[texan_idiot25]

The CRX now has "big" brakes. The tiny stock solid disks weren't cutting it in Austin.

Our cars are great at a lot of things, but in my opinion, stopping isn't one of them. The TINY solid disks are adequate for city use, but on the highway and in the hills I find them sketchy and prone to shaking and fading when hot. After a week of driving in Austin, I knew it was time to upgrade.

It was mentioned here that 88-91 Civic EF disk brakes bolt on, so I thought I'd give it a try. Many of the pro's included more available brake parts, larger diameter disk, bigger calipers, and most importantly for me- vented disks!

Off to the junkyard I go. I got 91 Civic sedan disks and calipers for a total of $55 bucks. Prices may range as high as 60-70 at regular price. I've made friends with the owner of this yard and he slices off a little discount for me. However, the regular price was $15/disk and $15/caliper at this yard, so keep that in mind when pricing around.

Parts needed
-EF front disks & Calipers (Save the caliper bolts too)
-Brake lines (If your current ones are in need of replacement. Stock CRX lines will bolt on)
-Pads (if your junkyard donor didn't have any, or are worn. Mine had lots of life left)
-10mm box wrench (for brake bleeding)
-14mm socket (brake line bolt)
-17mm socket (caliper bolts)


So, off go the wheels and off go the old parts! It's amazing how small these brakes really are. Take note of the size of the stock disk compared to the dust shield.



The screws that hold the disks on are a *****. All of mine were stripped, and thank Jesus-H-Tap-Dancing-Christ for the el-cheapo striped screw remover I had. May have destroyed it in the process, but it managed to dig out all screws with little issue.


When removing the old caliper, leave the brake line attached and just set it behind the strut on top of the axle. This saves a bit of trouble for later when it comes time to bleed the brakes.


Now that everything is off, lets compare-




Pretty much an inch bigger, and a good bit thicker due to the vented design. The calipers are also larger with more pad surface.

Mock everything together. Give the disk a and brake pads a good bath of brake cleaner before assembling. It's OK that the rotor rubs and makes a slight scraping sound on the caliper. The surface rust is causing it. Surface rust is not an issue, but I would make sure to ask how long the car has been in the yard before taking the disk. A good yard inventories, and will know. This car wasn't here a month ago when I was there, so I was OK with it. It wouldn't hurt to carry a set of measuring calipers either to check rotor thickness. I didn't think of this, but there's no concerning wear marks or lips in the rotor, so it seems to be a-ok.

Also, notice how the dust shield is totally behind the disk! Big difference in size.

Time to check for clearances between the disk and dust shield. I found it easiest to put a tire iron on a lug and spin it. The sound of the shield hitting is a much higher pitched scrapping sound. The dust shield should clear fine, but if it's bent it may scrub.


Now that everything is good, go ahead and transfer the brake line to the new caliper. The brake line bolts will interchange between the two, one had stubborn crush washers that didn't let the old bolt slide out of the brake line, so I went a head and stuck it into the EF caliper. Same thread, no length problems, no leaks. Good for me.

Now, bleed the brake and double check all of your bolts. Hit everything down again with brake cleaner and put on the wheels.

HX wheels JUST clear the caliper.


Rinse and repeat for the next side. I would also recomend following the bedding in process like you would for new brakes to clean off the surface rust from the rotors. After this, my rotors were completely clean of rust, and looked just as good as the disks that came off.




And there you have it! Bigger brakes and calipers for under $100 bucks. Hawks HPS pads seem to be the general recommendation for a good set of pads around here. The CRX stops with much less drama than before, and most importantly is fade free after a series of 60+ mph panic stops.