Rebuild Calipers - DIY? or Buy Rebuilt?

[dshepp806]

Same here, ...I did mine with my son-in-law (who IS a real mechanic)...no splitting of the halves but a nice rework,..very dirty job,..but very rewarding when we tasted success.

Certainly not complicated, although he was surprised to see me brake out the 20 degree angle plate!!!!!

Next time, I'll get new sets unless my son-in-law needs some side work,..I don't mind paying him for doing the grunt work (plus I get to learn, as he does)...good times, for sure.

I think everyone should do it once!!!!

BEST!

Doyle

[Winter]

I was scared to work on my brakes, but ended up taking the advice here from the community, which was pretty much (as you would expect) "GO FOR IT!".

I didn't care about how the calipers ended up looking, I just wanted them to work as designed, so no fancy plating or painting of the exterior. It was an easy job and I'm glad the forum egged me into it, as now I know how to do it and it's one more thing I can do. It was also very cheap with the new seals and other items sourced from our host.

Good luck, whatever path you choose!

[83_Silberpfeil]

Schnell --- I am also redoing the calipers for my 83 SC. I actually bought another complete set of calipers (used) from the Pelicans here. I am taking my sweet time with the job.

I am about half way on the disassembly. I also used the grease gun method. Boy does the job get messy!!!!

How did you end up cleaning out all the grease --- especially from the piston chambers and the brake fluid ducts?

Originally Posted by SchnellSchweitz

I did mine and just repainted them with gold high-temp paint. They came out really nice looking and functioning. As Craig states above, you likely will need to clean out a lot of gunk in the piston chamber. I had to.

Also... I used a grease gun and a zert adapter on the bleeder to pump the piston out. I can explain how I did this in more detail if you wind up with a stuck piston like I did. Works like a charm.

[SchnellSchweitz]

I cleaned them up with a bottle of rubbing alcohol before installing new seals. They cleaned up fine. I also blew some air through the bleeders.

My mytyvac was handy for sucking alcohol back through the bleeders.

[Swoboda]

As part of the rebuild do I have to take the calipers fully apart, or can I do the basic rebuild without the full disassembly?

I'm not planning to paint/coat the calipers; I only want to replace the seals/gaskets.

Thanks.

[pete3799]

No need to split the calipers for a basic rebuild.

[83_Silberpfeil]

Thanks! I will use alcohol to clean.

I cleaned them up with a bottle of rubbing alcohol on them before installing new seals. They cleaned up fine. I also blew some through the bleeders with air.



My mytyvac was handy for sucking alcohol back through the bleeders.

[midnight911]

DIY no doubt...

[zippy_gg]

DIY here also; in fact my rear calipers are still waiting to be put back together.
If you run into problems Eric at PMB has good advice and additional parts you may need.
In my case a couple of piston were frozen and cam out damaged and Eric managed to find me a couple of used one as replacements.

[Andy911sc]

This may help answer some questions

Brake Caliper Rebuild

[court911man]

what is the advantage of having the brakes zinc plated?

[rick-l]

Remeber this guy trying to find the o-rings to put the calipers back together? split calipers - seals - Warren?
I wonder if PMB would share what they use for seals?

For the caliper rebuild for a 3.2 is it the rear dust seal installation where you start throwing things?

[Jesse16]

Yes, that was my only issue with the entire job. Some say it just pops on but that wasn't the case with my 87 calipers. Several threads on this detail, I wound up eliminating about 1/2 of the "clips" and then got the seal to stay in place. Its still holding 2 years later. Front and back parts are not the same for who knows what reason ! (good thing the seals aren't a huge functional issue regardless, especially for those of us doing DE's and a lot of brake maintenance.)

[gtc]

Eric suggested somewhere that a 914 dust seal would fit the Carrera rear calipers... I haven't tried it yet.

[Andy911sc]

Originally Posted by rick-l

Remeber this guy trying to find the o-rings to put the calipers back together? split calipers - seals - Warren?
I wonder if PMB would share what they use for seals?

For the caliper rebuild for a 3.2 is it the rear dust seal installation where you start throwing things?

Eric will sell you all the o-rings you need

[r-mm]

I had Eric at PMB do the calipers on my Alfa GTV after letting them sit on a workbench half full of grease (from attempts at freeing the pistons). Besides sandblasting the car and reseating the valves this was the only thing I did not do myself on a bare metal rebuild. It was HIGHLY worth it and he turned them around like lightning.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Anyone have theirs zinc plated while they are apart? Any issues with this??

I plated mine. The only issues were:
1. The platers took forever... something like three months
2. The plating was expensive... like $300+ for four calipers and hardware.

All said and done, I probably have a little more than $400 into the project, with all the cleaning supplies, rebuild kits, brake cylinder hone, etc...
Next time, I would probably have Eric rebuild them.

Here's how mine turned out:

[nettles503]

I agree with the others that this is a fairly simple task, particularly if you don't need to split the calipers. I just completed a successful front brake job, based on the info I found here from fellow Pelicans.

Originally Posted by dshepp806

Certainly not complicated, although he was surprised to see me brake out the 20 degree angle plate!!!!!

One thing I noticed when I was disassembling my calipers was that the "top of the C" on the pistons, for want of a better term, lined up with where the brake line threads into the caliper. So I just used that as my guide when I reinstalled the pistons and didn't need to mess with an angle plate. The brakes work perfectly and don't squeal, so I figure I got it right. Here's a pic I took before taking everything apart to show what I'm talking about.

[esonefour]

Job almost done !
You guys inspired me to have a go rebuilding my callipers.
4 hours later and the pistons had new rings and dust covers.
One piston in every calliper was so stubborn, luckily they weren't too deteriorated.
Just need to sort out some decent disks and pads and it will be job complete.

[Swoboda]

Thanks for the info. I'll be ordering my rebuild kits today!