Calipers

Hi All
More spares arrived today.
Brake overhaul kits and I collected the shocks I ordered.

The paint has dried on the nearside caliper so now I have the kit I'll re-build it, simple job if you have never done it before.

Remove the old sealing ring from the inside and with a spray of brake cleaner ensure everything is spotless if any rust build up like I had then clean with emery soaked in brake fluid then again make sure everything is spotless.

With some new brake fluid lubricate the inner area and the new rubber seal, this then will pop nicely into its groove, ensuring you do not twist the ring.

A little more brake fluid on the inside for lubrication (remember brake fluid removes paint ), clean the pistons and push in one at a time, if you have difficulty pushing then check that they are going in centrally.

Once in the rubber boots are next, the top sealing section sits in a groove in the piston and the lower section sits in a groove on the caliper. A metal retaining ring is then slipped over and all done.

To test I placed a hammer shaft between the 2 opposing pistons so I only had limited movement and pushed compressed air through, this moved the pistons and the rubber gaiter flexed but did not come off.

Typically even with gloves on I still made a mess of the new paint, so masked up and sprayed again.

Finished caliper

Nice

I have fitted the old shoes so as not to lose the springs & pins but intend to fit new shoes.

nearside lower arm

The ball joints also arrived so to get all of these pieces out of the way I have built up the nearside lower section. 

I have realised that the mounting holes on the new shocks do not fit the studs under the arm, these need drilling out as they are a 'D' hole not a round. Not a prob just another job.

Next job was to overhaul the offside caliper, I stripped and sandblasted clean first then tried to remove the pistons.This was not as easy as the other; as the pistons where welded in with rust. Managed to do it by fully pushing the pistons down with a clamp then levering up a mil or so using a screwdriver in the piston groove then the air bottle at 8 bar and blowing. After 2 hours of this I finally managed to remove both pistons. The pistons were fine but there was bad rust inside but only above the sealing ring, a bit of soaked emery and these were cleaned up.

That's about it for today.

See ya Paul