808mcv20l

It's funny how people say that Hawaii is a small place even though there's around 1 million people on Oahu where Honolulu is located.

I came across the ES300 by chance, was helping a friend look for RX330s on Craigslist and in the process found this ES300. He actually picked up his car on Friday and I picked mine up Sunday that same week.

He got a smoking deal on his RX330 '04 60k miles clear title for less than $7000! The car had some problems with it, stained interior, lots on scratches on the exterior and leaking power steering hose. The seller said bluebook was 11k but by some stroke of luck the owner was really motivated to sell!

Anywho the seller for the ES300 called me back and agreed to show me the car Saturday.

As it turns out, the seller for the ES300 I've met briefly at my previous job!
He explained His dad was the previous owner and passed, he already owns a newer ES300 Hybrid so they decided to sell the car.

They were the original owners and kept it garaged.

The condition was nearly immaculate, there are some minor things but you won't know unless I pointed them out.

He was asking $6800 and mentioned that I was the first caller he had 2 more people to show that day. He told me to put in my best offer and he'll let me know in a week or so!

The bluebook said the car was worth around 6500 or so for private party in excellent condition.

Guess what? he wouldn't even go down to 6500! He mentioned they just spent a bit of money last year to do a tune up and changed the valve cover gaskets. I've done them on my 99 camry so I knew how much of a pain it is to replace them.

I looked and they appeared to be the "Fel Pro" blue valve cover gaskets installed.

After a bit of talking I got him sell me the car for a bit under his asking... I know I overpaid, but considering the condition and recent work I don't think I'd find another with this kind of mileage...

My Condo doesn't allow us to work on our cars I'm sure most don't. So all the work has to be done at my Parent's apartment. I'm basically limited to things I can do in about 1 day.

The Platinum/Coach models are getting harder to come by these days I'm glad I found mine, I'm sure your mom will be happy!

808mcv20l

Sounds like a big Pain in the Azz to do this mod.
Let me get this straight I need:
1)91-92 LS400 Calipers flip them around
2)92-96 Caliper Brackets
3)91-92 LS400 Brake Pads

Then I need to mod the brake line so that that the banjo will tighten down on the caliper correctly? Which part did you file down exactly? the metal around the crimp where the metal meets the rubber?
(Can't I just go with aftermarket Stainless lines to avoid this)

On the 96 ES300 dual piston calipers I didn't have to mod anything, the reman kit came with the calipers and brackets and they just bolted on the 99 Camry.

Would be nice if there were a 4 pot caliper that fits, I read that the newer LS vehicles have 4 pot but no one seems to know or have a working bracket that would allow them to fit on a 97-01 ES.

LeX2K

Not really, compared to most mods this one is simple considering the benefit.
Fixed your list. "Flipping" that calipers around simply means putting them on the opposite side intended not exactly extra work.
Yes, a couple of minutes with a file and done.
Sure.
The dual pot Camry/ES calipers are nice but the LS400 ones are better. 4 pot calipers would be nice but probably overkill at some point you are going to run into traction limitations rather than brake force issues.

gabzor

You can always get SS lines custom made also, but filing down a banjo is no big deal i had to do that for 6 pot brembos on another car, literally took like 3 mins..

and the Ls400 calipers will give you a much better bite probably, 4 pot calipers would require a bigger master, and bigger wheels for sure, different pads, and probably bigger rotors too

and thats a damn good deal for a low mileage platinum, my coach was 3500, talked him down to 2900, but has 180k ish miles, and needs some work, and the body isn't that clean

808mcv20l

Hi Lexus2000 I want to ask you another question about the "pedal feel"

So apparently, when I installed the 96 ES300 2 pot calipers (bought reman'ed centrics) on my 99 Camry V6, I also installed new rotors and Goodridge lines.

Anywho I thought something was wrong cause the pedal felt worse that it did before the swap. So it felt like the engagement point was much lower than it was originally. I ended up bleeding the brakes 3 more times and it only felt slightly better.

