Big Brakes!!!

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I have been putting this kit together for a few months and it has sat in my garage just waiting for install. I decided that I have been hoarding too many parts and it was time to get off my lazy a** and start installing this stuff. I have completely removed the brakes to do the front suspension, but I have never bled brakes before. So I was leery…well maybe chicken…lol. Once again it was EASY….I removed the old brakes…then put on the e21 320i hubs, then packed the wheel bearings. I then installed wheel studs with blue loctite. The e21 uses wheel bolts and I could have just gotten 8 wheel bolts, but I wanted to keep things like they were with lug nuts. Once I put the studs on with blue loctite I then bolted on the rotors, and last the calipers. Like every job, there is ALWAYS one bolt that doesn’t want to budge and it was the bolt holding the brake line to the caliper. Also in putting this kit together I was missing a bolt that held the rotor to the hub. I called all the BMW shops I knew and no one had one. It was 4pm on saturday…I was feeling defeated. Long shot…lemme call the dealer. My local dealer didn’t have it, but the next local one did! Yup a 15 minute drive and $3 later, and I had the bolts I needed. Once I bolted it all up, I realized the caliper is SLIGHTLY off center of the rotor. The inside pad was rubbing the disk. I put a washer between the caliper and the strut tube…BAM perfect alignment. So now all I ad to do was bleed the brakes. I bought a pressure bleeder so I could do it alone. The calipers have 3 bleed valves. I struggled for maybe 45 minutes with bleeding, filling the brake fluid, bleeding again and filling some more until I got the concept down. I went from one side to the other and back again until I got pedal pressure. Put the wheels back on, took it for a spin and voila…front BBK installed! This kit will only fit 14” or larger wheels and uses all BMW parts except the calipers which are from an 80’s Volvo 240. Here is the parts list for my install:

• 2 Volvo Girling 240 Calipers
• 2 BMW e21 320 hubs
• 2 BMW e21 1977 Vented Rotors
• 4 .070” Washers
• 2 BMW Bolts
• Brake Fluid
• 8 Wheel Studs and Lug Nuts
• Blue Loctite

optional parts:
• Wheel Bearings
• Steel Braided Brake Lines

Here is the before and the after shots

Before:

 

320 Hubs installed with new wheel studs and loctite.

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Calipers and rotors on.

 

DSC_4167 - Version 2

 

 

Blue calipers just barely peeking through the BBS RZ rims.  Its subtle, but a nice visual.  If I was going 4 wheel disk brakes with Brembo or Wilwood calipers, then maybe I’d go red, but for now this is a tad bit more understated.

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