heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[Obioban]

I'll probably be banned for saying it but Topaz is so much better than LSB. Car looks awesome.

Topaz is my favorite e46 factory blue.

…. my wife would ban you for that post, though, if she had any power on here.

[heinzboehmer]

Thanks! I feel like Topaz is a super polarizing color.

Sometimes I hate it (usually in low light), but other times it looks pretty great (like yesterday).

[discoelk]

I'll probably be banned for saying it but Topaz is so much better than LSB. Car looks awesome.

[heinzboehmer]

Every time I go off stock drivetrain mounts, of any sort, I regret it.

Yeah, I've come to the same conclusion as well. Next up on the list is getting rid of the poly diff cover bushings. Forgot to order rubber ones when I did my vincebar, so only the front one got reverted. I have an idea on how to get the E36 bushings swapped in super lazily (i.e. no dropping of the diff), so that's probably coming soon.

VT Mounts were shit. I had vibrations from the motor and lived with the mounts for a while when one day i was like let me go back to my OE mounts. Low and behold no vibrations.

Yep, same exact experience. Put up with them for way too long. Stock ones are such a breath of fresh air.

[0-60motorsports]

VT Mounts were shit. I had vibrations from the motor and lived with the mounts for a while when one day i was like let me go back to my OE mounts. Low and behold no vibrations.

[Obioban]

Every time I go off stock drivetrain mounts, of any sort, I regret it.

[heinzboehmer]

Those VT mounts are crap

Yeah they really weren't great

[maupineda]

Oh! Forgot to comment on control arms and engine mounts. There is a noticeable difference in steering feel with the lemforder control arms. Very happy with that.

Also hard to believe I put up with the vibratechnics engine mounts for so long. It's so nice to be able to sit at a light without the car trying to shake itself apart whenever the AC compressor comes on.

Those VT mounts are crap

[heinzboehmer]

Nice update! Yeah, the bleeder thing happens on other calipers as well.

Yeah makes a lot of sense. I'm surprised it hasn't happened to me before on other calipers.


Also, quick pic dump of what the car looks like now:








I'm really enjoying how stealthy the calipers look, glad I went with black.

[Slideways]

Nice update! Yeah, the bleeder thing happens on other calipers as well.

[heinzboehmer]

So this is what I saw when I took a quick look at the calipers yesterday morning:



As mentioned before, not super alarming, but still wanted to figure out why some bleeders appeared to be leaking.

Decided to remove all the bleeders and reclean the taper that they seal against. Calipers were fully dry when installed, so there was a possibility that some dirt/debris I hadn't been able to clean out had accumulated around the taper and was making the bleeders not seal well.

After doing that, I pressure tested them by pushing on the brake pedal as hard as I could for ~30s. Found no leaks on any of them

At the same time, I also decided to cut the dust caps in half, as I don't really like the design of them. Having the retaining ring sandwiched between the bleeder and caliper makes it hard to feel the torque on the bleeder and also means that the dust cap gets caught and spins around.



Left a little tab of material to make it easy to pull them off.

When I went to reinstall them, I realized why I had seen brake fluid pooled around the base of the bleeder. Here's what happens when you install them:

As you can see, installing the dust cap forces any brake fluid left in the bleeder past the threads. Makes sense since these things seal at the bottom taper and not on the threads. Something like this is what's happening:



This was super easy to see with the dust caps cut in half, but much harder when they're installed unmodified. So leading theory is that when I initially bled the calipers, there were no leaks, but there was some brake fluid left in the bleeders that was pushed out by the dust caps. This must have pooled under the dust cap retaining ring —making it hard to see when cleaning up— and eventually dripped out when I took the car out for a drive.

Anyway, mystery solved and fortunately there aren't any leaks on my calipers!

Also, for completeness, here are the weights I got for all this brake stuff. Weight are per corner and things labeled "caliper" include everything (pads, spring clips, brackets, brake lines, etc.).

Front 996 Caliper	9.4 lbs
Front ZCP Rotor	18.9 lbs
Front Stock Caliper	14.5 lbs
Front Stock Rotor	17.5 lbs
Rear 996 caliper	7.9 lbs
Rear ZCP Rotor	15.1 lbs
Rear Stock Caliper	8.7 lbs
Rear Stock Rotor	16.2 lbs

So 3.7 lbs saving per side up front and 1.9 lbs saving per side in the rear. Not bad.


I did have another thought as well. Like any good scientist, I changed only the bare minimum between measurements (track days) in order to be able to attribute any tangible differences to a single variable. This is what will have changed on the car from last track day to the one I have booked in ~2 weeks:

• Replaced front control arms
• Replaced engine mounts
• Installed slon rear wall
• Swapped stock rotors for ZCP rotors
• Swapped stock calipers for 996 calipers
• Bought new track pads I haven't tried before (PFC08)
• Bought new wheels I haven't tried before (more on that later)
• Bought new track tires I haven't tried before (more on that later)

Sooo it's basically like I'm bringing another car out. Great.

[heinzboehmer]

Oh! Forgot to comment on control arms and engine mounts. There is a noticeable difference in steering feel with the lemforder control arms. Very happy with that.

Also hard to believe I put up with the vibratechnics engine mounts for so long. It's so nice to be able to sit at a light without the car trying to shake itself apart whenever the AC compressor comes on.

[heinzboehmer]

Finished up the install yesterday and took the car out to bed the brakes.

Decided to connect the power bleeder and pressurize it to ~3 psi when swapping brake lines. Worked great to keep air out of the lines, but man was it messy. Anyway, the install went pretty smoothly, not a lot to report from it.

Brakes feel pretty great. Reminds me of the brake feel of a 981s that I drove around for a few days recently. I think there's still a bit of air in the system, so I'll drive the car around some more (to knock any stubborn air bubbles loose) and rebleed this weekend. Should give me the super solid pedal I'm looking for.

I did also test fit my front track wheel to see if I have enough space for brake ducts v2. Looks like there's tons of room:






I'll be alright if I just mostly follow the caliper radius, as shown in that last picture. Will start on the design work for these things soon.

I did unfortunately find the rear caliper bleeders slightly wet this morning. Didn't have time to investigate, but I guess wheels are coming off tonight to inspect all of them. Hoping it was just inadequate clean up after bleeding (I was running out of brake cleaner and was trying to use it sparingly) and not an actual leak.

[heinzboehmer]

Any reason you left the dust shields on in the first place? I know Essex recommends deleting them as a first step before trying brake ducts. Been meaning to get rid of mine for a while but the car is seeing less and less track use.

Mostly to keep dust under control. I also do like that they offer some heat shielding for the suspension components.

[repoman89]

Any reason you left the dust shields on in the first place? I know Essex recommends deleting them as a first step before trying brake ducts. Been meaning to get rid of mine for a while but the car is seeing less and less track use.