How To: Saturn Rear Disc Conversion Writeup (may apply to other cars)

[99SL2_Modder]

Ok, so you want rear discs on your non-abs or your 99+ Saturn? Well, you've got some work ahead of you. According to the dealership, 99+ do not and can not have rear discs, so don't even think about looking there for much.

Parts you WILL need:
-Crush washers (brass washers). Get em from the dealership at $0.89 a piece, and get 4 (2 per caliper). They're universal, just pick a year and ask for them.
-E-brake cables for your year. 99+, use a 98 rear disc cable. Best way to grab them is from www.rockauto.com . They come all pre-grommeted and all the retaining washers. Good buy.
-Zipties. As fat as you can get em, and I guess a medium length would do well.

I didn't really pay attention to tools, I just wanted to be able to stop, so we blew through this task fast. I had use of a shop for free, because I'm good like that. You'll have a harder time, but at least I could get you some pictures to let you know what's up.

First, with the car on the ground, remove the rear seat by pushing towards the rear of the car and lifting up. It will pop. It's a bit of a pain, but just keep working at it. We found it easiest to push the seats up and do it this way:
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC1.JPG

After that's up, set it aside. It weighs maybe about half a pound, if that. You can leave it out permanently if you want, but it's no real savings. Move on to the center console. If you have the armrest, you'll have 2 bolts inside of it as pictured. If you don't have the armrest, well, they're pretty visable and in the same spot. Take em out.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC2.JPG

Next, rip off the fuse panel deal from the passenger side. There will be one screw there. Take it out. There's also one on the other side, under the drivers panel.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC3.JPG

If you lift up the carpeting in front of the back seat, you SHOULD see the e-brake cable doing this. Memorize the route. They are on either side of the "hump" in the middle of the car.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC4.JPG

They connect to this brass bracket. To remove them pull the e-brake taut, grab a pair of pliers and pull back hard. Let the e-brake loose and try to quickly wiggle the cable out of the bracket. It will take a few tries, but eventually you'll get it.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC5.JPG

Time to get the car up! Loosen the lugs on you pla$tic hubcap$ or your rimz, and start jackin it up.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC6.JPG

Now, you're probably not as lucky as I was to get a lift for free, but you can always do some high jackstands and just keep raising each corner higher and higher til they're maxed. My fronts are off as well because I'm swaping those calipers out as well. True DSM style.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC7.JPG

After all that was done, the best start to this task was to clamp the line to keep MOST of the fluid from coming out. It doesn't need nor do you WANT it to be tight. You're gonna wait it to drip fluid. The lines are metal inside, and crimping them would be bad. Clamp em, and then break loose or completely remove the brake hose from the drum.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC8.JPG

Start yanking everything off the drums. Pop those springs out with pliers and a pulling motion, there's those blue-ish looking springs in my pictures. Yank those out too. Eventually you'll be able to start pulling them apart like so.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC9.JPG

With the enemy conquered, you're left with yet another problem...this stupid e-brake cable.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC10.JPG

There is a bolt holding a bracket that pushes the e-brake up to the body frame. Remove that and the ziptie. To remove the e-brake out of the car, just yank.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC11.JPG

You'll then want to get the hub off of the knuckle. Spin the hub and take out all the bolts through the big holes in the hub. To get the hub off of the knucle after the bolts are out, take your BFH (as every Saturn owner SHOULD have one), and wail the crap out of the BACKING PLATE. I can't stress this enough. Do NOT hit the hub back, hit the little round disc that the drum pads were all sitting on. From under the car to the outside. If you left the brake hose attached, the hub will pop out and dangle. Good. You're done that.

[99SL2_Modder]

Next, you wanna take the backing plate off the hub, right? Well, the method most people use is to take a chisel to the 2 grooves on the plate and pry it off, seen here:
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC12.JPG

Our method to remove it was to sit it on a WOODEN workbench, studs up, and put a big block of wood on one side of the backing plate, and wail on the opposing side with a BFH. 2 hard whacks popped the sucker right out.

Now you've got a bare knuckle kinda chillin there, all rusty and stuff. Clean it. Buff it out, wirebrush it...SOMETHING. Clean the holes in the knuckle where the caliper bracket will sit. Sand em down, and drill them out with the same size bit.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC13.JPG

Stick some grease or some other type of lubricant into the hub hole of the knuckle. This becomes YOUR choice if you want to put the dust shield on or not. I chose not to, since I wash my car. For people that whine about brake dust, all they have to do is wash the car. Anyway, that fits on like the drum backing plate. Match the holes. After you're done deciding that, shove it through the hub and start bolting it back down. Push those caliper bracket to knuckle bolts through as well. The knuckle isn't threaded, so just push them in and out to clear the holes up.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC14.JPG

Slap your rotors on (after spraying them with brake cleaner...yes, blasphemy...brake cleaner being used on brakes?!?), and bring out a lugnut. Tighting the nut up to keep the rotor positioned. Slide on the caliper, either fully assembled or not, and tighten down the bolts from the knuckle/caliper bracket. Tighten them REALLY well. If you chose to do the bracket first, put your pads in and lube up the pins REALLY well, slide the big one in first and finger tighten it a bit. Rotate the top part over the pads and MAKE SURE that if your pads have the anti-rotation pins on them that the recessed "V" grooves slide over top of them. The pins should fit right inside of those V grooves. Mine did not have those pins. As for the little metal tap thing on the pads, that's a wear-bar, for people that haven't changed pads. You can install it in the back or the forward position. It's personal preference. You'll normally hear the brakes before you check to see if they're low anyway. Also, some brakes come with a metal plate that slides back and forth. That's a shim. Chances are you won't need it, but just pop them off and set them aside. You never know when you might need it.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC15.JPG

Now we get to attach the brake hoses. Take the stock brake hose bolt (you kept it, right?), and put one of the crush washers on. Then the hose as pictured, with another crush washer on top. It should look EXACTLY like this. That flat end goes towards the caliper. Screw that in and uncrimp the line.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC16.JPG

If you're using regular bleeders, open those suckers up and allow it to gravity bleed into a pan or something while working on the other side. If you're using Speed Bleeders like I was, don't have them in the caliper first, as they will not gravity bleed. You can leave them out to allow it to gravity bleed, and thread them in afterwards. They ARE tight.

