divil

Does anyone know which size seals etc. I need for the M030 calipers (1989 Turbo)? Paragon has many different sizes and I can't find any info on the piston sizes in my car. Thanks!

doabarrelroll

You have to check which type of 89' calipers you have. The 89'+ calipers don't have raised lettering on them and are strangely, 1/3 of the cost to rebuild compared to the older style of caliper.

Sizes: 44mm and 36mm

divil

Thanks...I haven't checked the lettering, but I did pull the pads to check the seal type and it is a rubber boot, which I think means I have the later ones and not the "scraper ring". I'm not 100% sure because I'm not sure what the scraper ring looks like but going by the VIN on the Paragon link above also confirms that I have the later ones.

EDIT...Now I'm confused. I looked at the early caliper kits just out of curiosity, and that page has some info on sizes. It says the '88 Turbo S uses 44mm and 36mm for the front and 30mm and 28mm for the rears. So each caliper has 2 different sizes? Are they different from left to right or top/bottom?

joker2cv

You are right. 2 different sizes in each caliper, the same for left and right.

divil

Thanks...just to clarify, I'm was talking about left/right on each caliper. Are the 44s on one side of the caliper, and the 36s on the other side? Or both 44s on the top, or both on the bottom? I'll find out when I take them apart anyway, just curious really. I'm surprised that all 4 are not the same.

joker2cv

one of 44 and one of 36 in each side of the caliper (front). The OEM refurbish kit included the piston, the ring and the dust cover.

mj951

You may want to disassemble the calipers before ordering parts, the pistons are expensive and unless damaged you'll only need to replace the seals. I rebuilt / refinished the brakes and hydraulic system on my '89 turbo a few years ago and didn't need to replace pistons. I did replace the lines, seals and bleeders as well as refinish the calipers.

If you're feeling ambitious, it might be a good time to replace that leaky clutch slave cylinder and blue clutch hose.
Kind of a pain but worth the piece of mind.

Do a search and read up some, there's a little technique required to dismantle the calipers using compressed air.
Good luck and a pic for some inspiration.

divil

Strange, I checked my calipers and they do have raised lettering, but I was sure they were the late versions. I better double check the dust boot again.

Thanks...I'm assuming I won't need new pistons so I'm just goinig to go with the seals/dust boots and hope for the best.

Crazy Eddie

I don't know if you checked the prices on these brake parts but for the 88TS
the price on the kits is 34.44 for one piston size, and $43.88 for the other . That is per piston!!! ( that was also 4 yrs ago)
That's approx $160 per corner, although the rears may be cheaper ?
Even for the 86 T the prices are expensive, from what I was told, but not as bad as the 88TS
Good luck
Regards
Ed

divil

Yeah it comes to around 380 for just the seals for all 4 corners, going by Paragon prices. That's without the pistons, with the pistons it's around twice that. I'm just going to go with the seals and hope my pistons turn out to be ok!

User 41221

To disassemble, just get a block of wood that fits between the pistons that you want to keep in place, and then hit the bleeder port with air and the side that you want to change should just pop out.

divil

Thanks Scott...I'll give that a try.

I am planning to paint them too...I was thinking the best order to do things in would be to first clean/paint/cure, then remove and replace the seals. That way I wouldn't be exposing the new seals to heat. Does that make sense? I'm sure they can take whatever heat that the paint can take anyway, just a precaution.

doabarrelroll

Whatever you do, don't split the caliper in half.

Wheel Dynamics

Are you going to refinish them at the same time?

divil

Definitely!

But I'm going to paint them yellow

How were those in your pic painted? I am going to do it myself, but I'm undecided about exactly what to use.