Z32 Parking Brake Question

[xs420240sx]

I have an S14 with Z32 rear brakes with the parking brake drum. Just wondering if I can unbolt the parking brake drum and just leave the old hubs on with stock rotors or do they have to stay with the hubs? Don't know too much about the 300 brake setup and I've never taken it apart before. Want some background knowledge before I jump into things

[zooopreme]

Let me sort this out...

S14 with Z32 rear brakes with the drum and you want to not have the a usable e-brake?

Yes, that is quite possible. The e-brake drum is what is connected to the e-brake cables not the hubs.

However, I don't think it would be a bright idea or be the best solution to just unhook the cable from the drum. Instead, I would just slack the cable via the e-brake handle until it is loose. That would leave you with a ton of slack through the cable which won't allow the drum brake to be used.

[xs420240sx]

my goal is to remove the 300zx parking brake drum system, keep the 5 lug hubs, and bolt a stock caliper and rotor back on, put on stock e-brake cables, and have a manual parking brake. i also have no slack what so ever on my cables because they are broken. haha. so were good on that. theyll never engage

[DreamN]

Yeah, of course that's possible. Why wouldn't it be? You're just going back to a stock setup.

[zooopreme]

my goal is to remove the 300zx parking brake drum system, keep the 5 lug hubs, and bolt a stock caliper and rotor back on, put on stock e-brake cables, and have a manual parking brake. i also have no slack what so ever on my cables because they are broken. haha. so were good on that. theyll never engage

Ah should've specified that you wanted to revert back to a S14 rear set up. By your words, it seemed like you just wanted to keep the stock Z32 calipers and rotors.

Anyway, yes. It's possible, just make sure you bleed your brakes thoroughly or you will have spongy brakes. And if you are switching BMC's, make sure to bench bleed that.

[xs420240sx]

sorry about that. yeah ill be reverting back to stock brakes in the rear with the parking brake cables, but keeping the 300s in front. ill just have to flush the new calipers out with dot 5 since thats whats in the system right now. you guys forsee any problems with running dot 5 on a stock caliper? really dont wanna have to flush the whole system with dot 3.

[xs420240sx]

Yeah, of course that's possible. Why wouldn't it be? You're just going back to a stock setup.
like i said, i dont have a lot of experience with 300 parts. i was assuming that the parking brake drum had to stay with the hubs. but then i looked at it again and it looks like the dust plate and drum is a separate piece that bolts onto the knuckle. correct??

[zooopreme]

sorry about that. yeah ill be reverting back to stock brakes in the rear with the parking brake cables, but keeping the 300s in front. ill just have to flush the new calipers out with dot 5 since thats whats in the system right now. you guys forsee any problems with running dot 5 on a stock caliper? really dont wanna have to flush the whole system with dot 3.

Is this car street driven? If so, DOT 5 fluid is kind of an over kill in not only price but use. But if the car is a track car, DOT 5 will be fine. Just make sure you get SS lines for the calipers and you should be good to go.

If there's one brake fluid I used and had no problems with it's Motul's RB600 which is suited for both street and track use. I recommend it just about everybody that I know.

[xs420240sx]

the dot 5 was in there when i got the car. i didnt really wanna mess with trying to flush all the dot 5 out and replace it with dot 3. im pretty sure the idiot who owned the car before me just planned on streeting it so i dont know why there's dot 5 in it. what would be the disadvantages of using dot 5 with a stock caliper?

[xs420240sx]

cant run dot 5 with a stock brake line??

[zooopreme]

If I were in your predicament, I would just go ahead and swap the brakes and flush the entire system out with Motul RB600. That way you can retain stock rubber lines. To me that sounds like the cheapest possible solution.

DOT 5 lines and stock rubber lines will not end well for you in the long haul. It causes premature wear on rubber parts. That won't fly which is why I suggested SS lines. If you keep on using DOT 5 fluid, you would only need the rear SS lines.

Like I said, DOT 5 is an overkill and I do not recommend that you still use it.

[xs420240sx]

dammit. alright ill look into motul rbf600. i wont be swapping everything out probably for a month or 2. i have stainless steel lines all around right now so im alright for the moment. do you know how much fluid the whole system would approximately take?

[zooopreme]

I was able to flush and bleed using 3 bottles of 500ml.

And just to correct myself, it is RBF600 not the RB600 that I kept typing out.

[xs420240sx]

*sigh. alright. that's another $60 just to get back to stock brakes minus calipers, pads, rotors, and cables. thanks for the help.

[Mikester]

I run RBF600 as well- Great stuff. However, all it really is under the MOTUL brand name is a DOT 4 synthetic brake fluid. You can achieve nearly the same performance effect with Autozone synthetic brake fluid for much cheaper if you don't want to incur the high cost of the MOTUL. Just don't mix synthetic with regular fluid... Unfortunately, the best way to be sure is to flush the system; no real way of getting around that one.

If you track the car, go with the MOTUL- your 240 will thank you ;)

[xs420240sx]

Ive decided to go a different route that costs a bit less, let me know if there's a problem with this. I got a set of stoptech stainless steel brake lines for stock calipers. I only intend to use the rears with the stock caliper and i already have ss lines on the front. This way, i can retain the dot 5 on a stock caliper without damaging a stock rubber brake line. Just have to make sure theres no left over dot 3 in the new stock rear caliper correct?