Hey Everyone,

I'm bouncing around the idea of swapping out the rear drum brakes for disc brakes and would love to know what to look out for and what setups others have had success with.

Let me know some things that have worked well for you. Pictures and links always welcome!

I appreciate the help and insights!

What are your plans exactly?

• Is it mainly for looks?

• Are you planning to race the car?

• Are you having problems with the current brakes?

A lot of the rear-disc conversions are mainly aesthetic. They look great, but they don't necessarily perform better than a properly working set of original drums.

You'll find plenty of posts claiming a huge improvement after fitting rear discs, and that may be true. But often the improvement is simply because the original drums were worn, seized or badly adjusted. Unless you're going to a significantly larger brake setup, the difference may not be as big as you'd expect.

I'm not a big fan of rear-disc conversions myself. The main concern is brake balance between the front and rear. The original system was designed and tested as a complete system, so I'd be cautious about judging a conversion based on a few hard stops in a parking lot. Brakes are a pretty important safety system!

If it's mainly for aesthetics, the 280ZX rear setup is a fairly straightforward option. The 1979 to 81 rotors fit the 280Z four-stud hubs after removing the backing plates. You can also use the 1981 to 84 Maxima brackets (P/N 44155-04S10), or aftermarket adapters if they're still available.

The 280ZX calipers have an integral handbrake mechanism, so with some fiddling you can use the original 280Z handbrake cables.

A couple of things to note with the Maxima brackets and 280ZX calipers: you need to dismantle the stub axle to install the brackets (aftermarket brackets don't need dismantling the stub axle), and the calipers need to be swapped side-to-side. The 280ZX calipers sit behind the axle, while on the 280Z they'll be mounted in front. So the right hand "R" caliper goes on the left and vice versa. Otherwise, you won't be able to bleed them properly or use the handbrake mechanism. You can buy kits to do this and that would probably be the easiest way to go, but more expensive.

There are other combinations of this set up out there. The 1985 to 87 Maxima calipers with the 1982/83 280ZX rotors and a custom bracket where also common. These are all what they call Stage 1 disc brake conversions.

This setup is often paired with the Sumitomo S12+8 four piston front calipers. These were used on various Toyota 4Runner trucks and bolt straight onto the 280Z using the original 89mm mounting spacing, and pair up to the original 280Z rotors, although some backing-plate trimming is required.

With the larger front/rear setup, I'd also consider upgrading the original 7/8" master cylinder to a 15/16" 1979 to 81 280ZX unit with p/n: 46010-N4700 for exmple or a 1" Wilwood. Otherwise, you may end up with a very long pedal due to the increased fluid volume required. There was some forum thread about the 720 truck (1981 to 86) long ago mentioning the 15/16" MC with p/n: 46010-F2700, but I'm not sure if it fits the booster.

Edited September 19Sep 19 by EuroDat
Typo and forgot to mention 79 to 81 280ZX rotor with maxima bracket

Thank you @EuroDat !! This is so helpful! I really appreciate you going that in depth and even including the part numbers!

I was primarily thinking to do the conversion as I would like to autocross the car, but from what you explained above if I do the back, I should really do the front as well and do a full swap on the fronts as well. You made a great point with the brake balance that I hadn't thought of. I'll do research on the Stage 1 conversion you mentioned and if I move forward with that, also do the master cylinder swap you suggested because you're right on the money about not wanting that long pedal situation.

In the meantime, I'll go over the drums on there now and make sure they aren't overly worn or poorly adjusted.

Thank you again for the help!