samurai bbu (big brake upgrade) - ack's faq · 2019. 8. 23. · samurai bbu (big brake upgrade)...
TRANSCRIPT
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Samurai BBU (Big Brake Upgrade)
Trackick 4 door brakes are a big brake upgrade for the Samurai front brakes. There are a few diffrent
methods of doing this swap. When paired with Samurai disc brake conversion in the rear and a master
cylinder upgrade, a Samurai on 35's would stop with ease.
One thing to note before doing this is that brake bleeding will becom a little more tedious. The reason
for this is because of the mounting angle of the brakes on the Samurai compared to how they are
mounted on the Trackicks. In order to get all the air out of the calipers you will need to remove the
clipers from their bracket during bleeding and turn them so the the bleeder is at the highest point.
If you're feeling extra special you could also do 4 door Trackick calipers and rotors in the rear for
maximum stoping power.
Reasearch suggests that with minmal effort, massive Grand Vitara calipers may also be fitted. I will
include the information on that though it has not been tested yet.
Part #'s for 1999-2004 Trackcik calipers are different than those of the 1989-1998 Trackick calipers. Also
of note is that from 1999-2004 there is no more description as to whether or not the Tracker is 2 door or
4 door. I am guessing that they all became 4 door and the calipers were standardized. The differnce
between the two has to do mainly with the caliper bracket thickness.
Part #'s for 1999-2004 Trackick rotors are different than the 1989-1998 Tackick rotors. The difference is
in the overall height of the rotor. The earlier models had an overall height of 46mm whereas the late
models had an overall height of 29mm. It appears that the hub is more shallow on the late models.
However, Nominal thickness and diameter remains the same between the two.
Both styles can be used. 1989-1998 and 1999-2004 4 door brake parts. The way you mount and modify
them is different and can bee seen below. First we start with a little information.
Original set-up (This is what you start with)
15" rims
86-95 Samurai calipers:
Bore Size 51.054 mm
Inlet Thread M10x1
Bleeder Thread M10x1
86-95 Samurai rotos:
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Type Solid
Lug 5
Outer Diameter 290.68 mm
Nominal Thickness 10 mm
Discard Thickness 9.017 mm
Bolt Pattern 139.7
Height 46.05 mm
86-95 Samurai Pads
These are the 3 options you have for mounting 4 door calipers to your Samurai based on what parts you
have access to.
Set-Up 1
15"rims
99-04 Trackick calipers:
Bore Size 53.848 mm
Inlet Thread M10x1
Bleeder Thread M10x1
99-04 Chevy Tracker rotors:
Discard Thickness 14.986
Nominal Thickness 17.018
Height 29 mm
Lug 5
Outer Diameter 286.5 mm
Pattern 139.7 mm
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Type Vented
99-04 Chevy Tracker brake pad
Set-Up 2 -
15"rims
99-04 Chevy Tracker calipers
Bore Size 53.848 mm
Inlet Thread M10x1
Bleeder Thread M10x1
89-98 Trackick 4 door rotors:
Discard Thickness 14.986
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Nominal Thickness 17.018
Height 46 mm
Lug 5
Outer Diameter 287 mm
Pattern 139.7 mm
Type Vented
89-98 Trackick 4 door brake pads
Set-up 3 -
15" Rims
89-98 Trackick 4 door calipers:
Bore Size 53.848 mm
Inlet Thread M10x1
Bleeder Thread M10x1
89-98 Trackick 4 door rotors:
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Discard Thickness 14.986
Nominal Thickness 17.018
Height 46 mm
Lug 5
Outer Diameter 287 mm
Pattern 139.7 mm
Type Vented
89-98 Trackick 4 door brake pads
Set-up 1
You need to add 5/16" spacers between the calipers and the Samurai knuckles. The less-deep 29mm
rotors don't allow the caliper to touch the knuckle. The spacer fixes this. You can choose to run loose
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spacers or weld them to the dust plate for more secuirity. Don't worry about it too much though. Adding
spacers is common for brake upgrades on many other vehicles. A *perfect* fit rotor would be 35mm
deep, but there is no such thing that I know of.
If you add 5/16" thick spacers then you need bolts longer by 5/16" to make up for the calipers and
rotors being that much more outboard. Will the strength and the integrity of the brakes be
compromised? It'd only be about 5/16" so I'm thinking not. However, if you're concerned its never a bad
idea to upgrade the bolt strength. 80mm long bolts should be long enough.
The wheel still fits without problems. If you have a high-steer kit you will need to grind the arms for
clearance.
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Set-up 2
This requires you to grind down the caliper bracket to about a half inch thick for it to fit behind the
rotor.
No notching of the dust shield required but you may need to bend out just a hair. Bolts are the same
length. If you have high-steer you will need to shave them for clearance. Everything else mounts up the
same as the brakes normally would.
