In my ongoing effort to "downgrade" my car to IT legal specs, I finally got around to putting the rear drums back on from the Integra disc rear that the prior owner put on the car. First, the install was with Earl's stainless lines. Only ones I could get without a 4 month backorder. The lines themselves are fine, but they really cheaped out with not including replacement banjo bolts for the front calipers. Second, all four lines have this stupid threaded nut instead of the clip retainer where the flex line mates with the hard line. big fat for that one. Real pain to get the threads to line up while fluid is leaking everywhere.
The bad: I really don't know why, but drums just don't do it for me. The rear discs on this car never did anything, (and the drums won't either) but at least they were easy to service. The jigsaw puzzle of drums is really a step back IMO. And no, they really aren't any lighter, so no weight savings.
The good: An E-brake again! I can finally pitch the rock I've been using to park the car.
Proportioning is finally back to where it should be. The pedal is rock hard, and the feel is great. It never was right with the Integra rear brakes. I could put the rear wheels in the air, have someone stomp on the brake pedal, and still turn the tire by hand, so this is something of an improvement.

Still, the car doesn't weigh enough to even need a whole lot of brake. I still have yet to put a noticeable dent in the panther +'s I have on it. I guess I will just have to learn to use them less now that they work better.

 

Which Integra rear brakes did you have? The rear disc brakes from the '90-93 Integra were the same size as the '90-91 CRX Si rear brakes. I don't know what your car is but if it is an ITA CRX Si then your could have kept the disc barakes you had.

I have used the Earl's steel lines several times and been quite happy with them. I can't picture the fitting at the steel to hard line point. Mine have used a special Honda adapter that is retained by the clip them you tighten the Earls line fitting to it. I rahter liked it because although there was another joint, there was no risk of kinking or twisting the line as it tightened on.

Definately need to have the right prop valve whether you have drums or discs. I raced one weekend after my drum to disc conversion on the one car that I did it on with the wrong prop valve and the car was quite bad as the caliper requires more flow then the wheel cylinder. I don't mind the little bit more maintenance labor of adjusting the rear drums up more often as it canbe done quick and you always have a recent look at your linings. My current FP car still sits on rear drums although I have had the conversion parts sitting here for years. I just don't think drum to disk is worth the labor myself, the drum system is about 8 lbs lighter total and there is more swept area on the shoe than the drum although they rears do damned little like you said.

 

It's an 86 Si, not a CRX. The rear discs are from a 1st gen Integra. They bolt right on. (you can swap the whole axle to give you some extra track width, but it weighs more) It was up to me to either get the e-brake cables from an integra and get a prop valve, or put drums back on. I chose the latter. Especially when there are class-legal issues with running non-OE brake setups.
There is no clip on these lines. Just a threaded fitting. You feed the line up through the bracket, and instead of putting in the clip to keep it there, you thread a nut onto it to keep it there. Very difficult to get the hard line tightened correctly this way. As I found out on my way to work this morning, and walked through a puddle of brake fluid from the left rear.

 

I love my rear drums and stainless lines. There is no reason to go to rear discs, besides easier servicing, on CRXs and early Civics, imo.

 

Hmm... If I had those drums, I might not be so bummed about the swap-back. Those are HF drums, right?

--Mmmm...Finned aluminum.....

 

Indeed they are, however they are not legal in IT, afaik... I just thought I'd tease you.

 

are those really AL. finned drums? Do you know what model/year they came from and if they'd fit an EG Dx/Lx??
thanks- interesting topic for the novice road racer i am- i was considering swaping to rear disks on my EG sedan hybrid, but again hearing from racers that there's little point.. good to hear.

-s

 

They won't fit the drums that came with the EG's last I remember. They came on the HF CRX from 84-87. Very light. I have held one, and really couldn't tell you with a straight face that it weighs more than 5 pounds. Regular drum is probably around 8.

Discs are easier to work on, but you can't paint them mad skilz yellow, yo. The EG needs more brake than the 3rd gen Civics, so YMMV.

 

Yeah, they are all aluminum with an iron insert for the shoe. I'd guess about half the weight of the stockers.

I know they fit 88-91s, but I haven't had the pleasure of playing much with EGs and EKs...

 

Another major drawback to drums? Wheel cylinders that puke brake fluid all over your garage. When the puddle gets big enough, it flows downhill, right into your nicely painted garage door. Brake fluid and paint having the spectacular relationship that they do, my house now looks pretty damn cool from the front.
Dammit.
On the plus side, new wheel cylinders are only 12 bucks a piece, and are very easy to install, especially now that my braking system is devoid of all brake fluid, requiring a bench bleed at the MC and using another 2 quarts of Motul. Yippie.

 

Remove the e-brake and drum service becomes much easier.

Loading the car on the trailer by yourself with no e-brake is, however, somewhere south of fun.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by madhatter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Brake fluid and paint having the spectacular relationship that they do, my house now looks pretty damn cool from the front.
Dammit.
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Me laughing now. Funny (well, not exactly "funny," but you know what I mean) stuff, Chris. These kinds of unexpected mishaps that result in cosmetic or other problems for the house are very good training for a newly anoited parent like you.