How can I tell if my rear calipers are SC or Carrera?
 

Is there a way to i.d. them by size, markings, etc. They do say ATE.

Am I missing something? Your signature says "81 SC". Pretty much makes 'em SC calipers.;)

Measure the rotor thickness. 20mm for SC, 24mm for Carrera.

The rears were changed at one point and the wrench told me he put in used Carrera calipers in the rear. Since they were gold I didn't doubt it. Now, in thinking back, I don't believe I paid for new rear rotors though. I thought the SC and Carrera rotors were different.

Well, that makes more sense. As Todd said, measure the rotor thickness.
Hmmm, you may need to pay your wrench a visit if they turn out to be SC rotors/calipers. You have a nice upgrade if you have Carrera brkes, though.

Well, the rotors are about 20 mm. I noticed in removing the caliper that the gold is like paint in that its on the nuts and bolts too, as if it were sprayed.

To add to this, when I was looking for a shop to do my head stud repair, many on this list recommended this shop.

Can you post a picture for us? Before we condemn the wrench, let's make sure there wasn't some miscommunication. When I painted my calipers silver, I painted the entire caliper. Gold? Special request color?
Where do the hard brake lines attach? Underneath the caliper or on the top? IIRC. the Carrera's are located at the top. At least they were on wcc's 85 we just worked on last week.

Carreras before '84 used the same M calipers/20mm rotors as SC's and most other 911s since '69

The hard line mounts at the bottom. Also, I thought the SC calipers were iron and the Carrera calipers were alloy. This one is definitely magnetic.
Here are some pics:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1157299908.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1157299949.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1157299982.jpg

there was never an alloy caliper for the normally aspirated 911 thru '89.

The alloy S was only used on the front thru '74.

Thanks for clarifying that Bill. So what you are saying, I guess, is that the above caliper is from an SC or a "insert answer here" Carrera?

It is either an SC M, or Carrera M, the difference is the width of the spacer between the 2 outer halfs, I would need to look up what the different thickness is, but it's easy to tell from the rotors, 24mm Carrera, 20mm SC and other 911. Unless you have worn the rotors well beyond their recommended limit of 22.6mm, you have SC or 911 rear M calipers(which is what you should have there)

The rotors are just under 20mm.

So it looks like you have worn SC rotors, the wear limit is 18mm, the machined limit is 18.6mm

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1157307794.jpg

A late Carrera (1987) rear caliper.

Ian