IMPROVING TOYOTA BRAKES - Installing Wilwood six-piston racing quality brakes on a Toyota Matrix
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IMPROVING TOYOTA BRAKES
Installing Wilwood six-piston racing quality brakes on a Toyota Matrix
Toyota imported its first and the company also built
car to the U.S. in 1957 cars with good quality and
and dealerships started nice detailing.
appearing in the early
‘60s. Young American Toyota also made sure the
car enthusiasts thought cars and trucks were built
the funny looking cars to last so the company
would never have a marketed that fact and
chance of making it, but many women purchased.
they were proven wrong. The them because they wanted a
young performance oriented car that wouldn’t break down on
car enthusiast didn’t buy them, the road. General Motors was
the general public that didn’t seeing the success Toyota was
want to pay the high cost of having so they got together with
gasoline at the time did. In the them to manufacture some joint
‘60s, gas prices for regular venture cars in a manufacturing
topped out at 25 cents a gallon plant in Northern California.
and it was a whopping 29 General Motors must have fig-
cents a gallon for high octane, ured that if you can’t beat them
and that seemed outrageous The toyoto was outfitted with a Wilwood part join them. Several cars were
number 140-10752 disc brake kit that features
to many folks. A lot of people Superlite 6R calipers and slotted 12.90-inch built there that were mechani-
thought a car that gets 20 rotors with aluminum rotor adapters. The kit cally the same, but the outside
miles to the gallon would save also comes with caliper brackets, BP-10 styling changed enough so Toy-
them a great deal of money Smart Pads and all of the hardware required ota could market them as a Toy-
and they didn’t care if the car to complete the installation. ota and General Motors could
car was funny looking and slow. After all, the market them as a Chevy or Pontiac product.
goofy looking VW bug and the embarrassingly
slow VW bus were successful, so the huge and The latest joint venture car is the Toyota Matrix and
very frugal American car buying public would buy its American sister, the Pontiac Vibe. The Toyota Ma-
almost anything that would save them money, and trix, a sporty looking four-door hatch back, was in-
the management staff at Toyota knew that. troduced in 2003 as a replacement for the Corolla
wagon. The cars of this type are categorized as a
In the ‘60s, the young car enthusiasts were sur- CUV: Car Utility Vehicle. The car provides increased
prised that the Toyota actually did make it and storage space and length when compared to a nor-
over the years people who looked at cars as to- mal hatchback, it’s not as high as a SUV so it han-
tally utilitarian flocked to the car dealerships to dles better, and the fuel economy is respectable.
buy economical cars. The quality of the Toyotas This car has been marketed to the younger buyers
got better and the body designs improved so the and has been successful so it is not unusual to see
company got a strong foothold in the American one that is getting the full performance treatment in-
market. Who would have thought back in the ‘60s cluding Wilwood disc brakes.
that Toyota would become the best selling car in
America, over Ford, General Motors and The car in this article is a Matrix that is getting the
Chrysler? Toyota was successful because they full complement of performance enhancements and
were able to come out with cars that were correct one of them is a new set of Wilwood disc brakes. The
for the buying public at a specific period of time, owner of this Matrix ordered a Wilwood part number
140-10752 disc brake kit that features six-piston
lation of this kit. A hobby builder can install this kit if he
Superlite 6R calipers and slotted 12.90-inch E-
has good mechanical knowledge and ability, car build-
coated rotors. This installation also requires a
ing experience and a good assortment of tools. You
Wilwood part number 220-10803 hose kit. The will need a floor jack and jack stands, an impact gun,
improved brakes will work better on the streetSAE and Metric wrenches and sockets, an inch-pound
and certainly a lot better if this car sees any
torque wrench, and a foot-pound torque wrench.
track time. Since the Matrix and Pontiac Vibe Other things that will come in handy include a bottle of
suspension parts are interchangeable, this kitLoctite 271, PTFE thread tape, and Wilwood Hi-Temp
will also work on the Vibe. 570 Racing Brake Fluid or Wilwood EXP 600 Plus Hi-
Temp Racing Brake Fluid. We are going to show you
Wilwood recommends persons experienced in how this installation is done so you can decide for
the installation and proper operation of disc yourself if you can perform this installation or if it would
brake systems should only perform the instal- be better to have a professional do it for you.
