Big brake upgrade for the RX-7!

Hey guys! Just thought i’d jump on here and review a BBK purchased from Macin Suen. 

Being the poverty pack RB model with 294mm brakes, i quickly found the limit last outing to SMSP (car makes more power now). 

Kit consisted of:

• Refurbished Alcon CAR98 4 pot calipers 

• Front and rear fixed hat 355mm brake discs with J hook slots

• Front dog bones

• Front braided brake hoses, banjo bolt and washers

• Rear caliper spacer 

Cost was $2500 which i thought was a decent deal! 

The kit took a few months to arrive. We also made a revision to the dogbone which needed to be shortened. You can customise the kit with caliper colour, selection of disc slots, disc diameter, floating/fixed hat etc. I’ve gone with a budget friendly and well sized upgrade. They’re not huge and I believe will work well with the factory ABS and standard master cylinder/booster system. Not keen on doing the 929 upgrade unless necessary. We will have to see! 

I’ve chosen Hawk DTC70 pads front complimented with DTC60 on the rear. This is a pad i am familiar with - they are an aggressive track pad with decent street manners. Minimal squeal and good cold bite. Its downside is definitely brake dust - something you must keep on top of or it will eat your wheels! 

Installation tips

I used some blue loctite on the hardware to fix the rotors to the hats and sent them home with a rattle gun. 

The larger front discs require the backing plate/heat shield to be pushed back. It’s only thin sheet metal so not difficult to manipulate. 

Once the dogbones and calipers are mounted, connect the new braided hose to the caliper ready to connect up to the hardline. Crack open the hardline fitting and then remove the hose retaining clip. Remove the stock caliper and hose. You want to ensure the brake reservoir is topped up with fluid. DO NOT drain the system. Brake fluid will slowly drip out, be efficient and prepared to connect new hoses. No need to rush this, just don’t let it bleed out. 

The rears require modification of the backing plate. I used tin snips to remove some material and pliers to bend back the lip. Mount the rear discs, check for clearance and massage it as you go. Once it clears, install the rear caliper bracket + spacer and check for clearance of the stock caliper bracket to the disc. My driver side caliper bracket needed to be clearanced with a die grinder approx 2mm. Passenger rear caliper bracket cleared no problem. I have given this feedback to Macin and this is not uncommon probably due to variation between factory cast components. Otherwise the rear comes together easily, i reused the factory bolts to secure the spacer, and then the provided socket head bolts into the caliper bracket. I had to clearance 2 of 4 socket head bolts which were sitting slightly too close to the rotor.

Make sure continue to check clearances so nothing binds up. Tighten everything to factory spec and bleed all 4. I am using Endless RF650 💪 You will need two bottles to do a full flush. Follow your preferred “bed in” procedure, there is no art to this. I tend to start gently, gradually braking from lower to higher speed. I like to get them pretty hot during bedding in and cool off with a short drive. Inspect for even wear.

Done! 

Initial impressions 

I’ve done a few drives since and i’m seriously impressed with how it stops. It’s a much more confident bite and i already know the fronts will need stiffening. Aesthetically, the brakes now fill the 18 inch rim nicely. So much better than before! As its been suggested to me, i am not sure how biased the fronts will be. We will have to see.

Thank you Macin Suen for the kit. You can contact him via Facebook and he sells a few kits for different vehicles.

Next stop SMSP! You can look forward to a video on that 😉