EJ's Nissan Skyline GF-ER34 (スカイライン): April 2014

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Nissan GT-R (R35) Brake Kit into ER34

Pic 1: R35 GT-R Brembo Brake Kit

In previous post, I've prepared fitment on my new set of Nismo LM-GT4 wheels. These wheels with it's huge internal diameter will make my current brakes look a tad small. The solution is well, to fit bigger brakes. Ok, it's just a poor excuse to do a wild mod after a long while of idling. :P

So, in this post, I'll document the journey on fitment of Nissan GT-R (R35) front and rear brake kit onto my ER34. To fit those huge Brembo calipers with massive 380mm rotors will require new mounting brackets.

The complete fitment brackets were procured from JDM Auto Link and consists of all required hardware to make it a plug and play fitment.

The kit consists of:-
1) Front and rear CNC machined 7075 grade aluminum caliper adapters
2) All required high tensile bolts and washers
3) Brake drum ring adapters for rear hand brake function (To be inserted into the bell housing)
4) Cone adapters for R34 fitment (14mm bolt holes). Not required for R32 and R33 fitment.

Pic 2: JDM Auto Link R35 GT-R Brake Kit Adapters

For my install, I decided to replace the stock ER34 brake master cylinder with the bigger BM-57 unit as found on the BNR34. Basically, with the above hardware in place, it's just a quick job of taking out the old brakes and fitting these lovely R35 ones on. Everything plugs right in, the only other job that requires a bit of a task is the insertion of the brake drum ring adapter on the rear bell housing of the rotors. This makes the inner diameter smaller to suit the hand brake operation of the R34.

Pic 3: BNR34 BM-57 brake master cylinder

My biggest worry is the additional unsprung weight when I switch over to the R35 Brembos. Previously I was running BNR34 Brembo calipers with BIOT rotors. For this, I've worked out the weight differences. But in my calculation below, I decided to use the base weight on the stock BNR34 Brembo calipers and rotors as that would be more readability identifiable with most people as BIOT rotors are extremely rare.

Before:
Work Emotion XD9 - Front 10.7kg and rear 11kg each. A total weight of 43.4kg

BNR34 Brembo calipers and rotors - 43kg
TOTAL :86.4kg

After:
Nismo LM-GT4 - Front 8.2kg and rear 8.5kg each. A total weight of 33.4kg
R35 Brembo calipers and rotors - 57.2kg

JDM Auto Link Mounting brackets - 6.2kg

TOTAL :96.8kg

Pic 4: R35 GT-R Brembo Calipers

Pic 5: R35 GT-R Brembo Rotors

It's quite amazing that just with a wheel change, I save up to a staggering 10kg in unpsrung weight. These allows me to plug on those heavier R35 Brembo brakes with lesser effect on my sprung weight.

With this, based on stock BNR34 Brembos, my ER34 will have an increase of 10.4kg of unsprung weight. If I calculate it based on the weight of my BIOT rotors, it'll fall a few kilos down of course. That's basically like I'm having an extra lightweight passenger onboard. Negligible I suppose.

Pic 6: Motul Brake Fluid

Oh, of course new brake fluids needs to go into the system, and I've gotten the Motul Brake Fluid for the job. Here are some pics of the final outcome. :)