Yesterday on this topic I decided to search for brake upgrades for the 4th Gen Camry/3rd gen ES300. Low and behold, some guys discussing how the pedal engagement point was lower after the dual piston swaps that other people have done. Saying that the engagement point was lower but the clamping force was better. (exactly what I noticed)

So... my question to you is... you mentioned that the "pedal feel" was better with the LS400 brakes, can you describe what you mean? is the pedal engagement point now lower than it was originally? Does it take more leg muscle to get it to stop? or the opposite?

I guess my ideal would be to keep the engagement point the same or just slightly lower, but increase the clamping force when I really get on it.

I'm taking a more careful approach to mods on my ES300 than I did to the Camry. I guess you could say that I'm ok with the way the car is currently, with my mileage and the condition the car doesn't really need much work.

I changed the oil and trans fluid this past weekend, I plan to flush the brakes and power steering fluid in the upcoming weeks.

to the OP, you got the car for a pretty damn good price, but considering the mileage it good that the trans was rebuilt, I've read that the u140e can be problematic if it hasn't had it's share of fluid changes, that's one thing that concerns me.

I pulled the transmission pan this weekend to change the gasket and strainer as it turns out the parts I had (leftover from my 99 Camry) the gasket and strainer was different! I should have guessed since the 99-01 ES300 uses the U140e and the Camrys were on the A541e till 2001.

Anywho it's a good thing I didn't destroy the original gasket in the process of removing the pan, cleaned it up and put it back, refilled the trans.
The Pan and magnets were fairly clean. Not too much shavings on it and the fluid looked like it was changed fairly recently. I plan to revisit this when I get the correct gasket and strainer.

LeX2K

I've done dual piston upgrades on a few cars and have never had any issues with longer pedal travel. But it essential to bleed the brakes correctly and get all the air out, the only way I've found that works 100% is a two person method. Vacuum line on bleeder into a jar of fluid, open valve person presses brake pedal. Close bleeder, release brake pedal. I usually go through about a liter of fluid doing all 4 sides maybe a bit more if the fluid is very dirty.

Here's the thing, a dual piston caliper will not make the car stop any faster, mash on the pedal in most any car with the brakes working properly you'll lock the wheels or the ABS will kick in. What the dual piston calipers do give is better accuracy, you can modulate the pedal better meaning the motion of your foot better translates to movement of the brake pads. The brakes just "feel" better. I've also found the dual pot setup reduces the amount of pedal pressure needed although it's not by a lot.

I did find my ES extra difficult to get all the air for whatever reason, also when I bought the car the pedal was quite soft/long travel and it still is a tad soft I guess it is a characteristic of the car.

gabzor

although the dual pot setup would give you a better feeling, wouldn't more pistons actually apply more pressure to through a constant surface, generating higher amounts of friction? so theoretically shouldn't it decrease speed faster if ya didn't lock the tires, and shorten stopping distance?

my other car had bigger brake upgrades too, but I did end up switching to a much bigger rotor (278mm to 334mm) and and even without aggressive pads it was night and day..

Lexus2000 I agree about the brake pedal feel, although I did get it rock hard before the master went out on the 95, I told a mechanic to bench bleed it for me, but I'm sure he half assed it because i did it again via syringe method, it got pretty damn hard, but not as hard as before, probably had to do with me using different pads, or maybe i compressed the caliper too much?,
but the pedal does have some soft spongy feeling before engagement (i noticed the 3es has this too) stainless lines should help a bit, but I think its just a luxury car thing.. Don't ask me though, I feel like I'm going to kill everyone after getting used to an lancer evolution brake pedal

808mcv20l if you're content, than don't change em :P there should be a little pedal adjustment too for the freeplay, and booster would def change the feel of the pedal, same with the master cylinder

LeX2K

It is possible that with an upgraded caliper you will be able to better control near the edge of wheel lock, in fact this is how it feels to me. Of course with ABS you should not be doing this in a panic situation, let the ABS system do the work and worry about steering. But you bring up a good point, the ABS system may be able to more accurately modulate the better calipers resulting in shorter stops.

gabzor

My other car has no ABS, it was pretty hard to get used to coming from so many cars without ABS, but it's not too bad, honestly, good tires seem to make it alot more manageable