KirkF

I was thinking about splitting my calipers and dismantling them before sending them off to be powder coated.

Is there any reason not to do this?
Are they hard to get apart?

Kirk

IanR

Porsche specifically state in the 964 tech specs manual that four-piston calipers must not be split - I'm not sure why, but there must be a reason.

viperbob

No reason to split them. The powder coating will come out perfect if you have a good shop do the work.

chris walrod

Just as Bob says, leave 'em alone.

I have powdercoated them in halves before for a few folks, but found that I had to be meticulous in masking around the mating surfaces not to allow any plating onto these surfaces in efforts to retain proper alignment etc.

KirkF

So you just masked of the inner surfaces, (pistons/seal) etc and then bead blasted and powder coated, right?

(I will have to give the powder coating people precise directions or they will undoubtably screw it up)

Kirk

KirkF

Ok, lets revive this topic.
I inspected my calipers and all the boots are screwed. I want to split them, replace the plates and the seals, and while they are apart powder coat them and dichromate the hardware.

Who has done this? any tricks?
It looks like you remove the 4 corroded screws and then the plates and then split the calipers. Any tricks?

thanx
Kirk

C24FUN

Kirk,

I just went thru this to fix a problem with the brake pad spring plates(corrosion underneath). There was no way I could loosen the old spring plate retaining screws without splitting the calipers. I had to cut the spring plates in half to get the calipers apart. I ended up having to cut slots in the tops of the spring plate screws and use an impact driver to back them out.

The only other details not already mentioned were removing the brake hardline that joins the halves, which can be a challenge, and sealing up all the orifices to prevent paint (or powdercoat) from getting in or drops of brake fluid from getting out. The 4 caliper thru bolts were hard to release but once cracked they came apart alright.

I can't see how there could be much of a chance for "mis-alignment" when reassembling as there is almost no slack in the assembly once all the bolts are started in their threads.

Good luck!
Jim Grant

chris walrod

An easy way to plug the bleeder and transfer tube (bridge pipe) holes is to use a 10mmX1.0 pitch bolt. Easy

You still dont have to split the calipers to replace dust boots etc. I would leave them whole..

Bill Verburg

The spring plate screws are locktited. Use heat to remove them.

The biggest issue will be replacement bolts to hold the caliper halves together, should they be needed. They are not easily replaced.

It is not recommended that they be split , but it really isn't that big a deal if you do.

Pesty

Guys I am cuurrently refurbing 4 brake calipers.

I managed to remove all the bolts for the plates even though most were that corroded an allen key/12 point bit would not fit any more so I had to tap them all out with a punch.

I used heat on the front because I know I can get dust seals in case I damaged them but did not on the rear. there was not much difference. In fact the hardest 2 screws to get out were on the front and i used lots of heat.

I did not need to split the calipers.

I am now at the stage of deciding how to finish them I want to paint inside the caliper as well because there is lots of corrosion behind teh plates so I would like to shot blast and powder coat in there as well. Can anyone tell me if this is feasable?

Cheers.
heres a pic of the bolts

jimq

Porsche sure likes to use soft metal on their allen bolts. The ones I took off from my fan belt last weekend looked worse then those.

KirkF

Ok,
Splitting brake calipers is a miserable job. No wonder everyone recommends not doing it!
However I did manage to get all 4 calipers apart. I had to drill out one of the main bolts, cut all the steal plates and use a hammer and chisel to get the little screws out.

I will be dropping them off at the powder coater next week.

It looks like all the pistons are in good shape.

The through bolts are Metric M12x80mm 1.75 thread and M10x80mm 1.5 thread. So I am going to replace them all.

Now what are the best source for all the hardware? spring plates, springs, bleeders, cross pipes, dust seals, main seals etc? Is there one source that will have everything?

(I have to compete with Marcs new big reds. )

Kirk

Marc Shaw

Marc

Pesty

Anyone got any tips links on replacing teh dust covers/seals? cheers

KirkF

compressed air works well to blow the pistons / dust covers out. Thats as far as i've gotten so far.
Oh ya and all the hardware is a fortune so screw up as little as possible! UGH!

Kirk