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These calipers came off of my 69 project. They appear to have been rebuilt at some point, and do have stainless sleeves. However they are leaking past the seals and the pistons don't pop all the way out on some.
Is it worth me messing around and trying to rebuild them or replace the seals? Is this difficult to do myself? What seals the caliper halves together if I take them apart.
Do the lip seals need to be replaced or can they be cleaned up and reused. I understand lip seals leak if not used
I have read it on here this is why you should rebuild brakes near the end of a project and you have the dilemma now , not your fault of course . Those look like they aren't even used once !
How do you know they are stainless lined , you cant see inside with the dust boot on them ? Do you have a receipt for work done or something ?
I just checked the zip price and its $13 a corner for a new seal kit .
the kit contains the lip seals ,dust boots and the little "O" rings to seal the halves together (re-use the bolts )
The way I see it there's two ways to go here , put them on and hope its just the lube oil used when assembling that's coming past the dust boot OR just pull them apart and put new seals on and know they're good to go . You might have a spring missing
Personally I couldn't use them as is .
I rebuilt mine when I first got the 77 and haven't had any problems with the calliper's , that was sometime around 8 years ago ,lip seals and regularly driven !! need a good bench vise and a torque wrench
These calipers came off of my 69 project. They appear to have been rebuilt at some point, and do have stainless sleeves. However they are leaking past the seals and the pistons don't pop all the way out on some.
Is it worth me messing around and trying to rebuild them or replace the seals? Is this difficult to do myself? What seals the caliper halves together if I take them apart.
Do the lip seals need to be replaced or can they be cleaned up and reused. I understand lip seals leak if not used
Brakes always seems like such an interesting project probably because there are so many options to consider. I went through this exercise last year with my 78 and while we determined the calipers were original with O rings, I replaced them, using the originals as core exchanges.
If they require only seals, as bazza suggests, lip seals are the way to go. But if the pistons fail to pop out, then there is some reason they are failing either the springs are not installed or there is so much corrosion, that the pistons have corroded/rusted and stuck to the piston walls.
Remove the pistons and figure out why they are failing to pop! That should guide you to decided whether to replace or just add seals.
Equally important is that if the calipers are in so much disarray, then your master cylinder needs attention as well. Think of it as a "system" and when there is failure with calipers, the M/C is not far behind.
VetteBrakeandProducts sells a o-ring reseal kit for all 4 corners. I've installed these kits on 3 C3s and one of the was around 20 years ago and no leaks. There are O-rings between calipher halfs. Now is a good time to dissemble sandblast [just the outer casting] paint to your color and bake in oven at 150* for an hour. Reassemble & install. I also suggest to install the stainless steel flex line kit. Not only will your brakes be the best looking but the performance will be flawless. Time consuming but relatively easy, use brake fluid for o-ring install and assembly. Clean any brake fluid off painted surfaces asap. T
The last time I o/h my brakes due to a leak I reused my lip seals because they weren't damaged. No sense in replacing parts that are still serviceable even if the cost is low. Oh, that was about three years ago and they haven't leaked since. Car sits in storage all winter also.
Rebuild them...I had 1 lip seal SS caliper that I put on the car in 1985 out of the 4 SS calipers from VBP develop a leak in the early 90's and rebuilt that 1 caliper...just pulled it apart, reused the spring etc and put on new lip seals, NOT Oring seals, which did not exist back then...all still leak free all these years later on a car that sits 99.9% of the time...if the brakes operate correctly with the correct rotor runout, you do NOT need Oring seals...O ring seals are a band aid for improper rotor runout......
It took a while, but I pulled them all apart
The good news is, they are stainless steel sleeved and look unused
The bad news is there is a lot of rusty old brake fluid coming from the casting
What is the best way to flush that out? Should I mess with soaking them in Evaporust?
Now the question becomes do I convert to oring or not?
From the answers above it seems like I should stick with the lip seal?
Are those seals on the right way ? they look backwards from here ?
about the rusty fluid , what I do is flush the halves in clean brake fluid and then blow dry with compressed air , make sure you cover up the part with rags to stop blowing crap everywhere . you may have to do it a few times until all is clean.
they sure are new inside , looks like you need new dust boots
I am literally in the middle of doing this myself with an extra step or two added in but the job itself is very easy.
I am OCD in general but incredibly so when it comes to brakes. I would clean the calipers with acetone and clean, lint free rags and then immediately coat the bores and internal parts with fresh, clean brake fluid. If you care about aesthetics, now would be the time to paint/powdercoat these.
No they can be put on upside down. The picture looks correct.
I'd use o rings but use what you like. The seal in the picture looks twisted and there is crud on the spring . your going to have to clean it all up. The orings are less fussy going in. Less chance of screwing one up
Back when Van Steel, VB&P and others were rebuilding the original castings with stainless sleeves, pistons and seals, it was an easy decision to have them rebuild your cores (if they were not already sleeved). Price 'back then' was about $300 (with your core exchange) if my memory is not failing me.
Now, most calipers have been sleeved. Good news is new castings have been manufactured to fill the void from calipers at end of life. Bad news is the set is over $800. Van Steel still offers rebuilt set for 4-wheels for about $440. I am assuming that includes your rebuildable cores and that it would be more without them.
It would be worth checking with Dan Dorset at Van Steel. They are the best at brakes and suspensions for the C3 in my humble opinion.
I run Van Steel calipers, t-arm assemblies, half shafts and a few other items I can't remember. No issues since installation.
I cleaned up all the pistons and they look new, except this one that has very light pittting on the side. I am assuming that the rubber lip seal is what matters, and I can re use this piston despite the pitting. Is that correct?
12-18-2017, 11:48 PM
Should I rebuild these calipers
