Good Evening All,

I'm still pretty new to Datsuns having only recently bought a 1600, and therefore this question has probably been answered a hundred times before.

My 1600 is running an L18 with mild Stewart Wilkins (SW) Cam and SW Extractors (so still pretty tame) together with 240k Struts and Calipers, but the brakes aren't working too well at the moment. I'm going to replace all the flex lines and do a full bleed, but wanted to know what the next step is with front brakes and how much can I do myself?

I know I can fit the Alloy R32 4 Pot Calipers with 280 x 30 mm Rotors, but what else do I need to support this? Will I need to go to Maddat/Datsport for Hub Flanges etc?

Advice appreciated.

Woz

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

Has the car got a booster fitted?

Yes, it's got the Maddat Brake Booster and Master Cylinder Kit fitted.

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

What is wrong with the brakes exactly? Is it the twin opposing 240k calipers? If yes, they should put the car up very well. If you have no leaks then I would rebuild the front calipers.

Stewart also does the caliper brackets to upgrade to 4 piston nissans, but you don't need to go there. I had 200b struts and rear drums on my old 1600 with z18et, once they were rebuilt they pulled the car up great.

The brakes definitely have a leak somewhere so I'm going to chase that down first. I have the twin piston calipers.

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

They should definitely do the job once you have sorted out any issues.

Rebuilt calipers, slotted rotors and good pads will pull it up very well, I wouldn't upgrade with your current engine.

Clamp vicegrips on all four brake hoses, you should have a super hard pedal. Then remove one at a time to work out which brake is dropping the pedal away the most.

To the OP: Your suggestion of doing a full bleed (replace the old fluid!), check for leaks and potentially replace rubber lines with braided sounds like you'll fix most of your issues there.
What kind of pads are you running? There are good pads and crap ones...

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1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun

I've done a full bleed on the car until I had clean fluid coming through, but I noticed a few strange things.

1. When bleeding the front right and back left, I wasn't getting much fluid through? Doing the front left and especially the rear right I got heaps?

2. There seemed to be some fluid around the rear right brake cylinder so I nipped up the hard line.

3. The front calipers have their bleed nipples at the bottom of the caliper? Every other car I've owned has them at the top? Are they on the wrong side?

4. I left the Master Cylinder lid off and when pumping the pedal (an assistant helping) brake fluid came flying out! Cap went back on and washed everything down with water.

The brakes feel pretty good at the moment and I have some braided lines on order from Baz at Datsport (super helpful!).

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

Yes calipers are on wrong sides

Awesome. Just wanted to check it wasn't a Datto idiosyncrasy!

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

I had to replace the left front rubber hose as mine had some kind of blockage? Probably broken down internally. Front calipers swapped over and new brake pads on order.

Brakes are a lot better, but still not great? When the pads and braided hoses arrive next week I'll see if this improves matters.

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

and check that the booster is working

I'll complete a full brake system check when the new lines come in and post up results, if only to close this topic out.

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo

Where can I buy rebuild kits for my 240K calipers? I did a google search, but came up short?

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1972 Datsun 1600
1973 Jaguar XJ6
1988 Renault 5 GT Turbo