KingPhilipII's Blue Flame
Just buy a bezel with the holes for it, lol. My bezel even have a crack, I didn't notice it in the pics when I bought it off another member, can't really blame him. Also, I used the gated shifter from a 300, I didn't really like the idea of getting the one from a '98 400 which is a 5 speed on my '95 which is only 4 speed. I'd hate to see an extra gear on my bezel, lol. Just me being OC.
Brake Master Cylinder & Brake Booster
I was supposed to upload this yesterday as a Christmas gift to my fellow CL'ers and fellow DIY'ers, but halfway through making the thread my daughter took over my laptop and closed the windows I was using, lol!
Anyways, a few pages back, you'd notice that I've been having some braking issues, and I must say, this car must really love me, 'cause every part of the braking system has gone out one at a time when I started experiencing this issues. In the past few pages, I swapped to the LS brake calipers, just in time since my brake pads were already toast, I had one sticking caliper that caused the rotor to warp, and most rotors badly needed some resurfacing as well. Changed all rotors to some slotted ones off of eBay, got on my polished LS calipers, flushed the brake system, etc.
Before all this though, my brakes were acting funny already. I would loose braking power randomly, I'd hear an air leak or "hiss" sound in the cabin when coming to a stop while depressing the brake pedal, my brake pedal would feel very stiff, and car would be very very hard to stop if it catches you off guard. Did a lot of research, and found out that it was my brake booster. A lot of people suggested to replace the brake master cylinder too considering the age of it, and the fact that the fluid was getting contaminated with dirt which is a sign of the seals going out.
I bought a refurbished brake master cylinder from Autozone with the lifetime warranty, and took a chance on the brake booster from the junkyard(it's not normal for this part to go out and break). I will probably rebuild the brake master cylinder and make a DIY out of it for you guys and sell it here.
So like I said, this is my Christmas gift to you guys, here's a DIY on how to change your brake booster with the brake master cylinder.
BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER REMOVAL
Drain as much brake fluid from the reservoir as possible; I used one of my gear oil pumps to suck as much out. (No need to drain if reusing the brake master cylinder, but replacing the master cylinder is highly recommended whenever booster goes out as it can contaminate the master cylinder, which clearly happened in my case.)
Disconnect 2 brake lines on the left side of the brake master cylinder with a 10mm open wrench. This shouldn't be so tight, but be careful not to strip the nuts or you're gonna add more work to this. And also make sure to place rags below the master cylinder to prevent brake fluid from making contact to your paint or it might ruin the paint.
Unplug level warning switch connector on the right side of the reservoir.
Unbolt 2 12mm nuts that hold the brake master cylinder on the brake booster.
It's always a good idea to place old and new parts side by side to see differences in them and if there are parts missing or needed. In my case, I already bought the gasket for the brake booster and master cylinder but wasn't prepared for the rubber grommet for the master cylinder and had to reuse the old one since it was still in pretty good shape. The Autozone refurbished master cylinder doesn't come with the reservoir too, so you'd have to reuse the old one.
Brake master cylinder off of the brake booster.
BRAKE BOOSTER REMOVAL
Unplug brake booster vacuum line.
This is one of those things where you have to find your inner contortionist, and use it to get the job done. You need to somehow make yourself fit below the driver side dash and remove 4 12mm nuts that hold the brake booster on the firewall. As you can see the 2 bottom nuts are very accessible, but need to make space and use space available for the 2 upper. The upper left nut can be accessed behind the black ECU thing with an open wrench, and once loosen can be removed by your fingertips.
Just loosen the ECU looking thing with orange plugs to access the upper right nut, no need to completely remove it. There's only 2 bolts holding it in place, one that's accessible and another right behind the steering shaft. You can use a 10mm open wrench to remove the one behind the steering shaft, and it's not too tight, once loosened by the wrench you can use your fingertips to remove the bolt.
Once the 4 nuts are off, you only need to disconnect the brake booster from the brake pedal. With a help of a needle nose pliers pull the spring(orange arrow) off the slide pin; be careful not to damage or loose it. Then pull the cotter pin(red arrow) off the slide pin, and the slide pin(purple arrow) will easily slide out of the pedal and brake booster and the brake booster is free to go.
NOTE: Once the brake pedal is free from the spring, it will make contact to the brake light switch atop. You can either secure it by hooking the spring to the hole for the slide pin on the pedal again, or jam a tool between the back of the pedal and the carpet to keep it from making contact with the switch.
Loosen this small fuse/relay box from its place just to give space in getting the brake booster out of the firewall.
And your brake booster is off.
NEW(LY ACQUIRED) VS. OLD FAULTY ONE
INSTALL IS REVERSE OF REMOVAL AND SHOULDN'T BE ANY DIFFERENT. USE YOUR COCONUT THIS TIME.
The refurbished brake master cylinder needs to be bench bled before install and comes with complete instruction on how to, I will show that next time when I rebuild my old master cylinder.
