spazegun2213

Alright guys, in my winter tear down I removed my front calipers tonight and this is what they look like.



I'm no expert, but I'm going to assume the seals are really close to shot? They are probably the OEM calipers. Now should i rebuild them (paragon ~$10) or should i just buy rebuilt calipers (paragon ~$40)? I have no idea how hard it is to rebuild a caliper but i figure i could probably do it.

After this and other things i discovered tonight, I'm going to have a shop look over the next car i purchase.

cviles

You've just leaped way beyond my experience...

Anyone, please, I would love to hear your experience and wisdom on this topic, along with your reasoning. I'm still amongst the heathens than that think if it's mushy it must be bled...

J Silverman

For $40 each Id just get the rebuilt calipers. Its not hard to rebuild the calipers, Im just lazy. I need rear calipers so Ill probably get a set of rebuilt calipers to put on the car and then rebuild the originals as spares. IIRC paragon didnt have any type of core charge on the calipers.

Alan Herod

Your dust boots are shot and your piston is showing surface rust. It only takes one day on the track to finish off the dust boots; but your piston shows no sign of leaking. If you are going to be tracking this car, you need to learn how to rebuild them, so you can do it at the track should the need arise. You need seals and scotch brite. I have heard that there are stainless pistons available; although I have never seen them. I have not tried Paragon for the seals, and have only been able to buy the full kit with the seals, dust boots, and c-clamp. Message edited -- C-Clamp should have been C-Clip

kurt M

The kit comes with a C clamp? I have been cheated out of all of mine!

Rebuilding is the easy part, getting the pistons out is the kicker. You will need to have compressed air for this. It is easy no brainer type work to do the second time you do it. There is a little bit of a learing curve to it and you will need some basic tools and a place to work as it can be messy. I wrap a big cloth around everything while blowing the pistons out to catch the brake fluid spray and mist. Search is your friend and you will find many good already typed up "How too" lists. I like to blow one piston out then block that bore with a used up brake pad sealed with some rubber gasket and a C clamp. (the one that I keep getting cheated out of in the kits ) Clamp off the open bore then blow the other side out. Keep your fingers out of the area! A piston being pushed on by 90 PSI air pressure will pinch/crush a finger but good. No old pad and gasket materal sitting around? Remove the first piston and its seal, clean the bore and piston and put it back in the bore. Trap with the C clamp and blow the 2nd one out, then remove the first with your fingers. another little trick is to put a little pressure on the binder without having a C clamp on the pistons and look to see which one moves a little first. Clamp this one off and blow the other one first. This way you are doing the hard one first when it is easer to pressurise it.

Do not take the haves apart unless you are standing next to a trash can as that is the next stop for them if you do.

spazegun2213

Wait, so thats just the dust boot, silly me i thought it was the seals starting to go? Do you think the calipers are ok? there is a little surface rust on the piston but nothing to bad really. I'm new to all of this but i know brakes are some I like

I have a friend who has rebuild some in the past, so I'll probably get his help to rebuild them if i need to.

Kurt, what do you mean by

thanks again!

RedlineMan

Hey;

As a matter of fact... Just got done with these 911 calipers. Bead blasted, honed, and all new rubber.




Kurt had some good ideas there, especially about the compressed air and popping the easy piston 2nd. I use the c-clamp that Kurt is missing to keep the piston from projecting across the shop. If you don't have compressed air, you pop them with the brake system BEFORE removing the calipers from the car. I actually had to put these back on because one piston was REALLY stuck (the reason for the rebuild in the first place).

For street, get the rebuilt stuff. It works and is cheap. When you are tracking, there is nothing like the peace-of-mind of knowing EXACTLY what has been done. It is not difficult to do, and as my current seat thread states, you should not trust anyone but yourself.

RedlineMan

BAH!

You'll figure them out. Just don't take BOTH of them apart at once. Leave one together as a guide.

924RACR

What Silverman said, they're too cheap as rebuilds to pass up. I got one halfway through the season, after breaking one of mine (that I rebuilt myself) hitting a wall. Then use your old ones, bead blasted and painted, to rebuild and have spares JIC... (not that I've ever really needed a spare at the track)

kurt M

John, how do you line up, reseal the halves, what fastners do you use and why do you disasemble in the first place?

For a real stuck piston. I use liquid wrench or equ all around the piston edge and let soak for hour or two after heating all to the just hot to touch level. I think heating and letting cool helps draws the penetrant in and helps free up stuff. Let it go cold add more LW and then torch the outside goot-and-hot. Then cram an ice cube in the piston cup for 30 seconds or so and pressurise. Still no pop? Grab the top of the piston, NOT the side of the piston, the little part that sticks up and the pad touches with slip joint pliers and start wiggling. Once it comes free blow that sucker right out. Never had one that I was unable to pull or pop out. There are tools that can grab the piston top and not make bite marks but I don't have them but I do have a file to remove the marks if it comes to that.

fork_included

where did u get the braided lines?

spazegun2213

Fork,
I have no idea where the PO got the lines. Thats the problem with this car, i know about 70% of whats on it, the rest i have no idea.


Others,
if i get the calipers sand blasted would i need a bigger piston to put inside the caliper? or does the sand blasting not take off enough metal to worry about that?

kurt M

You don’t want to sand blast the piston or bore, media blast the outside of the binder with glass bead or shell but sand or harder is too harsh. Sand blasting the pistons or bores is reason to discard them. MHO the best thing to do is just clean them up with a kitchen scrubber and don't worry if they don't look all shiny and ready to rerust. Brakes stay clean for about 10 seconds. Clean the pistons and bores with a scotch bright pad using brake fluid as a wash fluid and blow everything out clean with compressed air rinse with brake clean and blow out again. lube the seals and pistons up with brake fluid and put them all together. line up the notch on the pistons up per the instructions and press in with the C clamp. After you have it all back together wash the brake fluid off and install. There are plenty of instructions with pictures on the web.

J Silverman

Pelican sells them and so does paragon I don tknow how much of a pain shipping to the great white north is but the lines are pretty cheap.

spazegun2213

this is why i love rennlist, you all ROCK!!! And between all the different people here i think the list knows everything