How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol
 

After doing this a few days ago i thought id do a write up on it since not everyone can know everything like i do. Muhahahahahahaha and i saw someone did a search on it and thought id help them out https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...es/emsmile.gif

Tools Needed:
Jack
Jack stands (its just to be safe! do i always use them? No, if ill be under the car where it could possibly take me more then .1 second to get out of the way you bet your arse i will!)
Assorted metric sockets and wrench
No Air Wrench's! (Possibility of fucking the whole assembly is to great - but if you decide to tell me to Fuc% off and use it anyway only use it to remove the bolts)
New brake pads obviously
Anti-Noise compound (Not necessary but nice)

Step 1:
Raise the vehicle and place it securely on jack stands
Remove the wheels
(If you need help with this already put away your tools and return them you don’t belong near a car!)

(now would be a ideal time to check for warp age of the rotor - with the car in neutral rotate the rotor and listen feel for spots of grabbing i.e. one spot that is tough to spin than the rest. If so or in question and personally i recommend anyway have them resurfaced!)

Step 2:
Remove the caliper bolt (Its the bottom most one) and swing the caliper up out of the way.

Step 3:
Remove the pads, Note the one with the wear indicator goes on the side closest the motor

Step 4:
Install new pads (making sure you use the correct one Left side Right side Ext) here’s where taking a few moments like i said to note, which one is, which pays off!

Step 5:
Apply anti-Squeak compound to pads on area's of possibly movement i.e.: where caliper will touch and around retainers

Step 6:
Take your flat wrench place it across the caliper and use the c-clamp to push the puck back into the cylinder. Don’t be shy push it all the way back in make the next step easy for your self!

Step 7:
Rotate the caliper back down and retighten the bolt to 20 ft pounds of torque

Step 8:
REPEAT STEPS 2-7 FOR THE OTHER SIDE, NEVER DO ONLY ONE SIDE!!!!!!!!!
Press down on the pedal about 7-10 times. Road test the vehicle.

Note if may take a few times (7-10) of using the pedal to restore the original feel of the pedal stroke! if it goes down more then b4 don’t be alarmed its normal it should come back up to a normal level. If not bleed the brakes and check for leaks


REAR BRAKES- Disk type

Step 1:
Remove the two bolts holding down the caliper shield

Step 2:
Remove the two caliper bolts from the assembly (You didn’t thing they would make them all nice and easy did you?)

Step 3:
Remove the old brake pads

Step 4:
Install the new brake pads

Step 5:
Apply the anti-squeak compound to all areas that may have movement i.e. where the caliper will come into contact with the pad the retainer brackets.

Step 6:
Using either the specialty tool or a set of needle nose pliers rotate the piston clockwise back into the caliper being careful not to twist the rubber boot. ( Because of the parking brake you have to do it this way, you cant simply push it back into the caliper like the front - Sorry its just a fact of life deal with it or quit)

Step 7:
Push the caliper back over the pads and into position and reinstall the removed caliper bolts and torque them to 20 ft pounds.

Step 8:
Reinstall the caliper shield
REPEAT STEPS 2-7 FOR THE OTHER SIDE, NEVER DO ONLY ONE SIDE!!!!!!!!!

Step 9:
Press down on the pedal about 7-10 times. Road test the vehicle.
Note if may take a few times (7-10) of using the pedal to restore the original feel of the pedal stroke! if it goes down more then b4 don’t be alarmed its normal it should come back up to a normal level. If not bleed the brakes and check for leaks


Now some problems i ran into was on the front calipers the pos bolt broke off on both sides leaving me with nothing but a filled hole on the caliper arms.
So my solution i came up with was to take the whole assembly off of the car and re-bleed the system yes i know but worth the effort. I took the pos to a drill press and drilled out the remainder of the bolt that way Be careful mind you not to go all the way though - don’t think it was original all the way though. (Air Drill did nothing but leave me deaf for 4hrs afterwards) So i now i couldn’t very well tap it to the next size bolt up so that left me with one option. Use a Helix Coil to repair the original thread size and reinstall the original size bolt. Now I’m sure some jackass wanting to put in his $0.02 will say drill it out and use a thread chaser or a bolt extraction tool! Well let me tell you this the bolt is a grade 8 i believe and mine were one with the caliper because of the heat i tried using the bolt out when there was little more then a mm of it left! And it did nothing but laugh at me so to this wanker i say sod off and just do it my way! And don’t argue with me cause no you didn’t have this problem yourself or you would have posted a how to long ago so thank you and piss off! No i said thank you and piss off!!!!!!!!!

