S14 Zenki vs. Kouki OEM Brake Boosters (USDM)
 

So, finally looking into replacing my worn out brake booster on my kouki s14a (424,000 miles).

Checking part numbers with Nissan, it looks like 95-96 vs. 97-98 have different part numbers. I notice the same discrepancy searching on Rock Auto and you typical Autozone/O'Reilly stores.

Are they actually physically different? I thought it was all the same across S14 years from 95-98...

Reason I ask is because everybody seems out of stock for brand new ones specifically for a 97 S14, but there are some in stock specc'd for a 95. Same-same? (s14 manual / non-abs / single diaphragm)

never heard or seen a diffrence in s14 boosters between years. Only the normal diffrences like u posted...abs, auto, manual etc..

Thought the same thing
 

Ya, I thought the same... check this out tho...

https://i.imgur.com/O204M4S.jpg

vs.

https://i.imgur.com/uW1r4sX.jpg

Def weird..id say u should have no issue with either or

The difference is the location of the vacuum tube attachment. 95/96 is located on the right, 97/98 is on the left.

Dam, this guy is a genius!

Hmm true genius indeed!

Zomg so it looks like even the brake boosters for 1995-1996 are out of stock now lol. Luckily I found a local spot that can rebuild the stock unit. Comes with a 1-year warranty and 2-day turn-around time.

But. I haven't tried them yet. I guess I'll give it a shot first and document the experience and report back. I'll plug their name if it's all good in the hood. Although... I wonder how many people need to get their brake booster rebuilt. I'm only noticing a little bit of funny stuff at 424,000 miles lol

Thats a shit load of miles! Wtf how?

I dunno
 

I used to go to school in northern california and would drive back to LA once a month. But also my s14 has been my daily driver for the last 18 years.

thats awsome!

Thanks, these cars are awesome. Anyone who doesn't try to take good care of theirs is a FOOL

Hey, I work at a Nissan dealer here in St. Pete FL. if you want to provide me your VIN#, I can do a nation wide search for you to see who has this in stock or if its avaialbe from Nissan North America, I can order it in and FedEx it to you. 94-96 part #47210-72F20 Supersedes to #47210-72F96 and 96+ has two options #47210-81f10 & #47210-81f11

Looks like there are no brake boosters in the states for real Koukis... let me know what you end up doing. I think my 250k plus booster needs a replacement as well.

There's always the possibility that suppliers change throughout model years even if they're physically similar which could generate a different part number.

Whats good with the plug? I have one that could use a rebuild if its cost effective.

Haven't gotten around to it yet. I plan to take my booster off sometime this week and bring to them on Friday. Then, I should have it back back Tuesday next week, and I'll let yall know how it is.

Thanks, PM'd

I PMed him already :( Nothing left

Updates
 

Booo none left eh? Figures...

So anyways, I found some time today to take my brake booster off my S14 and bring it to that place I was telling you guys about. If you've never taken your brake booster off before, it's... sort of a pain in the ass. Nothing super super crazy, but anyways... here's what I had to do:

https://i.imgur.com/xfBdIaX.jpg
I lowered my steering column a bit otherwise it was super hard to reach the pin holding the push rod of the brake booster to the brake pedal. When it comes time to reinstall the rebuilt booster into the car, I might just pull the steering column out entirely for more space. No way in hell I'll be able to play with the adjustment / lock nut with that in the way.

https://i.imgur.com/JrLWg5v.jpg
Then there's this SOB. This is the piece that connects the brake pedal to the booster rod. Notice the extra piece of plastic at the end. So basically, even if you remove the lock pin, you still gotta pinch that plastic part together to be able to pull the whole piece out. Not sure how I managed to do it without breaking it off. I think I just got lucky.

https://i.imgur.com/UoEFz1O.jpg
This part is fairly straight-forward then. Gotta remove the master cylinder and brake lines. Fkn sucks because I wasn't planning to flush/bleed my brake fluid. But there ya go.

https://i.imgur.com/Wjru8PF.jpg
Here's my old brake booster. You can see some of the crap at the front of it from times throughout the years of spilling brake fluid or leaky master cylinders.

https://i.imgur.com/paJNfKa.jpg
And here's the front of the shop. I expect to have the booster back in about a day or two and then MAYBE reinstall it before the weekend is over.

The name of the shop is Power Brake Master over in Santa Fe Springs in SoCal. So far, the experience is good... I gave it to the guy I spoke to over the phone (Luis). Seems like a nice guy. The price quoted is $150 - $200 depending on whether anything on the inside is broken or if seals just need to be replaced.

Let you guys know soon how that turns out. According to Luis, he's been getting a lot of crappy Autozone remanufactured boosters coming in. Those ones remanned by Cardone. Anyways, he sounds pretty confident with his work, and it will come with a 1yr warranty anyways. I'll get back to yalls again soon.

^ wow thats good to know..never knew anyplace that rebuilt them and always expectes to buy a used one if mine failed. The price seems decent for anything that is a specialty job in the auto world. Excited to see the end result and obvs longevity....

U should ask him if he could document some pics, just to see the internals and the condition after all the years and miles..would be a kool sight..atleast to me

haha yea I never knew it existed either until now lol. Price seems fair; I figure 1-2 hours of labor plus parts?

It's cool -- maybe I will take pictures of the old parts after he finishes working. I don't want to interrupt his normal workflow or whatever

Aright, so the shop has finished rebuilding the brake booster. So, 1-day turnaround time for this one.

They said that they changed all the seals and the diaphragm. Likely what happened was that I had a leaky bmc and the brake fluid got in and rekked the brake booster over time. (current bmc is ok, but I did have a leaky one sometime ago). Ah I asked about the old parts, but they were in the trash somewhere and I didn't feel like making them dig through it.

$150 done deal 1yr warranty with receipt. I'll toss this back into the car on Friday and see if it's working properly. So far so good though.

https://i.imgur.com/GZAVk3g.jpg
That's the old paper gasket on there. I'll probably cut a new paper gasket using some material I bought from Autozone a few months ago. I don't think it actually holds pressure; probably just helps to keep dirt / fluids from reaching that rubber boot.

https://i.imgur.com/pqeoFyp.jpg
So yeah, looks like they even repainted the whole thing, which I didn't expect. But that's pretty sweet, man.

Not bad, the respray looks kinda shitty, might be the pictures though, they say anything about "testing" them before they are given back? And are there any visible signs that its been serviced? Just wondering for myself..thats all

Nah the respray is whatever. It's a hydraulics shop, not a paint shop so it's fine... better than what it looked like before with the old paint peeling off haha.

They said they tested it on a machine prior to giving it back to me. Only thing I can see on the outside are the boot and everything looking cleaned up really well.

Pretty kool, intrested in the end result with function tests

Ta-Da!!
 

https://i.imgur.com/uEHStI4.jpg

So, here's the final product installed. It's hard to say if it's going to last; the only way to find out is to just drive it. But at the very least, the brake booster now holds vacuum after turning the car off like it should. Also, it doesn't make that funny lil "squeaky balloon" sound when I step on the brakes anymore. So, those are all good signs.

Also, they kept the rod length adjustments the same as original, so I didn't need to readjust those when I re-installed the unit.

I dunno. It's good I guess lolol. If anyone else wants to get this done, check out Power Brake Exchange in Santa Fe Springs CA. They have a website too, which says they're located in San Jose. I guess they have a few locations. If you go to the one in Santa Fe Springs, talk to Luis. I think he's the main guy there.

Awsome. Glad this worked out and a viable option for 240 owners