Anyways, a few pages back, you'd notice that I've been having some braking issues, and I must say, this car must really love me, 'cause every part of the braking system has gone out one at a time when I started experiencing this issues. In the past few pages, I swapped to the LS brake calipers, just in time since my brake pads were already toast, I had one sticking caliper that caused the rotor to warp, and most rotors badly needed some resurfacing as well. Changed all rotors to some slotted ones off of eBay, got on my polished LS calipers, flushed the brake system, etc.
Before all this though, my brakes were acting funny already. I would loose braking power randomly, I'd hear an air leak or "hiss" sound in the cabin when coming to a stop while depressing the brake pedal, my brake pedal would feel very stiff, and car would be very very hard to stop if it catches you off guard. Did a lot of research, and found out that it was my brake booster. A lot of people suggested to replace the brake master cylinder too considering the age of it, and the fact that the fluid was getting contaminated with dirt which is a sign of the seals going out.
I bought a refurbished brake master cylinder from Autozone with the lifetime warranty, and took a chance on the brake booster from the junkyard(it's not normal for this part to go out and break). I will probably rebuild the brake master cylinder and make a DIY out of it for you guys and sell it here.
So like I said, this is my Christmas gift to you guys, here's a DIY on how to change your brake booster with the brake master cylinder.
BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER REMOVAL
Drain as much brake fluid from the reservoir as possible; I used one of my gear oil pumps to suck as much out. (No need to drain if reusing the brake master cylinder, but replacing the master cylinder is highly recommended whenever booster goes out as it can contaminate the master cylinder, which clearly happened in my case.)
Disconnect 2 brake lines on the left side of the brake master cylinder with a 10mm open wrench. This shouldn't be so tight, but be careful not to strip the nuts or you're gonna add more work to this. And also make sure to place rags below the master cylinder to prevent brake fluid from making contact to your paint or it might ruin the paint.
Unplug level warning switch connector on the right side of the reservoir.
Unbolt 2 12mm nuts that hold the brake master cylinder on the brake booster.
It's always a good idea to place old and new parts side by side to see differences in them and if there are parts missing or needed. In my case, I already bought the gasket for the brake booster and master cylinder but wasn't prepared for the rubber grommet for the master cylinder and had to reuse the old one since it was still in pretty good shape. The Autozone refurbished master cylinder doesn't come with the reservoir too, so you'd have to reuse the old one.
Brake master cylinder off of the brake booster.
BRAKE BOOSTER REMOVAL
Unplug brake booster vacuum line.
This is one of those things where you have to find your inner contortionist, and use it to get the job done. You need to somehow make yourself fit below the driver side dash and remove 4 12mm nuts that hold the brake booster on the firewall. As you can see the 2 bottom nuts are very accessible, but need to make space and use space available for the 2 upper. The upper left nut can be accessed behind the black ECU thing with an open wrench, and once loosen can be removed by your fingertips.
Just loosen the ECU looking thing with orange plugs to access the upper right nut, no need to completely remove it. There's only 2 bolts holding it in place, one that's accessible and another right behind the steering shaft. You can use a 10mm open wrench to remove the one behind the steering shaft, and it's not too tight, once loosened by the wrench you can use your fingertips to remove the bolt.
Once the 4 nuts are off, you only need to disconnect the brake booster from the brake pedal. With a help of a needle nose pliers pull the spring(orange arrow) off the slide pin; be careful not to damage or loose it. Then pull the cotter pin(red arrow) off the slide pin, and the slide pin(purple arrow) will easily slide out of the pedal and brake booster and the brake booster is free to go.
NOTE: Once the brake pedal is free from the spring, it will make contact to the brake light switch atop. You can either secure it by hooking the spring to the hole for the slide pin on the pedal again, or jam a tool between the back of the pedal and the carpet to keep it from making contact with the switch.
Loosen this small fuse/relay box from its place just to give space in getting the brake booster out of the firewall.
And your brake booster is off.
NEW(LY ACQUIRED) VS. OLD FAULTY ONE
INSTALL IS REVERSE OF REMOVAL AND SHOULDN'T BE ANY DIFFERENT. USE YOUR COCONUT THIS TIME.
The refurbished brake master cylinder needs to be bench bled before install and comes with complete instruction on how to, I will show that next time when I rebuild my old master cylinder.
Last edited by OG Dada; Dec 26, 2012 at 08:54 AM.
BTW after this fix I felt the real power of my LS brakes for the first time, and it is incredible! Really beats the OE brake calipers of my 400, I'm not exaggerating. But I do agree with what a lot of people say that there is an undistributed balance of power with the OE rear brake calipers still on. Anyways, my quest of finding rear Supra MKIV brake calipers(in my price range) is still in effect.
BTW after this fix I felt the real power of my LS brakes for the first time, and it is incredible! Really beats the OE brake calipers of my 400, I'm not exaggerating. But I do agree with what a lot of people say that there is an undistributed balance of power with the OE rear brake calipers still on. Anyways, my quest of finding rear Supra MKIV brake calipers(in my price range) is still in effect.