[ProwlerGT]

The BRAKES - Final component of Phase 1 of 4 of my car's revival

Back when I thought I couldn't get my front caliper's apart in order to rebuild them I ordered some replacements I found on RockAuto.com. They are A1 Cardone's and look pretty good. The only thing I didn't realize when I ordered them (which is why they were like $64 a piece) was that they were sending me only the Caliper piece with the pistons in it and not the Caliper support piece. So with my problem being that I couldn't get the two pieces apart ordering the new calipers effectively did me no good for "speed" of finishing this project sooner. The other thing I recently noticed too is that the caliper bleeding bolt/screw thingy is bigger than that of the original stock NA caliper for my year. This didn't help matters after I'd just recently ordered 3SX speedbleeders. I'll be damned if I don't get to use my speedbleeders because of that so it looks like I'm going to finish rebuilding my original calipers after all and I'll have two new ones either for backup or for sale.

Condition of the caliper insides: HOLY CRAP.... disgusting and can I say CAKED.... and I mean CAKED.... CAKEAGE !!!! I've got 140k (I think) on my car and to my knowledge the brake lines have only been flushed once. The debris that got into the calipers was enough to finally sieze them up pretty well. There is a well defined ring of CAKEAGE around the pistons and none of them would move at all with the strong push/pull of my fingers. It took a lot of patience and air pressure to get the pistons out. I had to incrementally step up the with of various wooden blocks and the break pads to get the pistons to come out in small increments because what the manual says is true that you can't get 1 piston out at a time. Has to be both at the same time (which was a problem because 1 piston wanted to stay in while the other extended out) unless you can find a way to plug the piston hole tightly enough to stop pressure leakage while you force out the other one which probably isn't worth your time.... better to step up various wooden block widths at a time: IE: 2"x4"x6" block, then maybe a 1"x4"x6" block (or put both brake pads together and use that instead), and then maybe if needed a 1/2"x4"x6" block of wood to get the piston's far enough out so that you can then wiggle them the rest of the way with your fingers.

EXTREME CAUTION: WHEN YOU APPLY AIR TO MAKE THE PISTONS COME OUT WATCH YOUR FINGERS AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A SHOP TOWEL OVER THE PISTONS AND THE BLEEDER ORIFICE WHERE YOU ARE APPLYING THE AIR. WEARING GOGGLES AND A BREATHER MASK WOULD BE IDEAL.

Surprisingly enough to me the piston boots and seals all seemed to still be in decent condition with no noticeable cracks or tears. The problem though is certainly that the brakes are "intaking" debris probably every time they recede back into the caliper. This has me thinking that maybe some RTV at the piston boot seal ends and the caliper sliding bolt seal ends may help to eliminate or significantly lessen the amount of debris that gets in there. I just don't know if RTV is resistant to brake fluid. Inside the holes in the calipers for the sliding bolts (as I call them) the grease was nearly completely hardened. So I have to clean ALL of this stuff out throughly. DRY IT ALL and reassemble with the new seal kits...... and do this for ALL 4 calipers. UGG !

Anyone got any suggestions for cleaning the calipers? Can I use engine degreaser in the sliding bolt holes? I know there are all kinds of remarks about not cleaning anything without using alcohol or brake parts cleaner, but it seems like engine degreaser should be ok.

Comments? LOL - I know a lot to read. Sorry.