With the rears calipers like i said you cant simply push them in with a C-clamp like the front there’s a specialty tool that fits in there like a brake pad with two points on it to grab the caliper and twist it as it goes back in while you turn it with a wrench, That’s what i used but the pliers method works too!

Now you might ask ok my front or rear rotor is warped what do i do?
Simple there’s two bolts on the back of the assembly that hold the caliper onto the wheel remove those and hold the caliper up with a metal coat hanger or stiffy wire hehehe stiffy. There’s two screws that hold the rotor to the axel plate remove those with a hammer driver (screw driver that once hit with a hammer grips the screw with force and turns to remove it) with those removed it should pop right off otherwise if you noticed there are two other holes. Get some bolts that thread and simply turn them in there with a wrench and that will push the rotor away from the axel plate. On the rear you cant do this however, but mine came off with no trouble so, the front were the ones that gave me a hard time.

I hope this helps someone out!
Requests for pics send me a pm or email at drkangel@execpc.com and ill send you some out. I don’t have a server to host pics at the moment but when i get that back up ill add pics. Questions comments feel free to Pm me that’s why I’m here!



Modified by nocternaldragon at 10:25 PM 3/14/2005

Re: How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol (nocternaldragon)
 

Good write up https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

I'd like to toss in problems I ran into while doing mine (fronts only).

Drivers Side:

My fault, I stripped out the bottom Caliper bracket bolt. The book said it should be 80ft/lbs, I was on it with a torque wrench and at one point knew I was using too much force but instead of going with my gut I put my faith in the wrench and I stripped that sucker good. I didn't want to try to bore it to the next diameter for a new screw so I figured what the hell, might as well go all out, went out and ordered up a set of 2 new caliper assemblies (after finding out you can't just buy the bracket, you need the full assembly).

I got the drivers side all buttoned back up and everything was great, shiny new brembo OEM rotors and brand new calipers look great... Anyway onto the passenger side:

I had the new caliper, rotor, and pads all ready to go. I thought "This time I got my shit together it'll be easier."

WRONG.

I got the wheel off and almost started crying. The bastard that did the brakes before broke the tip of his hardend screwdriver off in the rotor's retaining screw. I was PISSED. 3 Hours later, after destroying 4 drill bits (it was too late to go out and buy ones meant for the job), I finally was able to break that screw apart using a hammer and a chisel, cutting the head off the tapered screw untill I could twist it out with needle nose pliers.

After I got the rotor off everything else went off and on easy. Bled the brakes and went for a SLOW test drive up and down the street a few times. I was a little concerned because I'd never pulled calipers before and didn't have the time to learn by example before trying it myself on our daily driver sol.

Anyway, aside from all that, definitely a can do job for anyone with enough desire to tackle it.

Re: How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol (rAndal-)
 

Yeah i dident want to use a helix coil either i went to order the new aseembly and the local parts place i goto said it was a dealer only item, i said fuck that! ussed the helix coil so i could fix it. Next time im at the salvage yard im gonna get a new set of calipers and what not that hopefully arent stripped! but you could of ussed the helix coil too in your situation and saved a few $$$$ as for the passenger side that is b.s. that wasent road safe and should never of been allowed back onto the street i would have seriously bitched if i knew what shop did that b4 me. There is no way in hell we could ever think about letting something like that out the door, and if someone came in with something like that and dident let us fix it, by law we have to tow your car to your home free of charge.

Re: How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol (nocternaldragon)
 

pics?

Re: How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol (nocturnaldragon)
 

What if i cant get the cylinder to go back ?? What is my problem can anyone help.....this is my first time changing my own brakes.

Re: How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol (Munkieboy920)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Munkieboy920 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What if i cant get the cylinder to go back ?? What is my problem can anyone help.....this is my first time changing my own brakes.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Use a 5inch or bigger C clamp and twist it to compress the cylinder. If you dont have that go to your auto parts store and rent the cylinder clamp.

Re: How to: Change your front and rear brakes in a del sol (Munkieboy920)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luserkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Use a 5inch or bigger C clamp and twist it to compress the cylinder. If you dont have that go to your auto parts store and rent the cylinder clamp. </TD></TR></TABLE>
hang on there that only will work on the front brakes if you have rear disc and try that you will have to replace the caliper the rear pucks must be turned in for them to retract into the housing. it has to do with the E brake mech