How can you tell if you have Stainless sleeved calipers when i remove them? If i were to rebuild them would i need to get an o-ring rebuild kit, or would i need to get the o-ring conversion kit?
When you rebuild them do you just replace the seals, or the pistons and seals, and do you have to resleeve before you put the pistons back in?

Thanks
Justin


[Modified by Justin79-L-82, 9:06 AM 5/12/2003]

 

Justin, all good questions. You can actually see the edge of the stainless steel inserts as you look into the bore after removal. I don't believe these can be replaced without special equipment. Your car being a 79 should be factory equipped with the stainless inserts. If the inserts look scored you will probably want to get rebuilt calipers. Pistons are reasonable in cost and can be replaced if they look scored or worn. Rebuilding is a simple matter of cleaning all the parts in brake fluid, make sure everything stays real clean, and assemble. Cut some distance pieces from 1/2" wood dowels to keep the pistons compressed until installation. I am not sure about o-ring conversion, might need different pistons for those, maybe someone else reading this might know.

 

I'm not sure the factory ever offered SS calipers. When you pull it apart the bore should be shiny and smooth. Use a magnet to see if it's SS, should be non - magnetic. You should see the seam where the sleeve was pressed into the bore of the housing. Never used the O ring kits so I can't help you there. Check the rotors for runout too if you get them under .003" you can use the standard seal kit.
Gary

 

I just did the O-ring conversion this spring. Ive got a super solid pedal and am very pleased with the results.

Your originals are not SS sleeved from the factory. It could be though that sometime along the way before you bought the car, someone else may have replaced the leaking calipers. If this happened, then you may have SS sleeved aftermarket calipers with OEM piston/seal design.

Once you remove a caliper, take it apart and use a screw driver to pry out the dust boot. It is very easy to remove this, just lightly pry up around the boot from the inside of the piston area and it should start to pop out.

Once the dust boot is removed, the piston will literally pop out of the bore due to the spring behind it. The OEM hydraulic seal is an angled lip seal and doesnt offer much resistance to movement (which is why you can get the air pump effect so easily.) This piston seal is different than the outer dust seal.

Once the pistons are out, inspect the bores and if they are SS sleeved, you will see the sleeve as it is a different metallic color than the iron casting. It will be a day and night difference.

If you dont have O-ring calipers, I suggest you go ahead and buy some from your local auto parts store which will have the SS sleeves and OEM pistons/seals. These will be relatively inexpensive and very clean and you can then use these for your O-ring rebuild. Try Checker/Kragan/Schucks which links to Parts America for pricing. The local store will honor the internet pricing so you can get a deal on these.

If you have the SS sleeved calipers, then you can go ahead and make sure the bore is very clean with no deposits or anything on it . Set-up the VBP O-ring seals and pistons and lube with brake fluid. They install much tighter than the OEMs but still should go in with just hand pressure. You can skip putting in the springs behind the new pistons as everyone suggests or you can go ahead and put them in. The VBP O-ring piston seal are tight enough that I think it does not make any difference. (I left mine in)

Reassemble the caliper halves and be sure to torque them properly. I put them in a vise and torqed them down. Make sure the little O-ring between the caliper halves do not move when you reassemble. If you decide to paint them (I did mine red-looks great even through the stock 82 alum rims), make sure you do not paint the mating surfaces as you will need very tight tolerances to guarantee no fluid leaks. They will go together with no problems if you pay attention to detail.

I also suggest SS braided hoses to help give you a super solid pedal (got mine from ZIP). I also did the vacuum power booster (Cardone via Checker-Parts America). My calipers and MC were recently replaced before I bought the car but the brakes were still bad since the power booster was bad. It helped on the pricing as the seller did not know what was wrong with the brakes :)

For bleeding , I first did the gravity method 2X around the car and then did the 2 man pump and hold 2X around the car with 5X to each bleeder. Probably went throught a solid quart of fluid to get the pedal solid and it did not get really solid until the second pass of the pump and hold method.

Good luck

Brent...

 

Look for zero tolerance o-ring pistons. Much better design than some others IMO.