With my car entering its ninth year, and the mileage at 76,000, I experienced a sticking front nearside caliper.

I corrected the problem before it got any worse, but decided it was time to ‘bite the bullet’. Experience has taught me that the problem will only come back unless the caliper is rebuilt, so the decision was taken to replace both sets of front brakes (The rear brakes will be done at a later date!)

Following an extensive search on the forum and the internet the following package was put together: calipers, discs and Goodridge SS braided brake hose would be sourced from JRT; and, the brake pads from the local Honda dealer (this set includes the five shims necessary for fitting each pair of pads, plus a sachet of Molykote anti-squeal grease). As I’m an engineering pedant, Honda also supplied new disc retaining screws, brake pad retaining clips and brake hose clips.

I have a stock of most colours of caliper paint, and had red in mind, until I found a post on the forum pointing out how ‘naff’ red looks with the OEM calipers. The calipers supplied by JRT had an excellent bright silver plated finish, so I decided to stick with that and to paint the caliper flanges and parts of the discs gloss black.

I started on the offside, and everything went well. The countersunk setscrews retaining the disc were removed without any problem, using the correct screwdriver and the right knowhow (the impact driver did not have to come out of its case!). I paid particular attention to the caliper pins and boots which are critical to the correct operation of the caliper. (During my search on the forum, I found that members on the US site recommended that, if the car is a daily drive, the pins should be cleaned and relubricated at least once a year!) I’m glad to say both still had lubrication, and the boots were undamaged. It is worth noting that the pins differ slightly. The upper one has a bronze appearance, and has minor flats milled in the surface. The lower one has the look of normal steel and is perfectly round. Although there is a lot of debate on the US site about this variance, no one seems to know why it exists.

With the new disc secured in place with the countersunk setscrews (with a touch of copper ease on their thread), I attached the caliper flange and caliper, and torqued the bolts up to the correct specification. At this point I had already fitted the SS brake hose to the caliper with the banjo bolt, again to the correct torque.





Now I encountered the only problem I was to experience in carrying out this job! In the second picture you can see where the brake pipe union connects to the brake hose. This is a vertical connection, and is a natural trap for water and road rubbish. With copious soaking with penetrating oil, wire brushing and the use of the correct flared spanner there was no way I could break this joint. The only thing I was able to do was to cut through the brake hose and remove the brake pipe at the brake modulator (which sits in front of the brake master cylinder).

When I purchased my S I had no idea I would keep it as long as I have. I also felt that, after years of working on cars, at my tender age it was time to pay someone else to do the work. So all of my specialist tools, including brake pipe flaring and bending equipment, were donated to a local classic car club. Ah well! However, the yearning to DIY never goes away, and at least you know the job has been done properly.

First I checked to see if I could get a replacement brake pipe through Honda, but both they and Lings confirmed that there was no stock in the country. So the local car factor supplied me with a straight length of pipe flared at each end and with the union fittings in place, and all I had to do was configure this to fit.



The work on the nearside also went well, with the exception that one of the caliper pins was sticking, which could have been the reason for the caliper itself sticking. Also the brake pipe to brake hose connection gave similar difficulty to the one on the offside. Taking great care, and working slowly over two days I eventually managed to break this joint.

Seeing the finished appearance I’m glad that I stuck with the silver finish.





The following morning the wife & I drove along the A1(M) from Welwyn Garden City to the service centre at Baldock for morning coffee. This was a nice steady run to begin the process of bedding the new brake pads in.

The total cost of parts was £455.29, and I feel it was money well spent!

 

Looks lovely Dennis

 

Excellent work Dennis...really good write up

Flared spanners are really helpful for those unions...I used one in conjunction with a hammer (carefully)

What discs are they???

I'm sure you know already, but for the benefit of others, some copper slip on the disc screws will help when it comes to removing them next time.

 

Hi Lofty,

The discs are Honda S2000 Ultimax from JRT Automotive at £151.98 for the pair.

And, yes, the disc securing screws do have copper ease on their threads!