I'm going to rebuild my brake calipers (replace the piston seals). I took them off the car yesterday, and thought, "well, if I'm going to take the time to rebuild them, I should clean them up a bit."

I plugged the fluid holes and masked off the pistons and spent some time sand blasting them. Powder coated them black (to keep them original) and then sanded the "porsche" down on a belt sander.

All told, it took me most of the day to do the front calipers, but they look awesome! I can't wait to get them back on.

(I was amazed how old and dingy they were. I believe they were orriginally anodized black and clear coated. But the clear coat had turned yellow over the years, making them look kind of dingy gold.)

 

Looks nice!! So the Porsche logo is bare metal with clear coat, very clever.

 

Looks great Van!

 

Looks great Van! I bought black brake caliper paint for mine, it will be depressing to see them side by side!

 

They look fantastic. I was going to paint mine as well, but decided to hold off and find another set later to properly rebuild and powdercoat..

 

 

Look good, Van.
Now the fun begins. Playing with seals and pistons is a joy.

 

That's cool. I've always wondered how to do it, so thanks to you Van now I know.

 

I'll take video of the rebuilding - I'm hoping it goes well. I have new seals from StopTech - who told me the scrapers (like a dust boot) are hard to replace, but seldom need it... so I should just reuse them and only replace the seal (which is like a square o-ring).

I've also made a set of tools - copies of these - one for each piston size. http://www.genesisparts.com/index.cf...action=product

In the first picture, I'm cutting the bore on a lathe so it's very precise. In the second picture, I have the bores all done and have marked out where I'll band-saw. I didn't take a picture of the finished product yet...

 

Why not just change the pistons one at a time using compressed air?

 

How much were the seal/piston kits at stoptech? Their "select a vehicle" on the website isn't working atm...

 

Nice work and cleaver tool for the pistons. I usually just pop off pistons with compressed air.

 

A) you can only take out 1 piston at a time that way... and B) I've heard of people getting hurt / having parts fly across the shop that way...


I actually ordered them through Racer's Edge. $140 for all 4 calipers. A turbo S used 44mm and 36mm in the front, and 30mm and 28mm in the rear.

 

Very good.

Thanks Van.

 

Ive rebuild more calipers than i care to remember, the scraper rings are indeed a pain in the butt to get out without knicking the caliper in places. For the pistons i just use 3 c-clamps to hold the pistons in and a small block of wood up against the piston i want to get out. Using a regulator you only need 15-20psi to get the piston to start extending. Once its halfway out or so you can just pull it out the rest of the way by hand. The first time i rebuild a caliper i just stuck a piece of old 2x4 in between the caliper so the pistons would stop against it.. i put like 140psi air through it for a fraction of a second and all the pistons shot out instantly (sounded like someone shot a 9mm!). I learned quick after that one .