First brake job!

[Richard930]

Having been inspired by several very good write ups on doing brakes, and emboldened by reading about the much more complex jobs that others routinely take on, I decided that the time had come for me to take care of my brakes myself.

For most of the last 20 years I've been more of a chequebook mechanic but have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of basic tasks that I should be able to do myself. Another source of inspiration was reviewing old invoices and seeing how much hard earned dough I'd spent on basic maintenance that I've now decided I should be able to do myself.

Previous to this the most complex maintenance I'd done on the car was fitting three point seat belts in the back seats to make it a little safer for kids and replacing seals in the bypass valve , so even though I think I have had a very good understanding of how the car works and what maintaining it entails, I hadn't done much in the way of turning wrenches etc.

So I ordered all the parts I needed from our host (including a motive power bleeder), gathered the various tools etc that I would need, watched a Pelican DVD on doing brakes (not 930 specific but close enough) and got to it.

Basically the fronts felt like crap and even though the pads had lots of life left in them, the rotors were scored and I suspect were down to close to the minimum thickness (couldn't measure as I don't have a mic). Rear brakes are fine for now.

Apart from a brake line that was waaay too tight, things proceeded pretty smoothly with no surprises. Even took the opportunity to thoroughly clean the calipers and paint them.

I'm not going to write up the process as that's very well covered in a couple of other threads, but I did want to say a big thank you to the authors of those threads as well as those who have contributed hints and tips in other threads. Without these I would probably have just been paying to have the brakes done and would easily be $500 - $1000 bucks poorer!!

Next job? Replace rear window seal which is well past its prime and has evidence of a leak, getting rid of the last remnants of the air injection system (the spider thingy), and all new carpets - all will be accomplished with references to various write ups on Pelican, saving me more hard earned dough which can then be used for a long neck intercooler which I'll also install myself

[pete3799]

Nice snap-on bearing hub puller.

[Richard930]

Had to improvise - couldn't find a nice small neat piece of steel to make a tool.

[WinRice]

It just so happens, that the threads on this cheapo HF slide hammer fit the 930 dust caps. Just grind the point off and go.

You can also us it for pulling seals and other things.

Slide Hammer - Great Deals on Slide Hammers at Harbor Freight

[Miguel Antonett]

prrrreeettttttyyyy cooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!