Vintage Calipers from 914-6 #11, ...the very first 914-6 to leave the factory Options

[Eric_Shea]

Well, we received the calipers to restore for #11. This is the very first 914-6 to leave the assembly line. The car was used by the factory as a demonstrator car. They loaded it with all sorts of go fast and stop fast goodies.

In the go fast department this car received a 2.0 twin plug motor.

In the stop fast department we will see some odd things. I noticed a bunch of "little stuff" that you don't see every day on your standard 914-6.

Let's start with the rear. These are the real deal. These are real factory 914-6/GT calipers and I would dare say the very first set. Here's some of the standout differences from your standard 914-6 or even later GT calipers.

#1 - These have the 911 M-Caliper hardware for sure. The first thing I noticed was the Ribe head cap screws with the R6 head. This differs from the rounded shoulder Ribe R5 hardware used on the 914-4 and 914-6 calipers of that era.



#2 The next thing I noticed was the spacers. These are the round shouldered spacers from an early rear M-Caliper of that era. Later GT and Ferrari calipers have sharp or squared off spacers that better match the caliper mating surfaces.



#3 The final note (of distinction) for the rears would be the color. It seems as though these are definitely "yellow" cad plated. On other 914-6 calipers it was difficult to tell because they were so light. When we tear into them we can usually see some yellow on the mating surfaces but, again, it's very light in color. These look to be 914-4 yellow in color, meaning; very obvious.

[Eric_Shea]

Thanks Pat... I just dig this stuff. No real art here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Now its on to installing the pistons.

The first thing we need to do is apply caliper grease to the seal and bore area. We also like to apply a little grease to the area the dust cover slips into. These dust covers are usually pretty tough to slip into their slots. The grease helps.



Next we determine which side will be which (S-Calipers are interchangable) by putting the bleeders in. They always go on top.



Then we position the pistons so the cut is facing 20 deg. into the face of the oncoming rotor. We use an old piston positioner to get the angle just right.



We usually use a simple press to get the outer pistons in. These pushed in by hand but others can offer a tad bit of resistance. A special plate is used to press the dust seal into it's slot.



Next we put new o-ring seals in the rear piston cover plate. These are unavailable so they had to be sourced via alternate methods:



These shots didn't come out so well but... the cover plate then gets torqued into place in a cross bolt pattern:



The inner piston bore is covered with caliper grease as above and the piston and dust cover are pulled into place with a hand vise/clamp.



Top it all off with the new lines...