ugly

Has anyone ever attempted or completed this conversion?

MSA sells the brackets and gives good info on how to accomplish it. I was skeptical of it being as straight forward as it sounded.

Is there another source of brackets that will work? $300 is a steep for a simple bracket.

Here is how I understand it.

For my 77 I need:
70-73 zcar E-brake
82-83 280zx rear rotors
85-88 Maxima rear calipers
No proportioning valve needed
No brake dust shield needed

What are the complications in this conversion? I have heard that you lose some performance. I am not intending to race. It is just a fun street rod. I wanted to do this to simplify, add aesthetics, and ease maintenance. Will the lack of performance to make it dangerous on the street? Can the difference be made up somehow, different pad, larger rotors?? If so how to follow thru, what calipers to accommodate larger rotors? What pads add enough aggression on the street?

Last but not least. What happens to rear tire clearance when doing this? Will my stock alloy rims still bolt on?

Any and all suggestions, thoughts, comments, experiences, etc… welcome.

theramz

If you buy everything from MSA, you will have parted with $500 and you will have a real nice brake set up. Or check my post "from the ground-up". I did this for about $100. By pulling my axles, I was able to save the stock system and sell it on eBay for $50. Since your car is all apart, you must be getting started. If you have never done this before, you will be amazed at how much money you are going to put in your car. Call MSA and ask why the kit is for 70' to 76'. You might have to change some suspension parts too. Good luck!

ugly

I read your post. I like it, I am in the middle of the exact same upgrades. I have put all the new poly bushings on the rear and have the Tok springs and am working on putting it all back together now. That was why I was asking about the brakes.

It looks to be pretty straight forward except for the spacer problem. I am assuming that is for caliper clearance? Those wheels you have on, I am surprised they don't get you enough clearance alone. It will require all that and more if I remain with the stock rims? With that spacer on there how was the wheel well clearance issues? Say I bite the bullet and just get new wheels. I am guessing that one could order the right back spacing to achieve clearance without spaceing?

For clearity (or summary); you used all the parts off of the 84 (rwd) Maxima w/ exception of the 82zx rotors, in my case (since it is a later model 280) I will also need the early ebrake cable as well?

I did call MSA and they stated that the only reasons for listing only through 76 was because of the ebrake cable problem. I just can't stomach a $300 bracket, and certainly can't stomach an $800 conversion. I much prefer your junk yard version, and appreciate your sharing your knowledge.

Final question; why make an extra set of brackets? Are they hard to find, prone to fail???

Bleach

hard to find. The 1st Gen Maxima is pretty rare these days. More rare than the 280zx by far. You can use the 280zx calipers or the 83-84 Maxima Calipers. They are the same. The brackets you need bolt off of the Maxima while the 280zx brackets are one-piece formed to the hub.

$100 seems very cheap for the conversion, but that depends on how expensive your junk yards are. I hate the ones near my place. So expensive! I can go buy a complete car for less than what they want for some brakes or a "rebuildable" engine that smokes bad.
They want $50 EACH just for the calipers!!! And I still have to rebuild them and buy brake pads and new rotors...

theramz

Okay, here is some more info.
The brackets are found only on the '81 Maxima, they are cast iron. Since they are so hard to find and so hard to pull, I duplicated them with the intention of having them cast in aluminum to sell. They are to costly to make out of billet stock.
The reason for the spacers is to compenate for the big offset. Without them the tires would hit the springs. A 1 inch thick spacer put the wheels just inside the fender and gave about a 1/2 inch clearance to the springs. They don't make 17's for less than a grand for our cars yet. I bought 5 Revo 17's with 70% tread on eBay for $600 with shipping. Your stock wheels will work fine.
The series one brake cable is easy to find. I can pick one up for you.
I have taken calipers and brackets off of '79 -'81 Zs and '81 Maxima, they are the same. The difference between these and other brakes are very obvious. Make sure you get all the pins and clips.
The rotors from '79-'82 Zs are the same. There might be more models but these are the ones I am sure of.
Napa Auto will sell you the rebuild kit and rotors for less than half of you know who. You must rebuild the calipers! The calipers are stainless steel and clean up real nice.
As for junk yards I bought a mint condition '77 louver hood for $17.50 last weekend!
This is where you cut the Z bracket. Pic 1
This is the Maxima bracket. Pic 2
Cut here for clearance. Pic 3

zr8d

is that the enire hood or the louvres? if it is the hood do you think you could get another one for that price. i need one real bad b/c the idiot who owned the car before me put about a 4" thick layer of bondo on mine. i have a '77 as well. please let me know. i'd even be willing to throw $20 your way for finding it.

theramz

That was for everthing. It was 1/2 price day at the local Pick-n-Pull plus I had to pay a core of $5, I returned my old hood for the core. Net price $17.50. I saw another one at a different yard for $50. It's in Fallon NV. I go to the junk yards at least once a month to find good parts. It's like fishing, sometimes you catch a nice one!

ohioz

I am new here. I have tried searching for "from the ground-up and can not find this post. Can someone tell me how to finf this post?

theramz

look under "Apearance, Exterior, Interior.

CobraZ

I got a pair of brackets for my 72 conversion from nissan. 130 bux. they look like the maxima style. I'll get the part numbers for anyone who wants them.

auxilary

www.modern-motorsports.com

240sx calipers + 300zx rotors