brakes 02 Brake caliper overhaul pics!

[02_Plate]

finally got around to dealing with my binding brakes recently!

didnt really want to do them silver at all but i tried all the local/regional shops and the choice was very limited to red, yellow, blue or silver =/ wheres henry ford and his famous quote about car colours when you need him?!!

anyway, im fitting them later today so wish me luck as i take my first brake into a tight bend tonight

[BillWilliams]

(nt)

[jerry]

i didn't realize overhauling brake calipers could be a DIY project. any 'pearls' of knowledge you can share on the process? i have a few i'd like to freshen up.

[tkent02]

Info on parts, tools, techniques?

It would be read and used by a lot of us faqers.

[beast02er]

MY pistons seemed to be sticking on my brakes also, so I did a search on rebuilding and found out a rebuild kit costs you about $40...... Then I checked NAPA online to see how much a rebuilt caliper was, and they were $47 (these are the Volvo 240 brakes for the big brake upgrade). So rather than buy a rebuild kit, fiddle around with rebuilding them, I get a pretty much new set of calipers for almost what it would cost me to rebuild my old somewhat dirty ones.

Just the keep in mind if it comes time to do the calipers,

Bryan

red73

[BillWilliams]

rule #1 don't split the calipers if you do not have to, the only thing inbetween is a rubber washer/grommet that is NLA.

I took the calipers off of the car naturally.

Remove all of the bleeder screws, drain as much fluid as you can and clean the calipers as much as you can at this point. It is good to get all of the "moil" (mud and oil in the williams home) off now while the old stuff is in there. Use brake cleaner to clean the cylinders, pistons and all of the fluid passages.

Mark the pistons so you can place them back in their respective cylinder.

Remove the spring wire clips around the rubber booties that are around the pistons. Pop out the pistons by using compressed air through one of the holes that the brake line goes into. Clean out the surprising amount of gunk behind the pistons.

I lightly polished the pistons and cylinder walls with a very fine scotch brite pad.

Replace the seals around the cylinders. You can easily pop the old seals out with a pick. Pop the pistons back in. Install new booties and the spring wire clips.

Install new bleeder screws, pads, and retainer plates, paint the calipers with POR 15 or your favorite paint. Bobs your uncle.

[jdp530]

I have rebuilt several sets of calipers in years past and I never bothered to split the two halves since they are quite tight and its possible that after they have been split they may not fit as well since they have been exposed to extreme temperatures and could be slightly warped.

Be careful when you air up the calipers because the pressure can build up greatly and a piston can pop out with a lot of force. Keep your fingers out of the caliper when you do this step. I usually place a piece of 1/2 foam between the pistons, sometimes I will use a piece of 1/8th inch masonite with a clamp to prevent the piston from coming out completely because if one does you will not get the others out. I try to get each one to pop out enough and after all of them are loose I can grab and pull them out. You can clean the pistons and bores with scotchbrite or some 1000 or 1200 grit paper.

[FP2002]

I've rebuilt lots of calipers (at one time I was getting only two hours of track time before the seals would fail, but that's another issue). I've bought several sets on Ebay to rebuild and the biggest issue I see is someone using something metalic to remove the seals. Once the area near the seal is scratched the caliper is junk. I use a Tupperware tool intended for pealing oranges and it works great. Any plastic or wood tool is better that anything metal. The seals between the halves are available from BMP but I agree with the others, avoid splitting the caliper if you can.

[BillWilliams]

for someone to write an FAQ