ProwlerGT's 3000GT Revival Thread - Start Up

[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.

[sublime_whatigo]

Brake cleaner will work 10x better anyways so I would go with that.

[ProwlerGT]

Yeah, I think I'll use that combined with an air powered cleaning brush. It just so happens that brush came with my tool set.

[ProwlerGT]

So today my suspension bushings from Rockville Mitsu finally came in. I have some problems with bushings that are not asked for and are either very hard to get or discontinued. The only thing I have left that I'm still waiting on (going on a month wait now) is the ball joints I got off Ebay. Apparently the post office is to blame and I'm waiting on a reshipment.

I've got so much to do yet, but I'm running out of time. Need to get ma a$$ on it.

I've also ordered cheaply from another member: ECU, PS Pump, Alternator, Rear Seatbelts, Driver Seat Cushions. My driver seat cushions have turned to crap and everywhere I've looked its insane to redo upholstery and I don't feel like installing brackets to put in a new set of 3rd party racing seats. The ECU and ALT will be spare parts and the PS Pump I may actually swap out if I think mine isn't in the greatest shape.

I'm finding myself adding to the list while the brakes are off. I seriously want to paint the calipers, rotors, and rubberize undercoat the wheel wells. Its easy enough to do, but require good prep work and of course more time. I think I'm going to draft my sister to help with the setup of this. Hopefully it will turn out nice.

[ProwlerGT]

I think anyone who gets the idea in their head to rebuild the calipers (all the way around mind you) shouldn't do it..... that is of course unless you do ZERO cleaning and just put everything back together which I just can't allow myself to do. I have decided I want to paint my calipers and this means several hours of very intense cleaning. So far my best bet has been to use the circular wire brush on a high rpm drill. I've been working since 4 am this morning and its almost 1pm now and I've only got the parts for the front two rotors done which is the hardest part of course cause the rears are smaller. I sure hope this crap works. I'm going to follow the instructions for the spraying:

Adhesion coat > Primer coat > High Temp Anodized Blue coat

If it comes off I am going to be one pissed mofo. I'm also getting some extreme funk off of the pistons and cylinder edges where the gaskets and clip go. Unless I'm mistaken about using silicone in the calipers I plan to seal the piston gaskets with blue high temp rtv as well as the rubber sleeves for the slide bolts.

I swear ya'll. It looked like I always went mudding with my car. There is so much gunk built up inside the calipers it is pathetic and whats the worst is that its layers upon layers of hardened solid gunk that won't come off easily.

I'm wire brushing everything; even the bolt threads and I've devised a method to clean out the bolt holes of the hardened grease. Its pretty cool actually. You get one of those rough Scotch brand green dish scrubbing pads, cut about a 1 inch strip of it off, twist it a bit, then work it down the hole with a standard sized flat head screwdriver while pushing the screwdriver in the center of the scrub pad in the hole turning clockwise till bottom. The length of the pad is long enough to pull it out afterwards; just have to be careful you don't lose the pad in hole if the pad gets severed by the screwdriver. Afterwards I did the same thing with a blue shop towel, another squirt of brake parts cleaner, and way-la. Very time consuming, but it works well. I would not stand to leave any of the old build-up inside.

[ProwlerGT]

Does anyone see why my high temp blue rtv silicone idea wouldn't work well with the calipers? I don't think the brake fluid would wear it out over time if it was dry first before the brake fluid touches it.... or am I wrong there?

The idea here is of course to seal the pistons from the outside world of dirt. I imagine every time the pistons recede an insanely small degree of suction is caused bringing dirt inward. So my idea is with using the rtv I would effectively block 99% if not all of sucked in dirt. What ya'll think?

[hotasice2003]

Holy crap bro...... if you are doping all that, there should be NO WAY that caliper paint will come off....... All I did was clean mine, and paint em, and the paint has almost all stayed on...... I have a few minor flake areas tho...... you should be set if you're doing all that lol...... nice work tho.....

[ProwlerGT]

I found a tear in at least 1 of my rubber piston boots on the front, so thats definitely a spot where dirt got in and/or brake fluid was very very very very slowly seaping out over time.

hotasice2003 - Thanks for your info that really helps me get a mindset for what will work and what won't. Either way I'm not friggin cleaning them any further than a last alcohol wipe before paint prep.

Posting pics here Calipers and the cruddy Pistons. Can ya'll view the calipers for me and tell me if you think the paint will stick to what you see?

[ProwlerGT]

A note about wheel wire acid. I saw one a camaro caliper paint job web page that the dude used wheel wire acid to take ALL gunk off the calipers. I don't know how I feel about working with acid of that power, but I'm sure it would've very easily saved several hours of cleaning time. I have no idea where to get the stuff, but if you can get it and feel confident using it (wear goggles, gloves, and mouth protection) then I'd say to go for it. I would imagine you'd need to soak them in a tank or bucket of the stuff unless its a spray which to think of is even more dangerous.

Here's that thread with the camaro btw: http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/fbody/calipers.htm

[ProwlerGT]

I had no choice, but to wire brush (very gently) the caliper pistons because they'd varnished on some gunk. I have damaged them slightly and we're talking teeny teeny tiny marks (at most 1mm) that are not protruding, but are receded tiny holes. Do ya'll think this will screw up once back in the caliper? I kinda need to know now of course cause its all apart right now. Thanks.