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Set-up 3
This requires you only notch the dust plate for clearance and shave high-steer arms if you have them.
Everything else mounts up the same as brakes normally would.
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Why do 1 and 2 versus the much easier 3? Well for one, late model calipers are easier to find as all 99-04
Chevy Trackers have this 54mm piston caliper and were more abundantly available than the 89-98 4
door Trackicks. Just wanted to show they can all be made to fit.
That's not all though. By proving these later models can be made to fit it's likely that so can Grand Vitara
brakes. Heres what I know so far:
According to Rock Auto and Centric's parts catalogs the 1.8L Trackick Sports had some pretty beefy
57mm caliper bores. The part number for this caliper also matches the caliper for a 99-06 Suzuki Grand
Vitara. Centric part # 1414812
Here are the specs on that caliper:
Bore Size 57.15
Inlet Thread M10x1
Bleeder Thread M8x1.25
OK? So why should you care? Because the caliper bracket bolts center to center are 111mm apart which
is exactly what the Samurai caliper bolts are from center to center. Also the same as the all the Trackick
calipers that we just used as a brake upgrade. See where I am going with this? I suspect that we may be
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able to fit a caliper that is EVEN LARGER than the normal swap to the Samurai.
Next issue. Will the caliper fit behind the rotor? Short answer is yes. The thickest part of the caliper
bracket is 15mm. This is the same thickness as the calipers that we just went over fitting to the Samurai.
Again though, we have something else that needs sorting. Rotor diameter. The Grand Vitara and Trickick
Sport have 16 inch wheels so naturally the rotors will be bigger too.
Here are the rotor specs:
Discard Thickness 20.066 mm
Nominal Thickness 22.098 mm
Height 29.1 mm
Lug 5
Outer Diameter 310 mm
Pattern 139.7 mm
Type Vented
310mm of diameter. That's not going to fit in the Samurai dust shield. It is too big. Too big for 15"
wheels likely. However lets look again at the 99-04 Chevy Tracker rotors that were used earlier:
Discard Thickness 14.986 mm
Nominal Thickness 17.018 mm
Height 29 mm
Lug 5
Outer Diameter 286.5 mm
Pattern 139.7 mm
Type Vented
Alright, now we are getting somewhere. Rotor diameter is small enough to fit the samurai, yet the
height of the rotors are the same. Only thing I notice that is different is nominal and discard thickness.
That is something that will still need to be looked into. I am not sure how the caliper will sit mixed with
this rotor. The caliper might just need to be spaced differently. This is all research for now. Not real
world application.
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Another common mod that may help proove this is that a lot of folks put 15 inch rims on their 05 Grand
Vitara. To do this they are using the same Chevy Tracker caliper and rotors that we used earlier so that
they could fit these rims on the Vitara. This is why I believe not only that we can make this mod happen,
but also why I believe that the rotors will be too big for a 15 inch rim.
I think as long as the nominal and discard thickness of the Chevy Tracker rotors have no major effect on
the Grand Vitara caliper mounting, then it should go in that same way the Chevy Tracker calipers and
rotors did on our Samurais.
Since the rotor depth is the same the back of the rotor should sit against the back of the caliper and
brake pad just fine. I think we will only notice the front side of the caliper and brake pad will be sitting
5mm away from the front of the rotor. I wonder if this will effect anything?
Next thing to do to help with the added brakes is a master cylinder swap.
The Subaru master cylinder swap is easy. You just need to adjust the booster push rod to the correct
length. Some said they used a 50mm machine head philips. On mine though 50mm was too long. I
ended up with a 40mm.
Basically you will want to take the old plunger out of the booster and unscrew the push rod from it.
Then screw in your machine head philips just a few threads. Stick the plunger back into the booster.
Next put your master cylinder onto the booster. If the push rod reaches the back of the master cylinder
before it mounts flush with the booster then your push rod is too long. So screw it in a few more threads
and try again.
The end result should be that JUST as the master cylinder mounts flush with the booster, the push rod
will be at the end of the master cylinder. Just barely touching. You don't want any gap for sure.
At this point you'll want to bench bleed the master cylinder, apply some RTV around the master cylinder
flange and install it.
The front brake line will need to be carefully bent to fit on top of the master cylinder instead of the left
side.
Then bleed your brakes.
Also, I used a nut on the push rod to lock it against the plunger. You could also use locktite.
You'll also need to adapt the Subaru connector for the low fluid indicator.
That should be it.
Compatible Subaru master cylinder OEM part number: 26401AE03A
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The benefit to this swap is that there is more brake fluid volume moved with less travel in the pedal and
less effort.. Which is perfect for 4 wheel disc brakes, Tracker calipers or Toyota axle swaps.
Depending on how much larger you went on brakes you may also need to swap to a Trackick booster. I
have not done research on these just yet but from what I hear they are compatible with the Samurai and
are slightly larger.