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Would someone mind confirming whether or not this caliper is stainless steel sleeved?
It may be hard to tell because it hasn’t been completely cleaned yet (at least it is for me.) On one hand I feel like it is because it’s lighter in color and has a different texture than the rest of the caliper, but I’m just not sure. Looking to upgrade these to O-ring pistons. I appreciate any information you gentlemen can provide.
I'm thinking it's not sleeved because stainless is a pretty hard material and the top chamfered lip appears to have pitting and dings in it — cast iron is much softer. Stainless sleeves are usually very bright and mirror-like in their finish.
Do the other 3 bores of this caliper appear similar?
Unfortunately, they do. There’s no pitting on any of the walls, but as you pointed out there are some small nicks on the “rims” for lack of a better term.
Strange, while the rest of the caliper has flash rusted, the walls of the caliper cylinders haven’t.
Thank you for the info. Given that these are original calipers and bear all the appropriate castings, do you have any idea of the cost effectiveness of having them sleeved versus using them as cores for sleeved replacements?
I know it ultimately would depend on what the machine shop charges, but any thoughts?
Thank you for the info. Given that these are original calipers and bear all the appropriate castings, do you have any idea of the cost effectiveness of having them sleeved versus using them as cores for sleeved replacements?
I know it ultimately would depend on what the machine shop charges, but any thoughts?
I would recommend you have yours sleeved and returned to you. I don't have any specific knowledge on the state of calipers but my suspicion is that the Corvette community is now living in a time of commercially rebuilt calipers that are suffering from being rebuilt over and over without changing out the sleeves.
The last calipers I received from Lone Star (via Corvette Central, ~2020) had one caliper leaking in short order due to a pinched seal on installation. When I disassembled it, I was not happy with the condition of the bores. They were stainless but showed obvious honing scratches; new sleeves have an almost mirror finish. Any bore scratches or dings allow moisture to make its way past the piston seal to the inside and behind the piston.
I don't know if you'll have success locating a local machinist willing to sleeve the bores, especially at a competitive cost compared to Lone Star. Lone Star will sleeve your calipers and return them to you but you have to contact them directly and get their instructions on how to do that. If you specifically want to use silicone DOT 5 brake fluid, ask them to only sleeve the calipers so that you can then finish the assembly yourself with EPDM seals or o-rings.
1982 Caliper Question
