G37 / FX50 Akebono Brake Retrofit

turbocad6 said:
hey, I was away for a bit but I'm getting back into trying to get this finished up for you guys.

that bracket does look cool. on the fx no bracket is necessary for the fronts as they just pretty much bolt on. in the rears the possibility of a bracket may be there but since it's not impractical to just replace the whole rear spindle that seems to be the best approach. ideally we were trying to do this with 100% all OEM parts but the ball joint seat was the only real obstacle as something that needed to be sourced outside of infiniti. it's a whole lot easier to develop this ball joint seat than it would be to develop a bracket really. there isn't anywhere near as much room to work with in the rears for a bracket development & it would be pretty difficult to have a bracket setup designed, of course not impossible, but the ball joint seat just seemed to be the better way to go really & much more straight forward.

I've been driving my fx for a while now with the rear ball joint in the incorrect hole of the 09 ball joint seat. I will take it apart soon for inspection to see just how the wear is taking it's toll, this is the problem with this seat not being a perfect mate... every time there is any side to side or accelerate/ decelerate the stresses on this ball joint seat will allow a slight amount of movement, which translates to stresses, wear & eventual loosening up of this critical mount, which is why this really can't be sold to the public in the as-is incorrect configuration. Joe is supposed to be ordering these seats but I haven't really spoken to him since before my trip to Florida, so a few weeks now. I just called him & left a voice mail, so I should have some more info soon for you guys... as far as I know where we left off the fronts should have been ready already, so I'll find out what the deal is there too...
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good news indeed. Can't wait until the parts make it on a FX here in the West coast (hmm Dr2K, Berto ... big ballers:biggrin:) so I can see them first hand. :wink:
 
+1 to that. my front brakes are squealin like a stuck pig every time i hit the pedal. i gotta do something quickly. =/
 
grab a set of $13 pads & throw them in to hold you over... any auto parts store will have cheap pads for the fx. that's what I did at one point before I could get my rotoras...

I've been trying to get a hold of joe but don't want to leave multiple msgs... I'll try him again in a litle while...,
 
turbocad6 said:
grab a set of $13 pads & throw them in to hold you over... any auto parts store will have cheap pads for the fx. that's what I did at one point before I could get my rotoras...

I've been trying to get a hold of joe but don't want to leave multiple msgs... I'll try him again in a litle while...,
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actually, i didn't even think of that lol. good idea.

and regarding joe, you shouldn't leave multiple messages cuz that would be rude. instead everyone here should just leave 1 message a piece. he'll get the hint :laugh:
 
Do you think there will be any tolerance issues with the newly designed ball joint seat over the life of the car? As you mentioned, any slop or play in any direction will cause excessive wear over time. I'm worried that the material this joint 'adapter' is made out of will deteriorate over time. Should I buy an extra set of these ball joint seats to be on the safe side, say 20-30,000 miles down the road?

And what about thermal expansion and/or contraction causing more (or less, and thus friction issues) slop in this joint?
 
Is there any idea on the cost of this? As we know, aftermarket BBK are in the $2,000 range. I know you got the special price for testing, so curious to see what the actual price would be.

A lot lower? Similar to aftermarket?
 
Goal is to keep it around $2000, and by the looks of it and what John was saying, it will be around $2000 since all pieces are OEM except the custom-made seat adapter that Joe @ infinitipartsusa might've ordered 50 of so that bulk price savings could be carried over to us... Joe could make a killing being the only one with this BBK for us at such a low price :4tongue:

$2,000-$2,500 BBK for '03-'08 FX35's and FX45's that look (and pretty much are) 100% OEM... *drool*
 
Frankiago said:
Goal is to keep it around $2000, and by the looks of it and what John was saying, it will be around $2000 since all pieces are OEM except the custom-made seat adapter that Joe @ infinitipartsusa might've ordered 50 of so that bulk price savings could be carried over to us... Joe could make a killing being the only one with this BBK for us at such a low price :4tongue:

$2,000-$2,500 BBK for '03-'08 FX35's and FX45's that look (and pretty much are) 100% OEM... *drool*
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Nice, you can get front and rear for $2,000 = price of just aftermarket fronts.
 
don't know or have access to anything with the 6 piston euro models...


as a summary, the front 4 pot fx50s calipers are the same caliper as the g37s caliper, actually the rear is exactly the same too. the front rotor is same as the g37s, but the rear rotor is different because the parking brake is larger on the fx. g37s rear rotor can be used, but it will rub slightly on the fx backing plate & the parking brake won't work with the g37s rear rotor, so you should really use fx50s specific rear rotors

as far as the durability of the ball joint adapter, as long as the angle/pitch of the center hole is exactly the same as the angle/pitch of the ball joint itself, it's pretty much foolproof. durability should be 100% the same as OEM, I even overspec'ed the strength & hardness of the stainless steel that it's spec'ed as, so really there should be 0 issues, again, as long as they properly mate, which they should.


I did everything I can to measure & confirm that I have the correct angle to within less than a degree margin of error. even bought special calipers & multiple precision angle gages to be as sure as I can about my design. until one is made & in my hands & fitted I guess I can't know for sure that it's absolutely perfect, but as long as it's machined & finished as I think it should be, it "should" be perfect. that's as sure as I can be till I actually get them in my hands.

I spoke to Joe, he is waiting for the 80 front caliper bolts he ordered to arrive from infiniti. once he has them in his hands he'll announce the group buy for the front's & request interest in the rears to gage how many of these setups will actually sell. Joe has not ordered the rear ball joint adapters yet for several reasons, one being he doesn't want to be stuck with alot of these if there not going to move.


I'm considering doing an initial order of these ball joint seats myself honestly, but then again I sure don't want to get stuck with like $800 worth of paperweights either... Monday I'll take my rear ball joint apart & inspect the wear... truth is, if I wind up ruining my upper ball joints in the meantime it'll cost me over $400 to replace my upper arms anyway, so I'm pretty much weighing my options here... I could also maybe hand make my own adapters but that doesn't help anything for the masses here...
 
So uhh... I've refreshed this page several times already, wondering who will be the first to pull the trigger. I almost stepped in myself but it would be WAYYYYY too impulse.

I want the fronts and the rears together. I also want to see if anybody has the capability of looking into the 6 pot "euro spec" for the fronts.

Anyways, here she is:
http://www.infinitifx.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=20054
 
hmm wonder why he doesn't post the GB on here also, I'll send him an email..

I know he is a member.
 
fxlr8 said:
hmm wonder why he doesn't post the GB on here also, I'll send him an email..

I know he is a member.
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Spoke to Joe, he said he will post the GB here also when they actually have sets in and have an actuall GB.
 
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