86 civic si brake conversion help needed

[supercivic86]

Well i think everything i need is finally on the way. I even ordered a front/rear swaybar kit from nopi. I will most likely also get the illumina 5way adjustable shocks also. I had to order some brake pad retaining spring because i notice that the front calipers i got from pull apart didn't have them. Only thing left to do is get the MC from the teg ground down...i would do it myself but i don't have a grinder. bad enough that i will be doing all this work in my apartmen parking lot... wish i had a house with a garage. anyway just giving eveyone a update
Oh where can i get a better cam for the EW4 1.5L FI that i have. and what other kind of stuff can i do to the top end?

[supercivic86]

Well, it's all done. i did the swap the weekend before last. started at about noon on saturday and got done about 6:30 sunday. Everything went pretty smooth but i had to go back to the junk yard and pull 4 of the longer bolts from the teg. somehow i forgot to get them the first time. and you need these longer bolts for the back because the calipar mounting bracket is thicker than the what was used on the civic drum setup. the front was cake, had all the old stuff off( calipar, brake lines, rotor)and new stuff on in twenty minutes. I also got the MC from the teg and one from a 87 prelude. The prelude MC is the same as the teg 7/8 bore so either way you will have to grind down the flange to get it to fit in the civic booster. I didn't go the get the whole rear axle route. i just took off what i need from the teg. to do the back you should get a 9/16 deep socket because there were a couple of bolts that you'll end up having to tighten with a box end wrench if you don't have the deep socket. the rear drivers side was pretty easy. just take everything off the civic so that all is left is the spindle. switch out the 4 longer bolts from the teg and reassemble with the new teg parts. On the rear passenger side you will have to take out the control arm bolt on the bushing end so you can remove it enough to get to the bolts you need to replace with the longer teg bolts. once those are inplace its same as the other side. The emergency brake lines fit in the stock civic e-brake location. only one of the mounting points didn't line up so i just made new holes and used the brackets from the old e-brake lines to mount it up. the biggest pain in the ass was the proportioning valve. the lines just didn't want to come loose. i spayed them with PB blaster on saterday and let them soak untill sunday afternoon and i still ended up getting a small pair of vise grips and using tape to hold two small pieces of metal on the teeth so they didn't mess up the nuts. after i got that all replaced and bolted up i bled the system and then went over all the nuts and bolts to make sure they were tight and torqed down. and i still missed two. Took it out for a test drive and it was really soft and didn't stop that well. i also was hearing a clunking noise comeing from the front end. turned out that the clunking was coming from the calipers. the outside peice where the pad goes on was not bolted down tight enough because it had loosend up after a couple drives. Also, the pedal would have pressure at first but would then fade to the floor at stoplights and stuff. i couldn't find a leak at first but then noticed brake fluid on the inner front fenderwell that was leaking from a very small hole in the right front brake line that i had got from the junk yard. make sure you wash all the dirt and whatnot off of the brake lines and check them extremly well for holes. on monday afternoon i took it to my machanic and had him do a quick check of the hole thing, turns out that there are two washers per calipar that you need to use where the brake line mounts to the caliper. for some reason i dindn't notice this on the civic calipers and the one brand new caliper that i bought didn't come with them. I'm sure they would be included if you bought new brake lines though. Now, two weeks later things are great. the improvment is so good over the stock civic brakes. I have 205/45 17x7 nitto neo gens on and they are so grippy that i almost have to use both feet to get them to lock up....thing stops hella quick.if i could put bigger rotors on, it would stop insanly fast. I know its kinda over kill, but i used drilled and slotted rotors with EBC green pads up front and the stock rotors and pads in the back. I drive alot in seattle up and down the hills with a loaded car and with the stock civic brakes i was getting alot of fade at the bottom of some of the steeper hills. not so at all with the new setup. There has already been one time where if i would have had the stock brakes i most likely would have ended up in the back of someone. I was going to take pics of all this but ended up not doing it. I still have to replace the control arm bushings so when i do that i will take pics of all the new stuff.

[cvcc_wagon]

sweet deal, it's always good to hear positive results on jobs like this

[lxndr]

Cool, I'm glad it all worked out for you!

[riot1098]

does anyone know if the integra gsr suspension will swap into a 93 civic hatch. i found a great deal on everything from springs to a front crossmember for a teggy gsr and i was hoping i could throw it on my civic to get those rear discs.

