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Car Forum / Honda Cars / August 2005rear drums to disk - 95 civic dx hatch
As the subject says, I have a 1995 Civic DX hatchback. The previos owner of the car, my roomate, had the rear drums converted to disk breaks. I remember at some point after they were converted, I helped him change the pad on the back, but the new pads caused the brakes to seem like they were dragging all the time, you could even smell the brake dust after just driving it down the street from the house, so we just put the old pads back on never messed with them again. Well now the car is mine and the break situation has always bothered me. I have not noticed any problems with breaking, but I still want to rectify the situation. Now since it had drums then the factory proportioning valve on the car would be set to always have few pounds of pressure on the rears at all times since shoes always need pressure to hold them next to the drums. I'm not sure if the valve was replaced, and I know the one that is in the car now is not an adjustable one. Is there another honda of the same erra I can go to a junk yard and get it's proportioning valve that was desinged for 4 wheel disk and put it on and work fine, or what other options are there. > As the subject says, I have a 1995 Civic DX hatchback. The previos > owner of the car, my roomate, had the rear drums converted to disk [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > proportioning valve that was desinged for 4 wheel disk and put it on > and work fine, or what other options are there. the correct proportioning valve is absolutely vital. especially for safe braking in the wet. for integras with the 10.25" front disks & rear disks, the proportioning valve has "4040" stamped on it. for ordinary civic dx's with 9.5" front disks & rear drums, it's "3525" iirc. i think you want something like "3540", but check the size of your fronts. if you can get one from the 95 si, you should be ok. if you get the correct valve, lease post the # to group for reference. i think civics, preludes, crx's, integras, 88 through 95 had the same proportioning valve style, only valved different per the number stamped on the side. > Now since it had drums then the factory proportioning valve > on the car would be set to always have few pounds of pressure on the > rears at all times since shoes always need pressure to hold them next > to the drums. While it is true, as jim beam pointed out, that you need a proportioning valve designed for rear discs, the above statement sounds an awful lot like an urban myth. The shoes in a rear drum system are held away from the friction surface by the upper and lower return springs. It's the brake adjuster, not the proportioning valve, that's used to keep the shoes close to the drum. Eric Well, I appretiate both of your replies, but I am still not sure what I should do then. I suppose I just need to take some time and put new pads in the back and see if they still stick, if they do, then what? I know the front disks are the factory, whatever size that is. I think the back disks were from a ~95 integ's rear. I'm still thinking the valve was the prob. Chances are the the rear disks that came from an integra were the same as what got put onto the civic si, so I'll probably need to find a valve from a 95 civic si or a 95 integra. > Well, I appretiate both of your replies, but I am still not sure what I > should do then. I thought that jim's post was pretty clear. In it, he wrote that "the correct proportioning valve is absolutely vital." ok, sorry i guess i was being stupid :-p. I'll do some looking for the correct valve. Thanks again. > ok, sorry i guess i was being stupid :-p. I'll do some looking for the > correct valve. Thanks again. Did your friend have them turned before he put the rotors on? They could be warped a little and dragging. Eric in reply to your email you sent me: You are correct about the rear pistons needing to be turned to retract into the housing. We figured that out when we had put new pads in the rear, the caliper slipped back down over the rotor just fine with new pads, but then when all was said and done and reassembled and you press the brake peddle in a few time to push the piston back out, that's when they stick. Your thought on corrosion could be the problem, I suppose I could take a day and disassemble it all and see. I have done some searching for the correct proportioning valve and am only able to find an OE one at my Honda dealer, but that it is $170, bit steep for me right now. Went to a junk yard but no luck there either. Tried searching all over online and can't find squat. So I'll probable just have to keep looking and hope I get lucky and/or hope I can muster up the money for the OE one. Any other thought you have on this would be appreciated. > Eric in reply to your email you sent me: > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Any other thought you have on this would be appreciated. A proportioning valve from http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com for a '95 Civic Si is $130. You can access an online version of the factory service manual at http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/CivicManual/index.html. You don't need to fully disassemble the caliper to check for signs of corrosion on the piston. Often times you can just carefully pull the dust boot away from the piston using blunt needle nose pliers and inspect the outer piston surface with a flash light. If you see corrosion on the outer part just under the boot, then there's likely more further inside. Be careful when you pull the boot back to make sure that you don't damage it. Note that rebuilding the rear calipers is an involved process, check out http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/CivicManual/pdf/19-25.pdf for disassembly and http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/CivicManual/pdf/19-28.pdf for reassembly. Most shops use remanufactured units rather than rebuild them in-house. By the way, I don't recall if you've mentioned how much rear brake pad is remaining. The minimum thickness is 1.6 mm so if you have plenty of pad remaining, and rear disc pads usually wear slowly, you may not need to worry about replacing the pads for a little while. Eric I just bought one on ebay for $25 plus shipping. (used) > Eric in reply to your email you sent me: > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Any other thought you have on this would be appreciated. > Any other thought you have on this would be appreciated. By the way, when you installed the new pads did you correctly align the pin on the pad's backing plate with the cutout on the piston? For reference see http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/CivicManual/pdf/19-21-1.pdf. Eric I'm not sure how much pad is left, I'll have to look. As for when the pads were installed, since my roomate owned the car at the time, I didn't take to much interest other than answering questions he had when he put them on (first time he ever did it) and just kind of watching casually. Now I have changes pads (front and rear) on every other car I've owned so I'd hope that I would have noticed if they were aligned wrong or not, but no one is perfect, especially me. I just looked at the pads and there is probably a good 4 to 5mm of pad on each side. Just so you understand it's not that I want to change the pads persay, it's just that the system is not right and was not installed correctly and that is why i'm wanting to fix it. I'm one of those people who can't stand things like a little string hanging off of clothes or to have a one light burnt out in a two buld fixture. I have this need to fix it and make it correct. > I just looked at the pads and there is probably a good 4 to 5mm of pad > on each side. Just so you understand it's not that I want to change [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > clothes or to have a one light burnt out in a two buld fixture. I have > this need to fix it and make it correct. It sounds like the thing to do is get the correct proportioning valve and see how they work after that. Eric I figured that would ultimatly be what I would need to do. I have to say though you have given me a few great sites to find info for future reference. Those links to the service manual are great. All I have is a Haynes manual and it gets me through all right, but the online manual could come in very handy later. Thank you. > I figured that would ultimatly be what I would need to do. I have to > say though you have given me a few great sites to find info for future > reference. Those links to the service manual are great. All I have is > a Haynes manual and it gets me through all right, but the online manual > could come in very handy later. Thank you. to ensure you have the correct proportioning valve, measure the front disk diameter and select accordingly. >> I figured that would ultimatly be what I would need to do. I have to >> say though you have given me a few great sites to find info for future [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > to ensure you have the correct proportioning valve, measure the front > disk diameter and select accordingly. forgot to say, go the junk yard and check out the older preludes - should have the correct valve if you have the smaller front disk setup. check per my previous post for the right version numbers depending on what you have. |
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