This how-to will cover most all of the steps that need to be taken to swap out the rear drums for saturn rear disc brakes using Jeffie's spacer/caliper bracket.
I am writing this to the best of my abilities, as I am doing this swap on a 99 Z24, and I am 100% sure the swap will differ in certain areas of different cars in different genrations/body styles and etc..
Required items........
1 pair of Jeffie's hub spacer/caliper brackets. Still a few left in the GP as of now, and as for the future anyone will need to contact him if they are interested in a set.
1 set of saturn rear disc brake calipers & caliper brackets from a 93-02 S series car. Coupe, Sedan, or Wagon will all work, mine for example are from a 96 Sedan
1 pair saturn hydraulic hoses, I reccomend that you get new hoses, mine were less than $8 each, and its good insurance
1 pair saturn rotors. As of now these are only available in a 4x100 bolt pattern and must be redrilled to 5x100, some have looked into custom rotors but nothing yet, future maybe
1 set rear brake pads to fit above saturn calipers
Assorted mounting hardware that may not be included with the calipers you recieve, such as banjo bolts, caliper bracket bolts, guide pins, bracket tins etc.. Also anything you may break in the process of swapping your brakes.
Tools required will be assorted end wrenches and sockets (metric), Torx socket to remove old hub bolts, Allen sockets to install new bolts, ratchets, screwdrivers, vice grips, pliers, pry bars, hammers, whatever it takes to get the job done, only basic hand tools should be needed, no real speciality tools so the backyard and garage mechanics will do just fine here.
Obviously the first step is to get the car in the air and get the wheels off. It is always a good idea to use jack stands to hold the car, don't count on your floor jack holding the weight for you the entire time.
Remove your wheels to reveal those (most likely) rusty worn out drum brakes
Remove the drums, this may take some beating with a hammer, pry bars, and possibly profanity if they haven't been off in a while.
Here you will find the shoes and old Ebrake assembly, this can all be removed however you want, usually you would want to pay attention to where everything goes but for this how-to just rip it all out and throw it in the scrap as far as i'm concerned. I think the easiest way is to remove the springs from the pin on the top middle, pop out the retainer pins/springs and let the brake shoes and hardware fall down and out away from the backing plate and hub.
After this is done you can remove the four bolts holding the hub and the backing plate to the axle/crossmember whatever you might call it. My Haynes manual said it was a T55 but mine were T45 and a 15mm nut on back, I ended up breaking one T45 bit, rounding out one bolt, and then started twisting my other bit, this led to the use of a cutting torch, not reccomended but I was burning daylight and needed the bolts off. This is also the time to remove the Ebrake cable from the backing plate, un plug your ABS sensor connector, and remove the brake line from the back of the wheel cylinder and hide them out of the way for now.
By this point you should have the hub and backing plate off, and your car would look something like this:
At this point your about half way done, from here you can get out your Club Jeffie brackets and prepare to install them, If you would like to take the time you can clean up your suspension while everything is out of the way.
Your brackets will basically be installed in place of where the backing plate was for the drums, between your axle and wheel hub, I installed mine with the caliper to the rear, the same way they were removed from the saturn. From the GP Jeff included 8 new bolts to replace the old ones that aren't long enough, and are probably too beat up to use. These require an allen head to install, and need to be torqued to 44 ft/lbs (according to Haynes) Also not sure on the size I just grabbed the one that fit from my tool box, size was worn off.
Once your hub and spacer/bracket assembly is back on with the ABS re connected (don't forget!) you are ready to put your new rotor of choice on. I picked a cheapo from RockAuto to start with, going to upgrade in the future. Remember these need to be re drilled to 5x100, this means 4 new holes, using one of the existing holes as a guide. They can be drilled using a drill press, or even a corded/cordless hand drill using the correct size bit, I used 1/2". A good way to drill these is to use your old brake drum or an old 5x100 rotor from the front maybe, line up one stud hole between the two and the center hole. As stated in the original feeler thread, these rotors are hub centric just like the drums were, your holes can be a little big and a bit sloppy, as long as it fits over the center of the hub it will be centered where it needs to be.
After your rotor is installed you can move on to your caliper bracket, this bolts on just like the saturn if you pulled it, or like this if you didn't have the chance to see it on a car already
Here is the back side of the rotor showing where the caliper bracket mounts to the spacer bracket. This can be bolted on solid as soon as your rotor is on, here I have also installed the hydraulic hose that will connect the factory Jbody brake line to the saturn caliper.
After this you can install your new brake pads, followed by the caliper. The caliper attaches to the caliper bracket using two guide pins, these bolt solid to the caliper, while allowing the caliper to move freely and adjust itself for wear on the pads. Also connect the hydraulic hose to the caliper using a banjo bolt and two crush washers. Once both sides are done you and a friend, or whoever you can get to pump the brake petal, can bleed the brakes. starting at the right rear and then left rear. You shouldn't need to bleed the fronts unless you have worked on both the front and the back. Be sure to top off your brake fluid before going on a test drive.
The only thing that I had major trouble with is the emergency brake cable, it was advertised as a direct hook-up but I am finding it difficult and I'm sure others will too. I have came to the conclusion that the springs on the ends of the cables aren't needed, considering the saturns didn't have them and the caliper has a spring on its mechanism.
I don't have completed pictures yet, camera died, and its late. Will follow up tomorrow. This is the first real write up/ How-To I have ever tried so I hope its up to, or at least close to par and I hope it helps some people out. Everybody feel free to post up questions, and answers if you've got them, and pics of your swaps!
