I took my corvette in to a local Corvette-only mechanic to give it a once-over. He said everything looked pretty good, save for the dead weatherstripping, a little too much play in the rear end, a little oil drip and some bad front calipers. He seemed like an honest dude, so I trust him. To put on new stainless steel calipers and bleed the entire system, he wants about $360($135 per caliper plus about 1.5 hours of labor @ $60/hr.) Should I go for it, or is that too high. I don't have $3.60, let alone $360, so anything is too much for me, but if I am urged to just have him do them, I will find the money.

 

You can get stainless sleeved calipers from AutoZone for around $65 each. Do the brake job yourself and you'll come out about $200 ahead of the game.

 

why not ask him if you can buy the parts and then let him the 1.5 hour labor :seeya sounds fair to me. although my hubby is a auto tech so labor is always free for me, it's the parts I gotta pay for! :hat

 

I've posted on this topic before and have some really good info avaliable, but let me point out the fact that I am far from mechanically inclined, mostly due to fear of f'ing something up. My 1981 BMW is my practice car, my Corvette is my baby. So, rather than asking how easy is it to put new calipers on, how hard is it to screw them up? If I go by all the info from this site and my Hanes manual, can I be reasonable assured that I will be able to install them?
By the way, the people on this site are absolutely great in terms of the wealth of knowledge. Smart, kind people with great tips.
:hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

 

Drive up here to Seattle and you can assist me with mine and you'll see how easy it is. Then you can go back and do yours with confidence.

Really there is not much to mess up. My biggest worry is always rounding off the nut on the brake line, so I make sure and use a flare wrench on it.

Mike

 

While it is usually a very simple job, there are some minor areas that can be a "gotcha". Once you remove the front wheel, you can disconnect the rubber brake hose at the inboard side where it connects to the steel brake line. This is potential gotcha #1. If the hose hasn't been replaced lately, it's possible that the flare nut on the steel line can be seized. If you scrog up that fitting, you'll be replacing the front brake crossover line (speaking from experience).

Once the hose is loose, there are 2 bolts that hold the caliper to the front spindle. Remove them and the caliper will lift right off. Load new pads into the new caliper and reinstall. Get new rubber brake hoses as well, old ones tend to swell inside and reduce braking capacity.

Then you get to experience the fun of bleeding Corvette brakes. Since this isn't your daily driver, I'd say to tackle the job yourself. It should be straightforward and easy to do.

 

Actually, she is my daily driver. You think I'd drive a 1.8L Kraut car when there are 5.7L calling my name? :D
:cheers:

 

Well, aside from putting the calipers on backwards or stripping the bolts.....that doesn't leave much to screw up & you could buy a lot of bolts for what the labor costs.......besides.....if you do it 'incorrectly' it'll just cost you the time to do it over because your brakes won't work right. :yesnod:

IF you're REALLY unsure about working on it.......try to find a Forum member here close enough to you to give a hand. :cheers:

OR as a last resort......try to buy the parts & pay your mechanic the labor to do the job. :chevy

 

Alright, I am going to act like I have some damn ***** and go after it. It sounds like a no-brainer in terms of paying someone to do it or buying a half-rack and doing it myself. :cheers: Plus, I think I can justify spending $150 more than I can spending $360, neither of which I have. How do you all feel about those calipers from AutoZone? All I need is to stop. This is not a show-car or a matching-numbers doll. Stopping is crucial, so the brakes that do that with less money would be great.

 

In the very least, buy the calipers yourself and have him install them if you're wary of doing it yourself. $135 per caliper is pretty darn high. As mentioned before, you can get calipers from your local Autozone for almost half that.

 

So I need to the following on my list:

Calipers
Pads
Hoses
Brake fluid
Busch Light

Anything else?

 

Dude, you live in Portland Oregon, the microbrew capital of the US, and you're drinking Busch Light? For God's sake man, buy some Bridgeport, Rogue, or something else with some FLAVOR! :D :cheers:

Good luck with the brake job, I'm sure it will go smoothly. If you get tripped up, fire off a post and we'll help you out.