[lxndr]

Originally Posted by riot1098

does anyone know if the integra gsr suspension will swap into a 93 civic hatch. i found a great deal on everything from springs to a front crossmember for a teggy gsr and i was hoping i could throw it on my civic to get those rear discs.

Try asking in the 92+Civic forum.

[supercivic86]

I just checked my brake fluid two days ago and it's all the way down to the minimume line.....looked all around and didn't find a leak anywhere. took it to the shop the next day and they couldn't find a leak either...anyone have any ideas? It's only been a month...shouldn't have lost that much fluid so fast.

[cvcc_wagon]

did you use new lines? have a friend pump on the brakes and have a look around for leaks? not really sure what else you can do.

[lxndr]

How does the pedal feel? Firm? Mushy?

It's been a little over a month since your swap so that means it is a very small leak (unless you have been constantly refilling your fluid). This means that pumping on the brakes probably won't reveal a leak.

Check your brake pads. Your'e using drilled and slotted rotors with EBC pads and 17" wheels, which means your'e generating more heat which causes your pads to wear more. Also, the 17" wheels require a little more stopping power (= more brake heat) because the wheel has more leverage/torque on the brakes. If youre stopping like a maniac then your problem could be that you're wearing the pads low and/or boiling the brake fluid. This would cause a change in fluid level.

What kind of fluid are you using? Boiling fluid is dangerous because the fluid turns into a gas which creates bubbles in the system, thereby causing loss of pedal pressure and fluid level.

Here's what you should do:

Fill it with fluid then clean around all of the fittings (including the base of the fluid resevoir) then check again for leaks. Also check the caliper pistons for a bad seal or a slow leak and check the pads for excessive wear and replace if necessary. Then drive it for a week and check again for leaks. If there is still no sign of leakage then the only other place it could be leaking from is at the back of the master cylinder, which also means the brake booster could be filling with fluid (I've had that happen before).

If you still have the problem then flush the brake fluid and replace it with high temp fluid.

If changing the fluid doesn't solve the problem then change your rotors/pads to stock. It's great that you have slotted/crossdrilled rotors, but like I mentioned at the very beginning of the thread, stock pads/rotors work best for a street car. This is because crossdrilled rotors have less surface area and require a harder pad which creates more heat. They're great at the track when you're generating ALOT of heat, the holes/slots remove gasses and cool the brakes, but not so great on the street.

I'm using the stock Integra system and haven't had any problems.

[supercivic86]

There was a very small leak coming from the threads of one of the lines off the MC. Just tightened it up and it is a bit stiffer and feels much better now. If it goes down again i know i've got more leaks somewhere. but i think its good now.

[lxndr]

Quick update.

After installing slightly wider wheels on my CRX I found (the hard way) that they were rubbing on the rear brake hoses. After using the E-brake to limp my way to the nearest auto supply, I asked the guy at the counter for a set of brake hoses and he replied "OK they will be here in 3 days". That wasn't going to work for me since the car was sitting in their parking lot, so I called a friend for help. We went to my favorite junk yard to get the hoses but they didn't have any Integras, so I pulled the hoses off the front of another 1G CRX. We went back to the car and found that the CRX front hoses actually work better than the Integra hoses! I was able to route them through the hole in the swing arms for the E-brake cable and it worked out almost perfectly (as good as it could be without custom made hoses). We bled the brakes and I was on my way!

In short, the front brake hoses from a 1G CRX work better on the rear brakes than the Integra hoses. If someone is attempting this swap and has an extra set of front hoses, use 'em.

[Figori]

Wow. That is great to know. I have a spare '85 in the backyard! Woohoo! One step closer!

[avistar]

Here is a tip to resolve the MC fit into the brake booster. You can use a booster from a 90 Civic or a 2G CRX. The code on the top of the booster should read NM-205V-3. The 7/8" bore MC will fit into this booster without modification. Only one thing to note. You must use the spacer plate on the Civic so that it fits properly on the firewall.

If you get the booster and MC from the 90 Civic you won't need to pull the one from the Teg. It is a 7/8 bore. You may have to do some adjusting on the length inside the car. I haven't got that far yet. So far everythng fits on the outside.

I have pics if anyone needs them for comparison. JS