Hey guys, I've got a '97 LS Integra w/ABS that has sS2000 front calipers and rotors, with the stock rear discs. In the winter on snow, the fronts seem to lock up before the ABS engages, and I'm suspecting that it might be a proportioning issue. With winter coming, I'm interested in trying to see if there is a way to improve this. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Its not going to be your prop valve i can tell you that much....Your issue is that you have 11.8 front rotors with 9.4 in rear discs. I will tell you what the Brake FAQ will tell you. You need to get your rear setup to match your fronts. It specifically will state that any front setup 11in or larger should at least up the rears to the 10.2 setup or bigger (they dont have to be bigger than 10.2)Think of the ITRs or 93-96 Prelude VTECs. They have 11.1 front brakes and 10.2 rears. The RSX-S has 11.8 fronts and 10.2 rears and the s2000 has 11.8 fronts and 11in rears. This balances the braking out (even though its front biased to begin with) The prop valves job is to regulate pressure to the rear brakes so they dont lock up during heavy braking. If your rears started locking up then you can start pointing the guns at the prop valve.I have an EG with the s2k/rsx-s front setup and ep3 10.2 rear so im not just talking out of the chili ring.

 

Good info...thank you very much for typing all of that up. I wasn't sure of the size issue, so that didn't mean anything to me when I read the FAQ. I'll do some further research on the rear options and their cost, and go from there. Was kinda hoping for the prop valve from a cost standpoint, but a few hundred will be worth the cost so I can actually stop in the winter, haha.

 

There are a few companies that make upsized rear setups, Fastbrakes being the first that comes to mind. They offer an 11 in rear setup with the brackets and rotors for around 240 using your stock calipers. I tried that setup as my brother (whom i installed on his car) owns that one and its ok not great (He has ITR fronts with Legend 2 piston calipers)My rear setup from a stopping and balance setup was much better. EP3 Si rear rotors (23 dollars each) and calipers/brackets (you can use the ones from an RSX or 97-01 Prelude with the RSX/EP3 bracket) for 75 dollars and it bolts right on. Only thing about it is that the right caliper goes on the left and vice versa so the bleeder screw points downward (can be bled with the screw pointed up just dont bolt it down till your done) and you have to transfer the parking brake mechanisms to the EP3 calipers and thats it. get a set of good pads and it will cost less than the above and stop better too.

 

Yeah, I was just looking at fastbrakes, and was wondering about how effective it would be to reuse the stock caliper. Sounds like the EP3 setup is the way to go. If I can't find the EP3 calipers, is it just the base RSX (as opposed to the type S)? And with all of those cars I can get it from, that's all from the rear calipers on those cars right? Do you need any other parts like the brake lines?

Thanks again man...it is really tough to find info on this, because every time I type "Integra rear brake upgrade" all I get are people with civics wanting the Integra setup.

 

Calipers can be from an RSX, RSX-S, EP3 SI, or the 97-01 Prelude (on the Prelude you need the brackets from the aforementioned cars) use your stock lines and e brake cables. Rotors from the 02-03 Si (they have the needed 4x100 pattern) Use your parking brake mechanisms from your stock caliper to mount them on your new calipers. Get the brake pads from any one of the aforementioned cars (plus a bunch not on the list share the same pads as the EP3/RSX) its alot better than using your stock rears because the piston in the caliper is larger, uses a larger pad, and stops alot better. You'll see

 

where did you find the ep3 rear rotors for 23$ each? where can i pick up rear calipers (ep3 or rsx ) from?

 

rockauto.com has EP3 rotors for that price. Just doing a quick search I found a few sets of calipers for sale on ebay, or you can get reman. ones from rockauto for like $75 a side + core. I'm going to just get those, and hopefully they'll take the Integra calipers as a core.

 

Sweet! The car is being painted right now, but once I get it put back together, this is going to be high on the list! Thanks again man, you've been an enormous help!

 

Its all good let me know if you need any help in the future

 

Just wanted to say thanks one more time! I installed the brakes yesterday and it went very well...everything was as you said it would be. I won't get a chance to drive it until next week when the car is put all back together, but I thought I'd put up some pictures.

Everything went well swapping the e-brake mechanism over to the Integra calipers, and the only issue that I ran into was that the stock bolts for the e-brake bracket were M8-1.25, and the EP3 bracket used M8-1.00. A quick trip to the hardware store fixed that, and everything else bolted right up. For anyone doing this project in the future, you will need 4 M8, 1.00 thread pitch, and I think 20 or 25mm length. There is clearance underneath to use a longer bolt, so go with the 25.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

Stock setup:



S2000 Fronts



And the EP3 setup:

 

nice brake setup
hey did you finally get the rsx rear caliper or the ep3? is the ep3 caliper the bleeder nipple also facing down like the rsx? i'm also intersted in doing this swap. I just see a lot of ppl go with the ep3 caliper/bracket, but there are a lot more rsx's driving around, and i found a set of rsx rear calipers for 75/pair. Just thinking if i should go with those or actually look for ep3 calipers specifically.

