Thread: **Z32 Calipers in a B13**

Hi

I finally got this brake conversion done into my B13. I found bits of info on this forum that gave me a clue on how to do this. Now writing this thread, I want to make everything easier for you guys.

So, this is the car:



And this is the part list:

Z32 calipers: (duh!)
I highly recommend to get the ones from the 1990 N/A 300zx, as they fit better in our little cars, and they wont need a massively thick rotor.

U13 Altima brake rotors:
They have the same diameter as the Z32 rotor (280mm), its a little bit thinner though (22mm vs the 26mm of the N/A Z)

U13 Altima master cylinder:
It will be helpful, considering you have in one single wheel, the same amount of pistons you had in the whole car before lol

And this is the heart of the project, nothing makes sense, and nothing will fit on your car, unless you have this:

B15 Sentra Steering knuckle and hubs:
Yes, this means your front wheels will be now 114x4. But the Z32 caliper and Altima rotors will fit, right in. No adapter plates, no custom job. But most of the aftermaket wheels have 100x4 and 114x4, as my enkeis.

Optional parts:
This depends on the wheels you are using, due to spoke design of my wheels, I had to run spacers now.

Unfortunately, is not that easy, while bolting everything in, we found that due to the B15 knuckle, the rotor needs to be reduced in diameter 4 milimeters, or otherwise it will hit the caliper. So you have to take the rotors to a machine shop before bolting everything in.

I think is a good bang for the buck conversion, considering the ridiculous price out there for 4 piston brake kits. I will post some pics of the final results right now.

All right, I got the pics, feel free to ask any question.








Im currently running 16" wheels, I see there is a lot of space. I might have to try test fitting some 15"s .... That would be great so I can use some descent slicks.

Any rear brake upgrade options like the Z32 two pot calipers?

back from the past,


More people need to do this swap.

I think its a good bang for the buck if your runing a 4 lug universal rim.

I just wanted to add about the brake bias on this setup, on the other forums there were some concerns about that, a guy made some calculations and he came up that this set up might give more rear bias so it wont work.

But I re-checked his calculations, and did my calculations, he was using a wrong piston diameter size.

Stock SE-R brakes:

Piston area = PI (r^2)
Brake surface = 3.14 (22.5^2) x 2 = 3180.86
Brake surface = 3180.86

On Z32 brakes:

Piston area = PI (r^2)
Brake surface = 3.14 (20.25^2) x 4 = 5153
Brake surface = 5153

So you have around 62% more braking power on the front than a stock SE-R, you also have more mechanical force with the bigger diameter rotors, as well as better resistance to get the heat up the brakes, since you got more material on the bigger and thicker rotor and a bigger caliper helping with the heat distribution.

Can u run a Z32 rotor rather than an U13 Altima rotor?

nd if so how much custom work is involved?

what U13 master cylinder? of a SE?

I believe the Z32 rotor is slighty bigger but your main issue would be the fact that the z32 rotors knucles and hubs are very different since the z32 it's a RWD car. Plus you'll have to use 2 different kinds of size of wheels one for the 5 hole application and the other one for the 4 hole.

This explains the reason why people use the altima or the B15 parts.

i have 2 b15 spec-v knuckles with hubs and bearings... will the b13 axle work with this setup? Bolt right up?

oh ok thank you

By any chance did you weight this setup vs the nx setup? I love the look im considering of doing this with my car but i don't want to put more rotation weight for less hp to the wheels..