 

I have a theory that your first beer will be your last. If I'm gonna die of brake failure, I'd like to know that I had a Busch the night before :smash:

 

So, who's gonna loan me the money to fix my brakes? Wait, wait, one at a time please.
:jester

 

I put on the two front calipers from autozone last month (actual delco calipers rebuilt by [i believe] cardone). I also put stainless steel front lines on. Bleeding was a pain and I finally did the "gravity bleed" - worked much better than the two person peddle/open/shut bleed valve. Try the gravity bleed - easy and works best (IMHO). My autozone calipers have been working great the couple hundred miles I have driven in in the past few weeks.

 

So the ones you got from AutoZone were actually Delco parts? The ones I saw were some name I've never seen.

 

Don't purchase those prone to leaking original style lip seal calipers. Buy the "O" ring style. I bought my heavy duty O ring calipers from VBP. They advertise here on the Forum and they offer discounts to Forum members. The lip seals will eventually leak again, especially if the car sits for a certain length of time. The O rings will not. Contact VBP and get a price.

 

How should the price compare to the mechanic's price? By the way, I asked him if they were O-ring calipers and he said "no, they're stainless steel sleeved." Not great brakes he's offering then, right?

 

David,

A couple of additional items/things to think about before you dive in...

Your 1979 Corvette is around 25 years old and spent at least part of its life in the northwestern part of the country where it tends to be wet a fair portion of the time. It would probably be a good idea to prepare for issues of rust so you should start soaking the caliper mounting bolts with a good penetrating oil (such as Kroil) several weeks before you dive in.

In addition to your current list, I would purchase the two short hard lines that run along the trailing arm from the hose to the caliper... These always seem to take a beating during disassembly and there is potential for them to be damaged beyond repair if rust is a serious issue. They are relatively inexpensive and will guarantee that you aren't slowed down if you happen to damage one of the originals.

Next, I would have several new retaining clips (the "C" shaped retainers) that secure the hoses to their frame mounts. These often rust badly and may need to be replaced... Also quite inexpensive.

You'll need two copper washers for the front caliper hoses (the rear hoses do not use them). Usually supplied with the calipers, but make sure you have them all the same.

Make sure you have GM castings... There are three "sets" of castings depending upon the year... The first two sets are better than the third, but all three are superior to the aftermarket calipers being sold in "jobber" type stores. You take your chances with anything, but the factory castings are without a doubt better quality.

Personally, I would make absolutely certain that the rotor runout is as minimal as possible... On the order of .001" runout. Easy enough to check on the front rotors... Impossible on rears unless disassembled (yes, I know, many claim it is easy to check runout with the rear rotors/spindle mounted, but GM advises otherwise). To be fair, most people don't do this... I would say that the majority take their chances. Then again, I've never had a problem with "air pumping" either.

The sleeves are stainless steel... A good quality sleeve will never rust and pit like the cast iron caliper casting. The pistons in most cases are aluminum and can corrode when exposed to the elements and brake dust/debris over time. At the very least, inspect them to make sure that they are new parts and not just on old set reinstalled. I simply use stainless steel pistons and avoid the whole problem... Of course that adds considerably to the cost.

The factory outer seal acts as a weather/debris shield. Around 1978 or so GM issued a technical buletin outlining a procedure to apply RTV silicone to the mating surfaces of the seal and caliper. Cheap insurance, but hardly anybody does it.

You can also switch to the so called "zero tolerance" pistons... People I know have had success with these and I'm told that runout is not as big an issue when using this design. Of course, the standard pistons are still aluminum (with the previously mentioned drawback), but I am told that stainless steel and titanium are also available at a premium cost. I've never been inclined to try them as a properly installed factory setup has never let me down.

That covers quite a bit, but don't get discouraged though... As I mentioned, most people are successful without much of the testing I outlined (and to be honest, I doubt many shops would do this unless you specifically asked them to... and then you'll pay for it too). Just keep in mind that you take your chances if you do decide to do it as inexpensively as possible.

Oh... Double the amount of beer that you were planning on! :)

Good luck!

Regards,

 

I'm no mechanic, and I've only had my '79, my first Vette, for the last 8 months. All I know is I keep hearing about C3 leaky stock calipers and the the lip seals can and will eventually leak, and that the O rings won't. I purchased my full (4 caliper) set from VBP for $310.00. Now, that was a mega manufacturer below wholesale special offer price for CF members that was promoted here at the beginning of the year. They are more now, but with your CF member discount I think you will still get a deal. Keep in mind that there will be a core charge that will be refunded when you return your old calipers to VBP. Give VBP a call and see what you can work out.