Tricks I learned during a 4 caliper rebuild 84' Carrera

[PK 77 911]

I thought I would pass along a couple of things I learned when I rebuilt all my Calipers on my 84 Cab

There was a lot of discussion about how to get the pistons out. Here is what I did and it worked great and was not too messy.

I wanted to keep the hard lies to the calipers but was replacing the brake hoses so I just cut the rubber lines with a pair of side cutters. You don't have to cut the hoses, you will just have to spin them out with the hard lines and brake hose attached to the removed caliper. Hard lines almost never turn out with out twisting then eventually breaking, even after being PB blasted everyday for a week. This way I just turned them out of the calipers once the calipers were removed.

After each caliper was removed I attached the new brake hose to the body side line. If you are keeping your brake hoses re connect them to the body lines.
I had previously picked up from the local parts store 3 un bent hard lines. Get 2 short ones 8" and one 12" or more. They are cheap. I cut 2 of them in half and hammered and folded closed the ends. I attached these to each new rubber brake hose. I did all wheels accept the drivers front.

I attached the last new longer unbent brake line to the front drivers hose and used this line to pump out the pistons for each caliper . I used a C clamp and switched it back and forth between pistons to stop one pistons from popping all the way out. You can also do this your self because you can see the pistons moving and still pump the brake from this position. The cut off brake lines on each corner hold the pressure in the system. Don't forget to keep the reservoir full of brake fluid. I ran mine lowt several times but was not a big deal during the final bleed.

I also repainted the calipers as well with VHT Caliper paint. The nice thing about this paint is that it only takes 400* to cure your paint so you can use your oven
and not pollute the house. I media blasted the calipers first at a U- Blast place.

I did not split the half's when I painted them. I measured out and cut a section from a plastic 500 ml water bottle to wrap around the piston sleeves to keep the paint out. Worked awesome.

I now have perfect pedal and free running wheels again. It was a job well worth doing and not that difficult once I figured out these little tricks.

The hard lines were all seized so I PB blasted them heated them and worked them until the nuts or what ever you call them spun freely again.

Hope these tips help.

PK

[PK 77 911]

I should add, If you happen to need a hard caliper line, at the parts store the shortest pre made matching brake line I could find was 8" and the next was 12". The fronts for the 84 are approximately 6" lines so the 8"lines will work shaped correctly. An 8" line is too short for the backs and 12 is just too long so I would get a spare front and back from our host just in case.

The line shaper I used for one of the front lines was under 10.00 and worked great. I was lucky enough to salvage both backs.

[rbogh901]

Originally Posted by PK 77 911

I wanted to keep the hard lies to the calipers but was replacing the brake hoses so I just cut the rubber lines with a pair of side cutters. You don't have to cut the hoses, you will just have to spin them out with the hard lines and brake hose attached to the removed caliper.

So, trying to picture this, you did cut the rubber lines/hoses or you didn't need to?

[Discseven]

Nice thinking on the oven curing PK!!!!

[PK 77 911]

Originally Posted by rbogh901

So, trying to picture this, you did cut the rubber lines/hoses or you didn't need to?

I cut mine because I was replacing them anyways. If you are not replacing them the problem is getting any of the hard line nuts to spin like they do when they are new. If you want to keep the hoses then you have to pick a point where you can spin the whole line out if the nut won't spin. Easiest way is to just buy four new hard lines from pelican and cut the existing hard caliper lines. you can then attache the cut hard lines to the brake hose to seal off the system when pumping out the pistons.

[PK 77 911]

Originally Posted by Discseven

Nice thinking on the oven curing PK!!!!

I tried to cure the 900* header paint on a couple of other smaller parts. Let me tell you, the wife was not happy with me!