03-05 are different than 06-07. Look up the parts, you'll see what I mean.

 

Yeah I understand that it's a different part but I'm almost certain the only real difference is the size of the reservoir since as the brake pads wear the Brembo has a larger volume to displace since there's more volume on it's pistons, the stock master cylinder has a tiny reservoir and would be empty by the time the brembo pads were about 1/2 worn. But there's a level switch in the reservoir so you will know when it starts to get low.

Are you sure you bled the brakes in the correct order? It's not your usual "farthest to nearest" bleed order, gotta be in the order of right rear, left front, left rear, right front.

I can absolutely guarantee the stock non-brembo master cylinder has no issues operating the OEM Brembo or OEM Akibono calipers, or even larger calipers like the 6 piston ones. There's been plenty of folks who got things like Wilwood or aftermarket Brembo 6 piston front / 4 piston rear and used the stock non-brembo MC.

I think @Blue Dream had a 2005 with the stock MC and he had some huge brakes on it, perhaps he'll rise from the abyss to tell the tale ;P

 

06/07

03/05

 

Yes I'm not saying they are the same but if you do assemble and mic them out the only difference is the brembos have a bore of 1.0626 while the non brembo is exactly 1.00. Stroke is the same on both for obvious reasons.

The biggest difference is the dual diaphram brake booster but that just provides more power assist and has nothing to do with what you were describing.

The bore difference is not great enough to provide any meaningful difference in pedal feel, plus many hundreds of people (maybe even thousands since you have to count the 350Z community) have done a brembo (or better) upgrade with the stock non-brembo MC and had no issues.

I'm fairly certain that there was air in your system somewhere, likely the caliper itself. It's not uncommon on a brembo (or better) caliper swap to require bleeding the brakes 3 or more times. Normally with a full caliper swap you bleed everything, then go around with a rubber mallet and whack all the calipers again, then bleed again, see how the pedal feels and continue to use the mallet and bleed method until it's a firm pedal.

That you bled the calipers multiple times due to swapping the MC is probably what actually got all the trapped air out of the calipers.

Possibly your original MC just died during the swap though. If it had 150k miles on it that wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

The top master is the only master for the 06-07.
The bottom is the version that is used on the Brembo and non Brembo 03-05 cars. Yes I know the bore is either 1" or 1&1/16" for those masters. I'm saying that little master from the 06-07 didn't work with the Brembo calipers. Just saying, it was bled to our best ability, the pedal would go to the floor, let up, pump again and it would hold, firm. Let off and you'd have to do the same thing again to get it to work. Air is squishy, after second pump it was totally firm. Installed the correct master and it worked perfectly. Did the OE master fail, highly doubtful.

 

Well I'm glad you got it all figured out regardless.

I have had excellent luck using the Motive power bleeders, they make a cap specifically for our brake systems, part number for the pump and cap is 0107. Makes those difficult brake bleed jobs an absolute breeze

 

Thanks, it was not without it's hurdles. The Motive unit would have been nice for sure. We did a combo of mightyvac at the caliper and manual bleeding to get it done. I'm guessing the real issue is the ABS pump being higher than the master cylinder. Made swapping the lines to the older master easy, but causes all the nightmares people have bleeding these cars.
I'd like to know if anyone with an 06/07 has successfully done a swap with the OE master cylinder. I guess anything is possible for why it didn't work for me, but just looking at the master had me questioning whether it would work. Then when it didn't and I did some research, I seen the difference in size. Since it had to be swapped it was only logical to get the Brembo specific part. Good thing is, it can be swapped to the earlier stuff.

 

At the end of the day the brembo MC and booster are better, mostly due to the dual diaphragm booster so nothing wrong with the upgrade

 

I just had the swap done using the OEM master cylinder and adding the Z1 master cylinder brace. Headed out this weekend to bed in the EBC pads and rotors if the rain will stop. No issues as far as I can tell.

 

The master cylinder should not have effected the brakes that much. I have a 6/4 POT big brake kit on an 06, which are much bigger than the OEM Brembos and the MC works just fine. It honestly sounded like you had air in the lines the first time.

 

He's alive!!!
Yes I had the Willwood Superlite 6pot fronts running on the stock MC with no issues. Man I miss those brakes, they were awesome. And thanks cleric for making me feel loved and important.