Bigger Rear brakes on an 89 accord (could work with CRX also)

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Legend_master

Junior Member
Ok hondaswapers people I have been working on this project for awhile now. So what I have figured out is that I can run 1989 Acura Legend Rear calipers on the Accord SE-i hub. These calipers are spaced out more to allow for a 10.2" rotor on the legend application. I put some EP3 03 Civic Si rotors on the hub with the legend calipers and I ended up with 1/2" an space between the rotor and the inside of the caliper (pictures at the bottom of the post). So I plan on picking up some power slot 11" rotors to run with this setup, my dilemma is that I will end up with a pad that doesnt cover the whole rotor. So if anybody out there has an idea of a longer pad that I could use to extend all the way across the rotor that would really help. As for the CRX in the title, the rear CRX brakes are almost identical to the accord of these years. This means this mod would work for you CRX guys.
1989 Legend caliper/bracket, EP3 civic rotor, 89 Legend Pads
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1989 Legend caliper/bracket, EP3 civic rotor, 89 Legend Pads
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The legend caliper also has a much larger psiton then the accord/CRX one does(dont worry about the yellow writing in the picture, I used it for a DIY).
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Here is a comparison between the different Legend pads, none of them extend down far enough and the NSX is completely different.
G3 Legend (USA RL)
(88.9 x 47.4 x 15.4) 11" rotors
0325-12-Model.jpg

G2 Legend 11" rotors
(88.9 x 47.4 x 15.4)
0325-12-Model.jpg

G1 Legend 10.3" rotors
(88.9mm x 47.4mm x 14.6mm)
0325-02-Model.jpg

and for all the old school accord haters I have done a number of mods to this ride such as 11" front rotors with ITR calipers, and LS/v swap, and full suspension so :p .
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You don't actually need to cover the entire rotor surface with the pad- just make sure that your pad doesn't hang off the edge anywhere.
 
Calesta said:
You don't actually need to cover the entire rotor surface with the pad- just make sure that your pad doesn't hang off the edge anywhere.
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I would hate to waist that much of the rotor and I would gain a large amount of stopping power from it. Also In case anybody wants to know, you can fit Legend Calipers onto the EP3 civic Caliper bracket.
 
This is what I had on the front of my Civic:
brakes_teins_inst_med_02.jpg


Back:
brakes_teins_inst_med_04.jpg


I had no problems in the rear. It was perfectly balanced. If you think about it, you just need enough pad area to not hotspot your rotors. More area won't give you more stopping power- you're still applying the same amount of force. More area IS good for heat absorption and tolerance, but it's not key to better braking. Take this point into consideration too- the amount of leverage you have on your hub will go down if you use a pad that extends deeper into the center of the rotor. Your lever arm goes from the center of the disc to the center of the pad, so a good pad that doesn't cover the entire face of the disc but placed as far to the edge as possible will have more mechanical advantage compared to a pad whose center sits farther in.

Got it?
 
ok I see, so I will run some factory size EBC pads with the 11" powerslot rotor. Thanks for the help and BTW your front setup is very clean.
 
:no:

You're still exerting the same amount of force- just over a larger area. You have the potential to have more braking power because you have more pad area to spread things out over, but that's usually taken care of with piston sizes, not pad size.

Larger pads may give you more fade resistance, but that and braking power are mutually exclusive.
 
Thanks for the help Calesta, but look at how well the Legend caliper matched up with the 11" 99 civic power slot rotors. It turned out that the pad covered the whole rotor anyway.

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Wow. That's a great fit! I don't think you're actually covering any more area than my setup though. Compare the width of the rotor surface- my rears were 11 inches also. Yours is thinner, mine thicker- but the pad contact area looks about the same.
 
Looks like overkill for a CRX, those rears are bigger than my fronts! I'm guessing that setup won't fit under 14s will it?

I have 10.3" in the front btw.
 
Calesta said:
Wow. That's a great fit! I don't think you're actually covering any more area than my setup though. Compare the width of the rotor surface- my rears were 11 inches also. Yours is thinner, mine thicker- but the pad contact area looks about the same.
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yep, it is identical to any other civic, accord, integra setup on the pad surface, but the Legend Piston is much larger the any of those. So I am hoping for better breaking performance.

K2e2vinLooks like overkill for a CRX, those rears are bigger than my fronts! I'm guessing that setup won't fit under 14s will it?

I have 10.3" in the front btw.
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It is actually for an 86 accord hatch, but I will be runnning 11" front and 11" rear. The whole reason behind this is to figure out whar actually works for this car.
 
hmm it would be nice to have a 10.2" setup for the rear. i think a 11" front and 10.2" rear would be perfect.
 
GSRCRXsi said:
hmm it would be nice to have a 10.2" setup for the rear. i think a 11" front and 10.2" rear would be perfect.
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Im not sure how to go about that, the Legend caliper is to big and the CRX, SE-i, ETC... are to small.
 
You can still run an 11" in the rear- just run an adjustable prop valve so you can tune your braking force just right.
 
Legend_master said:
It is actually for an 86 accord hatch, but I will be runnning 11" front and 11" rear. The whole reason behind this is to figure out whar actually works for this car.
Click to expand...

I was referring to the title which says will work with CRX. For a Accord hatch, it should work great since they're much heavier than CRXs(I was going to get one but found a Civic HB instead).
 
K2e2vin said:
I was referring to the title which says will work with CRX. For a Accord hatch, it should work great since they're much heavier than CRXs(I was going to get one but found a Civic HB instead).
Click to expand...


Ok I see, I figured I would let people know since I am sure there is someone with a CRX out there that wants to Overkill on the brakes lol . The spacing on the CRX MIGHT be differnt and if it was closer to the hub then you could bolt on the ep3 rotors and legend calipers.
 
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