Some pretty helpful info jr_deleon, and thanks for sharing your experience bakertime

 

Thank you, I love the S2k setup...can't wait to try the combo of both! Yeah, the EP3 bleeder screw faces down...I'm pretty sure the RSX one is the exact same piece, because when I ordered them off Rock Auto, it said they were compatible with the RSX, and the other cars jr mentioned. I made the mistake of not re-reading his instructions, so I didn't bleed them before attaching them to the car...I just got around to it yesterday, and it's kind of a pain with the piston constantly pushing out while the caliper is off the car. I think I may have gotten it all, but I gotta double check today...I haven't driven my car in 5 months and this is the only thing holding me back right now, aaaah!

Here's a list of all the parts I used:
-Basic EP3 rear rotors: $25 a piece x2 = $50
-Raysbestos EP3 rear pads:$35ish...don't remember exactly
-Reman. EP3 rear calipers with Integra Ebrake mechanisms: $300 - $150 Core = $150
Note: Rock Auto accepted the Integra calipers as a core, even though their Integra core charge is muuuch less, haha.

So with fluid, It totaled around $250 for a basically all new setup. I considered getting used calipers, but for the extra $75 it was worth it to me for the piece of mind.

 

what did you have to do to run the s2k fronts?

 

sorry this might be a stupid question but i dont' get why the bleed facing up or facing down makes a difference?

in your case you said the piston was coming out, so i'm assuming it's not mounted up to the bracket with pads in? if you had the bleeder up or down facing, wouldn't the piston still come up? Sorry i'm a bit confused here on that.

in my case i will be using a bleeding machine. It's like a big vacuum pump that just sucks, i would just place it on the nipple, start sucking then open the valve...and top up the resovoiur till there doesn't seem like air left. Would there still be a problem that you can see if i did that?

and the ebrake mechinism just transfers straight over, and works? oh and you also mentioned the different sized bolts for that i saw

thanks for sharing your info and showing the results

 

Bleeding with the screws upwards ensures the air will come upwards and not get trapped as it would if it were pointed downwards. Sometimes you
ll have to take a rubber mallet if you had the lines open so long and it gets trapped. But you can vacuum bleed them to, but it makes sure all air is out when the screw faces upwards.

And if you do remove the caliper (with bracket) away from the rotor to face the screw upward, if you keep the pads in and slide an old rotor or even the EP3/RSX rear rotors in there the piston will not come all the way out (if you have 2 people its a little easier but i did it alone)

The ebrake mechanism should transfer right over and use the same bolts. If you need anymore help let us know

 

They were on the car when I bought it, but it appears to just be the S2000 front rotors bolted on, and then S2000 rotors redrilled to 4 lug. The hub bore is big enough, so it fits nicely.

Yeah, having the screw face downward is contrary to the tendency of the air bubbles to rise in the fluid, causing them to possibly stay in the line. You're correct in that I removed it from the car to bleed it with the screw facing up. I discovered today that a piece of scrap 2x wood fits perfectly in their to keep the piston in while bleeding, which made it worlds easier. The piston won't come out all the way as long as there is something in there...whether it be the pads + the old rotor, or a scrap 2x4 piece...just something to keep it in.

I would think that the vacuum pump might work with the screw facing down, but if you still have problems with a spongy pedal, then take it off the car and get that screw facing up.

And yeah for me, the E-brake assembly went over perfectly, just remove the spring and then the nut. You'll see how to do it right away once you're looking at it.

I DID have to get new bolts for where the e-brake cable bracket attaches to the caliper though, as mentioned earlier. For some reason, the thread pitch was different. Sounds like that might not always be the case, but if you run into that problem, just pick up some new bolts and you'll be good.

 

damn, you guys are the best
thanks again for sharing your info and your experiences....
love when enthusiats help enthusiasts

here is my own brake project if you guys care to check it out
http://98luderekbrakeproject.blogspot.com/
itr front calipers and rotors on 4*100
dc2 rear disk conversion... going with rsx calieprs and ep3 rotors now thanks to you guys
hard race bushings and Spoon balljoints
itr brake master, booster and 99-00 si prop valve

hope some info helps you guys out
thanks again i'm stoked on the info you guys just gave me

 

nice info!!! i want to do this soon especially now that i upgraded to rotora front brakes

 

I can tell you from having these on for over a year now it feels so much better with the EP3 rear setup than the others i have tried, including the 11" rear upgrade that uses stock 7CLP13S calipers. These bad boys are the ****. Bigger calipers, bigger pads, more surface area on the rotors and you can brake even later into the turns.

 

another way to do the ep3 rotor upgrade is this combo of parts:

rsx caliper bracket
integra rear calipers
ep3 rotors
rsx brake pads

all of this works perfectly. you can bleed them out properly since the bleeder screws are facing up. the ebrake cables bolt right on. I have been using this set up for over a year now with no issues.

 

Good to know...the advantage of the EP3 calipers over that, is the larger piston, but that was probably much cheaper!

On another note, I finally took a ride today and it feels incredible. It doesn't nose dive, stops hard, and I can lock them up at a slow speed if I want to.

 

so you arent running the s2k front calipers?

 

Yeah, I still have the S2000 front calipers, now with the EP3 setup in the rear.

 

dang now you got me intersted in getting s2k calipers/rotor setup on my ek too now :p
i wonder how much difference it makes vs the itr front caliper/rotor setup.

i'm using a itr booster/1" bmc too, oh yea i forgot dc2's come stock with that stuff, lucky bastard