Now that the easy part is done, this is the part that gave me the most problem. The e-brake. It will be threaded as shown through the caliper with the 3-prog retainer washer on the side you can't see. Route it the same was as the old ones, up through the hole in the floor. Do NOT put the grommets in right away. Bolt those brackets back in over the first metal washer thing. This is much easier to do if both calipers are ready to thread into the e-brake handle. Hop inside and find the cables under the carpet. Feed them under the carpet towards the e-brake. You should feel something metal right in front of that brass bracket under the carpet. It has 2 holes, one left and one right. Left cable goes to the left one and right to the right one. Same as to the brass bracket. This might take a lot of cursing and mumbling to get the ends into the e-brake bracket or the caliper e-brake holder, depending on which you do first. After you FINALLY get that done, you have another chore. Slide the second metal washer deal on the cables up to the ziptie location. Shove another ziptie in there and around the cable. It can only go so tight, because the edges are sharp and will snap the ziptie. That wasn't a chore, right? Well, now shove those grommets in the holes. Oh yeah, that'll take you a bit of persuasion and some curses.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC17.JPG

Now you're done! Almost. Bleed the brakes. Bleed them REALLY well. You can put your back seat back in, and if you want, your console. I'd leave the console out for a bit. After bleeding the brakes, do NOT touch the e-brake lever yet. Drive your hoopty around for a bit. You may notice that letting off the gas will cause you to stop much faster. You might also notice it's hard to drive fast for a bit. This is normal. You'll also smell burning. Brake pads are fun. Just keep on it, and go ginger on the brakes. Eventually, it'll start to feel normal. After that, mess with your e-brake. It should completely lock the wheels at 5 clicks, however you can set it to whatever you'd like. If you left the console up, and are worried about the brass e-brake bracket pulling crooked, don't worry. It will not pull straight, it's perfectly fine. After playing with that adjuster nut for a bit (if you haven't done this before, you have to take the e-brake lever boot off. That screw on the side by the passenger seat comes out, and slide the boot off. There's a 10mm nut on the drivers side that you tighten or loosen) and you get it where you want, put everything back together and enjoy.
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC18.JPG
http://www.xwarlordx.com/99sl2_modder/Writeups/RDC/RDC19.JPG

(this is welcome to a spellcheck)

[On Sale]

NICCEEEE! I would like to see more how-to's like this on tst. Too bad i dont own a saturn or i would def. do this. nice work clint.

[99SL2_Modder]

NICCEEEE! I would like to see more how-to's like this on tst. Too bad i dont own a saturn or i would def. do this. nice work clint.

I wrote this writeup back in October, and it's been sitting in saturn specific forums for awhile, but now there's a tech section, so I figured why not? Other cars may retain the original mounting points for calipers as well, so it's just a way to get it all done.

[MuddyREX]

Dude those calipers are so rice. :finga::mrgreen:

Anyway, good work. Nice to see someone do brakes before they make power.

[the mike]

<Just as a warning, not meant to scare anyone>

It might also be a good idea to get a master cylinder/proportioning valve from a rear disk brake equipped car. Or buy an adjustable one. Disk brakes are by design more efficient than drums. When retrofitting you have changed the amount of bias your rears are getting in regards to the fronts. This COULD lead to rear lock up under heavy braking that didn't lock the rears up before.

Just something else to consider.

Very nice write up Clint.

[99SL2_Modder]

<Just as a warning, not meant to scare anyone>

It might also be a good idea to get a master cylinder/proportioning valve from a rear disk brake equipped car. Or buy an adjustable one. Disk brakes are by design more efficient than drums. When retrofitting you have changed the amount of bias your rears are getting in regards to the fronts. This COULD lead to rear lock up under heavy braking that didn't lock the rears up before.

Just something else to consider.

Very nice write up Clint.

Completely missed this.

I agree. Saturns don't have this issue for some reason. There also is no proportioning valve for rear disc cars, being that all saturns that came with rear discs had ABS. I'm sure we could do it, but according to people who've done emergency 100mph+ stops on them, they do not lock the rears first.

[99SL2_Modder]

Here was the original best "how-to" for a rear disc conversion:
http://www.therob.com/handling/disc.php

While not bad, it left much to be desired, that's why I made my own for everyone. TheRob has a lot of good info, just not a lot of good pictures.

[igo4bmx]

when i did my conversion, i didn't clamp down on my brake hoses. I just left it open and it slowly dripped.

also i was able to find something to shove in the end of it so it dripped less

[99SL2_Modder]

when i did my conversion, i didn't clamp down on my brake hoses. I just left it open and it slowly dripped.

also i was able to find something to shove in the end of it so it dripped less

Yeah, when I unclamped mine, they it was flowing pretty well.

So we clamped them back up. :p