I brought home an 82 today and the first thing on the agenda is a total brake rebuild.

I see two different types of calipers lip seal and o-ring seal.
https://www.corvettecentral.com/c3-6...omplete-193004
https://www.corvettecentral.com/c3-6...ng-seal-193100

Are rebuilt ok to use? I just want it to stop normally and not stop like my C8 can.

Is there a better place to get brake parts?

I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks
JT

 

Congrats! Lip seal is like stock, and o-ring is what most go to. Which is better? That answer is all over the map IMO, but o-ring would be my choice. WOW! Do not compare a C3 to a C8 for stopping power or performance or you WILL be sadly disappointed. I bought some rebuilds years ago only because it was faster at the time. I just rebuild my own now and they work just fine. Do your research for sure before spending the cash. GL

 

I go to my local parts store for the calipers. I have rebuilt o few over the years but the part stores usually have a warranty.

 

Thanks for the info.

JT

 

I never had any luck with the reman brakes from the parts stores. Not exaggerating, went through a half dozen front calipers that I had to return. The rebuild quality was horrible. I finally gave up and bought new ones from CSSB and used their o-ring kit to rebuild my rear calipers which is what I should have done in the first place.

My recommendation is, as long as your calipers are not pitted inside, rebuild them yourself with a CSSB o-ring rebuild kit. It's not hard to do.

 

I bought new delco repro’s with o-rings. O-rings mainly because the lip seals have a tendency to leak a bit if the car sits alot and you don’t pump them regularly. CSSB makes an interesting oring and I think, the repro master cylinders.

 

The CSSB o-ring kits look like what I'll do if the calipers are ok. Thanks a lot for that tip.

First project is to clear out a space in my shop and get the 82 up on jack stands.

JT

 

Just checked and CSSB has master cylinder for $145 so that's a no brainer.

I've figured out to not use DOT 5 and it seems like either DOT 3 or DOT 4 is ok to use. Is there any reason to use DOT 3?

JT

 

Got the rear end up and the right rear inside pistons were leaking.



I'll pull both calipers off and take them apart to see if they are pitted or not. The rotors look ok, didn't measure them though. Anyone know the minimum thickness of the rotors?

Both reservoirs were very low so I suspect the front may have a leaker as well. Anyway the most important thing for me to fix first is the brakes.

JT

 

Got the RR caliper apart and the bores look ok at first inspection, need to do a really good cleaning then inspect them under the microscope I guess. It has lip seal pistons and might be the original calipers...

What is the best place to get o-ring rebuild kits?

JT

 

Muskegon Brake or CSSB

 

For these cars it probably makes no difference. Both are compatible with each other. Dot 4 has a higher boiling point, and maybe a viscosity difference too? I think 4 is touted for abs, but frankly you probably don’t need to go crazy looking for one over the other.

 

the minimum thickness should be stamped on the face or the edge. I’m thinking 1.25” but someone should check me on that.

 

I rebuilt my calipers in 2012 with lip seal kits when I acquired the car after watching you tube videos on how to do it. One caliper was damaged so bad I needed a local auto store replacement caliper. Well over the years one by one the others would leak and the replacement still looked new so I have replaced all but one original caliper now and I had to spray paint that original caliper because it looked so bad compared to all the shiny silver replacements. This year I bought drilled and slotted rotors (just for looks) the original rotors are going on the shelf as they are still good but I was rebuilding my front and rear suspension so decided to replace. along with my very rusty frozen parking brakes.

I took a look at my replacement calipers and they are better quality than the stock one. The pistons appear to be made of stainless vs the pitted alloy originals

 

I rebuilt the calipers on my C3 with the O-ring style kits to rebuild them. I cleaned the bores a bit with a small brake hone and then I installed the o-ring type of pistons and seals. I split all four of the castings while I disassembled them and soaked them in my parts washer before working on them. I was able to sand blast the calipers and make them look real nice. The O-ring type pistons are really nice and work well.

Splitting the calipers makes them easier to work on. This allows you to clean out the crap out of the inside the caliper halves and makes them easier to paint or powder coat. Some were very hard to split than the others but they all broke down allowing easy access to the individual bores for honing.

For brake fluid I use either German MOTUL or PENTOSIN brand. I tried DOT 5 fluid and was very UN-impressed with it's behavior. The pedal feel changed as the fluid warmed up and I did not like that. I simply flushed it all out and rinsed the system with brake fluid and re-installed a High Quality DOT 3 fluid. DOT 4 fluid can absorb more moisture than DOT #3 from what I read. This is why I still use a high quality DOT 3 Brake fluid. I also use my Phoenix Reverse Bleeding System to push the fluid up and out the top taking the air with it, it makes the job easier to flush your brake fluid.

The parking brake can be a real PIA to get working. The very first thing I did after buying my 1968 C3 was to fix the parking brake. I don't like cars without a backup brake, even if the backup is a set of Honda sized brake shoes inside a tiny drum. My parking brake works and works well or I wouldn't go very fast until it did. I am a BIG believer in being able to stop, going fast is the easier part.

 

Just looking around and O`Reilly's Brake Best rebuilt calipers are only $61 each after getting the core charge back. I've put them on my Chevy truck in the past with no problem. They seem to be hit and miss with ratings. For a bit more I'd rather have something that works... the ratings on the rear calipers are pretty low...

The RR I pulled off looks like it has some light pitting on the wall but I've cleaned it up well yet so don't know yet if they are rebuildable.

JT

 

Actually I think I like CSSB rear kit https://www.cssbinc.com/1965-1982_re...er_bundle.aspx as they use new castings and include the pads and hoses.

JT

 

I cleaned up the RR caliper and it looks to be OEM and is not SS lined and has a lot of small pits so new ones are the way to go I think.

JT

 

I really wanted to get the brake lines and hoses off before I ordered so I knew what to order to complete the job. The metal line to the hose just would not come off after soaking in break free for 2 days and using a flare nut wrench. So I dug out my propane + oxygen torch which produces a very tiny flame and used that to heat up the nut until the break free started to boil out then I spritzed it with water to cool it off. I repeated this 5 or 6 times then put some more break free on it the last time and finally the nut came loose. The hose screwed into a brass piece so I found a wrench to back up the brass with and using the flare nut wrench I just muscled the hose off knowing it can't be rusted in.

I'm amazed at how many parts are still available for Corvettes this old.

JT

 

Well I was replacing the RR caliper and the caliper mounting bracket has a stripped out thread so I'll see how much fun it is to R&R that part.

JT