Intro
In November 2006 I felt sick & tired of the stock 2g GSX brakes (effectively, sigma brakes) and decided to switch to a big brake kit. I started to look thru different forums searching for a proper kit and picked up EVO-8 brembos. Although this forum had several threads on the issue, there was no "DIY - EVO5-9 brembo install on 2g" article. Now having my 2g GSX equipped with these ones I'd like to make my small contribution to the forum. This is the translated copy of the article I posted on my local DSM-community forum.
Stock 2g GSX'99 is equipped with:
FRONT:
- vented rotors diam275mm (10.8") = MR389727/MR449818
- 2-piston calipers (Sigma) = MB950176 & MB950177
REAR:
- regular rotors = MB928716
- 1-piston calipers = MR129583 & MR129584
EVO-5,6,7,8,9 (possibly 10?) is equipped with:
FRONT:
- vented rotors 320x32mm (12.59"x1.25")
- 4-piston calipers
REAR:
- vented rotors 300x20mm (11.8"x0.78")
- 2-piston calipers
EVO parts on 2g
- Front rotors – bolt on
- Front calipers –
WILL NOT bolt on; adapter-style troubleshooting hardly applicable either
- Rear rotors – bolt on
- Rear calipers – bolt on, however the offset of the rotor is 1-2 mm less but not harmful
Front EVO calipers (and knuckles) have a 160mm distance between sittings while 2g – only 130mm, hence the compatibility issue.
Adapters
Usually you get round caliper/knuckle sitting mismatch by making an adapter. This is a metal panel with 4 holes: 2 per stock knuckle bolts and 2 other – per new caliper bolts. However my experiments proved this approach to be useless. It is hardly possible to manufacture an EVO-2-2g adapter. Theoretically, it is possible but is associated with:
- cutting considerable amount of material in the stock housing
- manufacturing a 2-level adapter
- a lot of welding
I abandoned the idea of making an adapter…
Is there any other solution? Yes, there is. A practical solution is to go for a knuckle swap. One will look for knuckles that fit 2g suspension and have a “wide” (160mm) housing.
Funny, G1, G3 and EVO – all have McPherson suspension. And only 2g and some Galants have multilever-type suspension.
Info: all 2g knuckles have “narrow” 130mm housings.
Galants utilize the following knuckles:
The target “wide” knuckles are - MR369425 & MR369426 and can be found on restyled (1998+) Galants EA5A (sedan) and EA6A (wagon). These models are easily tracked down via CAPS (Europe) while missing in CAPS (USA).
They differ from 2g analogues only by the “wide” 160mm housing and massive bottom. That’s it. Additionally, these Galants were equipped with ABS (optional), so ABS user can enjoy the knuckles with speed sensors.
“Wide” (160mm) Galant knuckles, front EVO rotors and Brembos enjoy bolt-on fitment.
Dust shields
EVO rotors are bigger than stock and therefore stock dust shields should be removed. Front EVO shields (MR569183 & MR569184) with minor modding will fit 2g: a center bolt hole should be transferred 5mm away to the inside. Simple welding and drilling and here they are.
Rear dust shields are spot-welded to the metal plate. Tear away that garbage and go for a DIY sheet-metal covers and weld back to the original mount. Don't forget to coat with some anti-rust/gravel spray.
Pitfalls
Brembo calipers are larger and what is more important – wider than stock ones. It’s a real PIA since stock rims are no longer usable.
I’ve got 17” rims and don’t know whether or not Brembos fit 16”.
As for the offsets - stock 2g is ET-46 and EVO-8 is ET-38.
However the shape of the rim is more important than the offset. You have to try many rims on until you find a compatible model.
In my case ET-38 rim with 11mm spacer and long bolts allowed for a 1.5mm distance between front Brembos and rim spoke. Of course flat and thin-spoke rims would go without spacers whatsoever but for the matter of look I went for these…
