First of the Texas Twins, First Build Options

[Puebloswatcop]

Well Damn. Didn't get any car work done yesterday. Instead I went to help a friend do some electrical work and ended up falling off a ladder. Don't think I broke anything but my left arm doesnt want to cooperate.

Oh well onto today. Decided to work on the front calipers. I have two sets here, but upon inspection one has a bleeder broken off in it, so used the other set. They are pretty nasty though as you can see from this one...

[Puebloswatcop]

Took it apart to get a better look at things. The pistons seem a bit rusted.

[Puebloswatcop]

I soaked the pistons in the bores with some Transmission fluid then added compressed air and "POP" , the outer piston shot out like a cannonball from a cannon. But the inner piston didn't budge.

[Puebloswatcop]

removed

[Puebloswatcop]

So I tried a few more times with compressed air to the inner and nothing......
So I added more Transmission fluid to the piston. Then took a c clamp to see if I could move it at all. It did move in, so I will let the transmission fluid work any miracles over night and try again tomorrow. Its beer and bed time.

[RRietman]

So I tried a few more times with compressed air to the inner and nothing......
So I added more Transmission fluid to the piston. Then took a c clamp to see if I could move it at all. It did move in, so I will let the transmission fluid work any miracles over night and try again tomorrow. Its beer and bed time.

grease gun. a little messy but a lot safer than compressed air

[Literati914]

Add acetone to the transmission fluid.

Careful with those ladders, falling is no joke… coincidently I just heard yesterday of a local morning news personality posting about her father falling from a ladder and passing away! Glad it’s just a bruised arm you suffered!

I may have an extra caliper if you need.


.

[Puebloswatcop]

Add acetone to the transmission fluid.

Careful with those ladders, falling is no joke… coincidently I just heard yesterday of a local morning news personality posting about her father falling from a ladder and passing away! Glad it’s just a bruised arm you suffered!

I may have an extra caliper if you need.


.

Yes the fall wasn't bad, But that sudden stop when I hit the ground really sucked. I am very lucky, but very sore.

[Puebloswatcop]

So the overnight soak on the piston was a success. I used compressed air one last time and it popped right out.

RRietman, I figured that if the compressed air didn't do it, the grease injection was a great suggestion and was my next step.

You can see from the pictures just how nasty the inside of the callipers were.....

[Puebloswatcop]

The pistons weren't horrible, but they werent exactly clean either....

[Puebloswatcop]

So now its time to blast the caliper bodies. So I tape off all of the machined areas, probably over-kill. Not sure it would hurt the mating surfaces, but they are machined for a reason, so I like to keep them that way to be safe. So I tape the surfaces with painters tape, and then trim the tape to fit, Surprisingly the tape holds up to the 100 psi blasting.

[Puebloswatcop]

I also plug all the holes that lead to any internal passages using plastic plugs.

[Puebloswatcop]

So the rear calipers are ready to be sent for plating. Big changes from when I started. I guess tomorrow will be spent doing all of the front calipers....yeah

[bkrantz]

Nice. I like it when grunt jobs produce shiny results.

[Puebloswatcop]

Nice. I like it when grunt jobs produce shiny results.

I agree Bob. Its what keeps us moving forward......

[Puebloswatcop]

Today I spent my morning packing up the rear calipers and a bunch of other hardware to go to Plating services in Wisconsin.

There were brake parts that will be done in all three shades of Zinc treatment.

The 2 pictured here all of the bolts get done in Black Zinc, the parts in the 2nd pic get done in clear and averything else was for yellow coating.

[Puebloswatcop]

From there it was back to work on brake parts. Gathered up all of the front brake pistons I had and cleaned them all up....Here is a before and after pic....

[Puebloswatcop]

All total I had 7. Not sure why or really where they all came from...

[Puebloswatcop]

Out of the 7 I had, after cleaning I had 3 that I consider to be less than desireable. 2 with chunks missing on the face and one that has quite a bit of pitting. So at least I have enough to finish the job.

Was also looking at spending about $75 to have the broken bleeder blasted out, but another member here saw my previous posts and reached out with a donor, Thanks Doug, I really appreciate it.

[Puebloswatcop]

Well since today is NASCAR race day I didn't get a lot done. But I did get the 4 Caliper pistons re-blasted and painted. Its amazing how even after blasting the first time the rust comes back due to the properties of the brake fluid. It gets into the metal and continues to attract water. So reblasted them and then painted them right away.