G'day everyone, I've finally managed to drop back in here. I've been away and had a dead computer... I haven't done much to my baby, but am about to get stuck into it. With that in mind, and the fact that I haven't been in here in ages, I thought I'd drop buy and ask for some opinions

After replacing my booster and master cylinder last year, my brakes still weren't the best. I finally got around to jacking the car up and removing all the calipers.

I found that one piston on the drivers front caliper had been leaking and one piston on each of the rear calipers. I've done some reading on the net and it would appear that my problem is far from unusual.

Once I had the calipers in pieces, I was able to examine them prior to fitting my already purchased seal/rebuild kits. The corosion is bad enough that I think they would leak again with new seals anyway and add to that that someone has had a run around the bores with some nice rough sandpaper!

I scouted everywhere on the net and while I could easily get overhauled calipers, it was going to cost a mint to have them shipped to Saudi. It was going to actually cost more to send my calipers back to get my "core" price back .

I finally found someone who was willing to sell me just the stainless sleeves and new pistons so that I could rebuild them myself. Has anyone else done this? Are there any traps to avoid? I was told to machine out the original bore by .002 or .003 of an inch before fitting the sleeves. Is a press required or will a few gentle taps with a soft hammer do the trick?

Once I've rebuilt them, I'll have to paint them as I wasn't really taken with the previous rusty-23-years-worth-of-road-grime colour . Any suggestions people? What colour caliper would look best behind stock wheels on a silver & grey '82?

Ta

 

Can't help with your tech question....but I think silver calipers would look great with your paint.
Eddie

 

You have a Corvette in the Saudi Kingdom? You must really stand-out as a Westerner.

I re-built my calipers for my 78 Vette and went with a silver color. The reason for the color was so that it would not stand-out, rather it would blend with the car. The attention we Vette lovers want is for people to notice the car, not a small part of the car.

Good luck and be SAFE!

 

Never heard of anyone installing the SS sleeves themselves. If your a good machinist, then go for it.

I would just buy new SS sleeved calipers from an AutoZone type place over the internet (probably Lone Star mfgr), and install VBP O-ring pistons conversion kit at your end (kit for $130 for all 4 calipers).

This way you can slam dunk your brake troubles for a very long time, which would be very desirable considering your distance to a parts store!!

My .02

Brent...

 

I'm in the Eastern Province of Saudi, which has been "Westernised" to a far greater degree than the rest of the place. I spose I do stand out a bit but the locals are generally driving so fast and eratically, with one finger up their nose and a mobile phone stuck to their head, that they barely notice what's going on around them ! Of course, that's a different story when they have their 5 year old son on their lap, steering at 80mph!!

I was going to just buy new calipers (well, overhauled) but it was going to cost me nearly $200US to have them shipped here hence the idea of rebuilding them myself. I did a bit of reading and while the O ring style piston is popular, a lot of places only overhaul and sell the original lip seal style, even if they have manufactured new stainless steel pistons to go with it.

While scouring the net for calipers, I saw some for a C5 and they were painted bright (read IN YOUR FACE BRIGHT) red and another set yellow. I thought they looked pretty