callipers now fully refurbished......
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:33 pm
after completely replacing every bush , bearing , stub axles , springs , shocks , nuts and bolts and every other perishable on my front suspension, and refurbishing the steering rack i moved onto the 4 pot front callipers
this was a real head-scratcher, as i had a choice, either buy refurbished units at a cost of around £120+ each , or refurbish my own units myself ,
the latter would mean buying a seal kit , bleed nipples ,new pistons and pipes with some special brake grease and heat resistant paint and some serious elbow grease and time
so , to keep costs down i refurbished my own units , i struck lucky with the off-side unit , as it appears it was a refurbished unit in great condition and fitted not long before i bought her , the other side was however original and was in worse condition
so , the strip-down and cleanup , i used some heavy duty engine cleaner to de-grease, and then i used some paint on rust remover to clean down the castings , this worked very well, and after washing off i used my bench grinder with wire wheel to clean it further, then a de-grease with some panel cleaner , and a coat of high zinc heat resistant primer, then two coats of black calliper paint ,
to rebuild i needed the ' red ' calliper grease, i had to wait a week for this from ebay , this was applied sparingly to the pot seal , and then to the piston, which was gently pressed into the calliper body , dust cap and spring clip was then fitted , another seven to do and they were ready to mount on the car,
new calliper pipes were fitted and bent to shape round the calliper to meet the flexi-pipe bracket , these go to goodrich braided brake pipes to the body ,
the callipers mounted easily , and then i fitted a new set of brake pads and calliper brake retaining pins and springs,
finally new bleed nipples were fitted , all with a small smear of grease to aid removal in the future ,
new discs were fitted to the hub some time back , so it all looks very tidy now ,
BB
this was a real head-scratcher, as i had a choice, either buy refurbished units at a cost of around £120+ each , or refurbish my own units myself ,
the latter would mean buying a seal kit , bleed nipples ,new pistons and pipes with some special brake grease and heat resistant paint and some serious elbow grease and time
so , to keep costs down i refurbished my own units , i struck lucky with the off-side unit , as it appears it was a refurbished unit in great condition and fitted not long before i bought her , the other side was however original and was in worse condition
so , the strip-down and cleanup , i used some heavy duty engine cleaner to de-grease, and then i used some paint on rust remover to clean down the castings , this worked very well, and after washing off i used my bench grinder with wire wheel to clean it further, then a de-grease with some panel cleaner , and a coat of high zinc heat resistant primer, then two coats of black calliper paint ,
to rebuild i needed the ' red ' calliper grease, i had to wait a week for this from ebay , this was applied sparingly to the pot seal , and then to the piston, which was gently pressed into the calliper body , dust cap and spring clip was then fitted , another seven to do and they were ready to mount on the car,
new calliper pipes were fitted and bent to shape round the calliper to meet the flexi-pipe bracket , these go to goodrich braided brake pipes to the body ,
the callipers mounted easily , and then i fitted a new set of brake pads and calliper brake retaining pins and springs,
finally new bleed nipples were fitted , all with a small smear of grease to aid removal in the future ,
new discs were fitted to the hub some time back , so it all looks very tidy now ,
BB