How difficult is it to rebuild the calipers and how much does it cost. All 4 of mine were leaking before i put it away in the winter. WOuld it be easier and cheaper to rebuild them or buy new ones?

 

My advice (for what it`s worth) replace them with stainless sleeved BUT buy replacements with O-ring pistons, the "lip seal is and forever will be a problem!! Vette brakes will sell you calipers WITH o-ring pistons installed.
...redvetracr

 

If your calipers are SS sleeved then a rebuild is fine. I recomment "zero-tolerance" pistons and o-rings. Beware that at least one vendor is selling a cheap o-ring piston that is not zero tolerance, it is a half solution IMO. If they are not sleeved then get a new set of calipers. The rebiuld itself is pretty easy if you take your time. Carefully check your calipers bores and hone them a bit if there are ridges from the stock lip seal pistons. My experience is that the stock pistons rock in the bore and can cause wear ridges even on SS sleeves.

 

:iagree: :iagree: I just redid my brakes with VB&P stainless sleeved calipers w/O-ring pistons last week, and now the car actually comes to something resembling a complete stop when pressure is applied to the pedal :D . Seriously, these sleeved piston bores are the way to go. They won't pit or corrode and carry a lifetime guarantee. I also went a step further and bought the complete rebuild kit http://www.vettebrakes.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=22749O which includes the calipers and pads plus hoses, lines, hardware, master cylinder and a quart of DOT3 fluid. :thumbs:

 

So the originals came with lip seals? If they did you're saying lip seals are not worth it to rebuild because they will always leak?

 

The lip seal was a mediocre design from the get go,Of course the whole caliper design is doubtful as far as I'm concerned. But I just did my brakes and I went with the O ring and stainless sleeved caliper set. The calipers are wheel specific!

 

Let me emphasize ZERO-TOLERANCE. Compare the vendors and you will find out. Of course, because of the forum rules I am prohibited from providing you the best information I can. Zero-tolerance are not available from a supporting vendor that I know of.

 

Pat, you are permitted to name a non-supporting vendor. You just can't post their URL or link to them.

 

Going to do the brakes this spring and hopefully mine are already SS sleeved(I won't know until I dissassemble them but they look newer than original but the RR is leaking) and can post to you the following excerpts from other members posts:

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Caliper piston Zero Tolerance
"Precision Engineering out of Wellington, FL makes and markets a product called Caliper 2000 = good. order the "do it yourself" caliper parts from Precision Engineering, and was very happy both with the quality of the parts and the service. I don't think they're the same guys that other forum members have had trouble with. All I did was use Autozone calipers and slap the precision engineering pistons in."

"These are the guys with the trouble : Florida Calipers or Vette Parts out of Delray Beach, FL markets a product that is also called Caliper 2000 = no good"

"The Wellington group is not associated with the Delray group I understand."

"Zero Tolerance Fortuna, CA Piston set is @$275 but worth every penny."
**************************************** ******************
Or you can get the VBP Oring pistons rebuild kit for $120 approx and use these. I usually hear very good success with these. Supposedly there is a possible movement of the piston (wobble) which can wear your SS sleeves out of round. This is what the Zero Tolerace pistons address along with the Oring design.

Choices Choices - myself, I may go with the VBP

Brent...

 

Yes, only problem in ( ) is that they are about double the price of VB&P O-ring kit.
If the calipers are stainless sleeved, no need to repl them. The O-ring conversion kit should be fine and it is an easy and cheap solution.
I did all 4 calipers this winter and am waiting for spring so deperately to try it out. :D

Good luck Gunther

 

Justin...the guys are right don't skimp on quality...it's your brakes!

I've stainless steel sleeves since 94 in my 78. This past year I upgraded the pistons from lip design to O ring design. I use silicon fluid and they've worked flawlessly.

But the point being made here is that your calipers must be stainless steel to avoid pitting and corrosion. Supplement that with good quality O ring pistons and you've got a tight system for the money!