blade. put lots of Dykem inside. Remove airhose from the wall.
Drill a hole that tightly! fits the long nozzle of the air gun and tape the handle down and seal it up around the nozzle. silently manuever the bottle near the person you hate and reconnect the airline. :rofl2: Not only is it extremely loud but bluing goes everywhere! Witnessed a firing over that prank. :rofl2:

Sorry Street, hijacked your thread.

Weld threaded pipe fitting to a vert steel beam in the shop. Screw a ball valve into the end of welded fitting. Screw pipe nipple and 90deg elbow into ball valve. Turn the elbow so that it's pointing up. Open ball valve and fill with water. Turn the elbow down. Do this to a couple of beams. Go tell the new guy that he has to go around a check the beams for moisture content. And he has to measure how much is in each beam. Then give the report to the general foreman, who is on the joke. :inoutroflpuke:

:iagree: I can see someone reading this in the morning, going :wtf:

Some days I sure miss working in the shop :icon17: jokes for days.
Newbie, go to the basement and get some more carbide inserts from storage. Stairs is in the president's office, in his closet is a trap door to the basement. He likes to control the inventory but dont worry anyone can just go in there.

One foreman had a bicycle air pump painted bright yellow, with the words "SUNSHINE PUMP" on it. Sitting on a shelf in his office. Said it was for us asssholes who tried to blow sunshine up his asss when trying to explain our way out of trouble. :roflpuke2:

:rofl2:

Should probably take that pump to the shop that tried to tell him the calipers aren't rebuildable sound like they are trying to blow some smoke up somewhere.

wtf I got lost in this thread LOL

My bad. :icon17:

Cliffnotes: Yes they are rebuildable according to Rusty who is a reliable source in this community.

My first job out of college was working on Robbins Air Force Base. One day one of the Air Force One's was parked out in the field. I got all excited about it and my coworkers were encouraging me to go check it out, said they do it all the time when it is there. I started to walk out there and they stopped me.. Told me they used to tell newbies to do that and watch secret service plant them into the concrete as they got close. But eventually they got in trouble so now they just set us up and stop us before we actually go.

:iagree:

i rebuild mines my self without any "specific guide from nissan" and it worked!

I am working on rebuilding a pair of front Akebono's now. No issues just make sure not to cut corners and follow fsm tq specs.

honestly, I can't remember of ever hearing of any car not having re-buildable calipers. Maybe some exotics?

This caliper is unusual in the sense it is a 2-piece design with a internal crossover tube. Most 2-piece calipers have external lines. This is the problem with incorrectly disassembling and reassembling them.

Thanks for the info MaysEffect. Makes total sense.

Also here is a pic of the inside of the right caliper and the rebuild kit I am using.

The crossover MaysEffect mentioned is the center hole on the top left.

http://www.the370z.com/members/zeroz...ure97883-a.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/zeroz...ure97882-a.jpg

This is only an issue as you said if assembled incorrectly. Every single multi piston motorcycle or bike caliper I can think of uses and internal crossover tube. The only reason cars use an external one is bacuse the left and right caliper are the same and the crossover tube takes the place of bleeder screws so they can save on manufacturing costs.

Most motorcycle calipers are monoblocks nowadays too, so they are not rebuild-able by design. Using external crossover tubes doesn't make the manufacturing cost any cheaper. If anything it's more because its 3 additional parts per caliper assembly.

Brembo and Stoptech crossover tubes range from 15-25 dollars each. An internal design is built into the caliper and has no additional cost, other than additional machining time. But these are cast calipers so the machining time is already reduced.