Wytbishop - 93' GS SE ZE - The Purple..I mean Black.. Beast

[wytbishop]

I just tallied up everything I've purchased to make the two piston brake mod happen. It goes like this...

323F BA V6 spindles...$110 (I got a wicked deal from a UK member so that was mostly shipping)
EBC MX-3 blank Rotors...$100 (incl. shipping. I found the PO)
SS Brake lines...$40 (this is half the cost of the set I bought last year)
94' Subaru Legacy Turbo Wagon calipers...$115 ($45ea + shipping from a wrecker in Calgary)
89' MX-6 caliper brackets...$15
Brake pads...$70
Wheel bearings and seals...$80
MX-3 hubs...$20
Misc...$30 (paint for calipers and brake fluid and stuff)

TOTAL: ~$580

You could probably knock $$$ off that if you bought cheaper rotors (or more if you don't replace your rotors at all) and didn't buy SS brake lines and reused your existing hubs. I'm buying a second used set of hubs because I want to leave my stock spindles intact. The difficult part is finding the spindles and shipping them over. It took my contact over there a long time but in the end he found me a great deal. Don't expect to find a pair that cheap unless you get quite lucky.

As far as installation goes, the 323 spindles use 5 bolt hubs so they need to come out. They can be hammered out fairly easily, but you will at least have to have the new bearings and MX-3 hubs pressed in and you may have to press the inner races of the old bearings out if the seller of your spindles can't do it for you prior to shipping. All that said you will either need access to a press or take them to someone to be done which would cost a few dollars but not too much.

Other than that the whole thing just bolts on, however there will likely be a need of some wheel aligning after doing this. By all accounts the results are impressive.

[wytbishop]

I forgot to mention that a pair of 1st gen MX-6 caliper brackets are required. I was at pick n pull today and found a pair of those ($13), a sunroof with no rust and a couple other little bits. It was a good day.

[Sleeper6]

must see pics! sounds impressive are you running this setup now i take it?

[wytbishop]

Still waiting for hubs. Once I have them I just have to put a coat of paint on everything, press the bearings and hubs into the spindles and bolt it all together. I should be able to have it done this weekend if the hubs arrive. It would be nice (hint hint Igor) if they did because I think my right side wheel bearing is about to fall apart.

[wytbishop]

Got the hubs from Igor a couple of weeks ago but just don't have the time to get the swap done. I actually have a pretty substantial list of things that I need/want to get done and no time or place to do it.

Paint and replace the rear bumper
Repaint the front bumper, replace the foglights and wire it all up
Paint and replace the driver's side door
Replace both door lock cylinders
Paint and replace the sunroof panel
Rust repair and repaint on the rear quarters (basically I'm going to wind up repainting the entire car)
Complete front brake and spindle swap
ABS delete
Replace resonator, install new Cat
Replace e-brake cables
Broken bolt repair on the front subframe
Paint and replace front crossmember, transverse member and LCA's
Replace defective reverse switch in the tranny
Couple of minor leaks in the engine compartment
Minor engine dress up (paint the covers, replace some ugly hoses, redo the CAI)
Detail and repaint the engine bay

It's shocking how fast this stuff piles up when you drive your old car every day AND you already have lots of plans for improvements. I have everything on hand to do all these things except for some miscellaneous supplies. So I have a new plan...

It's cold these days, so I must wait, but this spring I have a friend who will let me take her garage over for a couple of months. I am going to essentially dismantle the Purple Beast, clean, paint, repair and replace everything on that list and reassemble. The engine will come out, the fenders and doors will come off, the entire front suspension will come out. The bay will be gutted and get a thorough detailing and a paint job as will the crossmembers, subframe and LCA's. The engine itself will get some detailing and a bit of paint. The fenders and hood have a ding or two and lots of rock chips so they will be attended to as well. Essentially the car is going to be repainted.

It's not a big money thing, I already have all the parts. It's just a few hundred bucks worth of fluids, paint and other assorted supplies and a significant amount of time. So I'm in the market for a super low cost road worthy MX-3 to drive while the beast is out of commission.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Happy Birthday! Liking the rims and looking forward to more progress!

[tripleMX-3chicMS]

Happy Birthday... HUG!

[wytbishop]

Spent a couple of hours cleaning parts and getting organized today...2 piston brakes will be onboeard tomorrow.

Look for a very cool post tomorrow night.

[marcdh]

... o rly

[solo_ryder]

Excited for the pics!

[wytbishop]

Well I was expecting to run into some sort of snag...there is always one...and sure enough.

When I picked up my 1st gen 626 caliper brackets the sider pins had been removed but I figured no problem...my Subaru calipers are complete, I can just transfer the Subaru ones to the 626 brackets. It would have been fine too except that one of them turned out to be seized and I had to cut it to get it out. I went to every parts outlet in town and they searched every one of their stores...and no one had one in stock in the entire city.

So I was stopped by a single fastener. But I got everything cleaned and painted and ready to install. And I was able to completely assemble one side to make sure everything fits...

Scrubbed and cleaned...


Painted the steering knuckles with black engine enamel. I'm hoping it will stand up well...


Note the different location of the caliper mounts...


Painted the brackets with Aluminum caliper paint and installed my one good slider pin...


Same Aluminum caliper paint and new rubber bits.


Here's the tricky bit. The 626 bracket is not perfectly centered on the rotor. The solution is to put a standard washer between the bracket and the spindle to move the braceket away from the spindle about 2mm. I tried 2 washers, but one washer is closer to being right in the middle.


The finished product...sort of.


I'll get them into the car next weekend.

I forgot to mention that I stopped at Pick n Pull on the way home and got everything I needed for $1.57.

[wytbishop]

Foiled again. It turns out, and I'm embarassed that I never even thought of it, that the 323F steering knuckles use the larger post ball joints and of course my 93' MX-3 uses the smaller post ball joints.

So I got it all apart today, realized I was stuck and put it all back together.

I should be able to pick up a pair of ball joints tomorrow and if I get time it's a pretty simple install now.

I picked up some speed bleeders too so that I can bleed it easily on my own. I hope they work as advertised.

[Evo_Spec]

argh! always the snags!
i'm excited to see it all together and how it turns out.

[wytbishop]

OK I finally got it all installed with some help from Diezzel (Anthony). No pics at the moment as I was racing to beat an incoming storm. I will take pictures and provide impressions in the next few days.

First drive felt pretty good, but there was a wierd noise that we had to go back and figure out. All good though...it was just the brake like hitting the wheel.

Speaking of which I got the 17"s on that I bought from Anthony and they look great. I'll post pics soon.

Now I'm tired.

[Scariestwalnut]

Sexyyyy ^^ Keep it up! I wanna see this baby!