1
You can see the original calipers and disc brake sys-
tem through the large windows in the stock Matrix
wheel. The front of the car was elevated using a floor
jack and then jack stands were placed under the car. 3
After the front wheels were off of the ground, the lug
The small bracket that secures the brake hose to the
nuts were disconnected with an impact gun and then
inner fender was disconnected.
the wheels were removed.
2
The caliper bolts were removed with a socket and a
large breaker bar as seen here. This is a floating 4
style caliper with a piston on one side applying the
force. The six-piston caliper should be a big im- The caliper was removed from the assembly, but at this
provement. point it will remain hooked to the system.
5 9
Using a small box-end wrench, the bolts that secure the
For now, the caliper was hung on a piece of coat hanger dust shield to the spindle were removed.
behind the rotor. The line will be disconnected a little later.
10
6
The rotor is secured to the hub assembly with a couple The dust shield was removed and it will not be used with
of small bolts. Here the bolts are being disconnected in the Wilwood brakes.
order to remove the rotor from the hub.
7 11
After the bolts were loose, the rotor was removed from The hub assembly was thoroughly cleaned with a wire
the assembly. The rotor is in good condition so it can be brush to remove any grease or debris.
stored with your other swap meet parts.
8 12
The original brake system uses this large dust shield The rubber line was disconnected from the hard line using
that will have to be removed. You can also see the two a line wrench. This connection is located on the inner
ears that secured the original caliper fender well behind the strut.
13 17
After the rubber hose was disconnected from the hard After the bolts were hand tight, they were tightened down
line, the caliper was removed from the car. Be careful not with a large socket wrench. At this point they shouldn’t be
to get brake fluid on the car’s painted surface because it too tight because they may have to be loosened to add or
works as good paint stripper. subtract shims when the caliper to rotor centering is done.
After the centering is complete, the bolts should be coated
with Loctite 271 and tightened to 42 ft-lbs using a foot-
pound torque wrench.
14
The former caliper mounting ears will have to be sleeved
down slightly to the size of the Wilwood caliper bracket
bolts.
18
The hat was attached to the rotor using the 12 bolts and
washers in the kit. The small bolts should be coated with
Loctite 271 and then they should be tightened in an alter-
nating sequence to 85 in-lbs using an inch-pound torque
wrench. After the bolts were tight they were safety wired
using the safety wire diagram in the instruction sheet. The
15 completed rotor was installed on the hub assembly.
The caliper bracket bolts were installed in the mounting
ears. There should be a washer on the outside and a
0.016-inch thick and a 0.030-inch thick washer between
the original mounting ears and the caliper bracket.
19
16
After the rotor was placed on the hub assembly, it was se-
The caliper bracket was held against the original mount- cured with two lug nuts in order to check the rotor to caliper
ing ears and the bolts were installed hand tight. centering.
20 24
Before the caliper was installed on the caliper mounting
After the caliper was installed and tightened, the pads
bracket, each stud was loaded with a 0.035-inch shim.
were installed from the top. After the pads were in place
the caliper center bridge pad retainer bolt was installed.
21 25
Here the caliper inlet fitting is being attached to the caliper. At this point the Wilwood part number 220-10803 hose
Before the installation, the threads were wrapped with assembly was installed. The hose runs from the bracket
PTFE thread tape. and hard line on the frame to the caliper assembly mak-
ing sure the line is away from any moving parts.
26
22
Carefully the large six-piston caliper was loaded onto the Here is the brake assembly finished and ready to go. At
caliper mounting bracket. this point the brake system will have to be bled and the
bedding process will have to be done to get the brakes
working well and to full capacity.
23
27
After the caliper was resting on the studs the 0.057-inch Looking at the stock wheel and tire assembly you can see
thick washers and self-locking nuts were installed and the attractive Wilwood brake assembly sitting behind the
tightened. At this point the centering process was done wheel. The brake looks much better than the original
and when it was finished, the caliper was tightened to 35 brakes and certainly works better on the street and on the
ft-lbs using a foot-pound torque wrench. track.
Wilwood Engineering
4700 Calle Bolero
Camarillo, CA 93012
(805) 388-1188
www.wilwood.com
Copyright © 2010 Wilwood Engineering, Inc. -
All Rights Reserved
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