The Webmaster Zone

The caliper rebuild did not go quite as smoothly as I would have hoped. After disconnecting the nearside caliper and resting it on a box, I wrapped some wire around one of the pistons and pumped the brake pedal to push the other piston out. Carefully removed the oil seal and then the dust retaining ring and seal, then meticulously cleaned out the bores with denatured alcohol. Lightly buffed the piston with steel wool to remove surface rust and examined for pitting. Looked good, so I proceeded to install the new seal set. Getting the dust seal retaining ring proved to be insanely frustrating. I tried tapping around it gently with the butt end of a screwdriver, but one side would always go in and leave the opposite side sticking out and any attempts to get it in would result in a bent ring. Well after 3 hours of that, I got fed up and left it for the day. On day two I cut two 3" x 5" squares out of a scrap piece of plywood and bought a couple of cheap 3" C-clamps and tried to press down on the ring evenly by tightening each side slowly. Still didn't work. I had destroyed one rebuild kit already, had made no progress, and the week was slipping by so I decided to farm out the job to Octagon Motors. I removed the brake hose at the pipe end on both sides and took both of the calipers upstairs where my kitchen table turned into a temproary workbench (with the messy parts inside a plastic tub and ample newspaper spread out) where I removed the bleed screws and soaked all of the bolts and small parts in a container filled with Coca-Cola (it dissolves any rust quite quickly). I was then presented with a problem: how to get the remaining 3 pistons out? I had a "eureka!" moment and fetched a large rad clamp (I believe Brits call them jubilee clips) and placed it over a piston with a bit of paper towel wadded up underneath the worm drive as to prevent the piston from being marred. Tightened the clamp up and then with a BFS, pry each side of the piston up a fraction of an inch at a time, alternating sides, using the edge of the rad clamp for gaining purchase. Doesn't take too long and works quite well. Only one of the pistons was corroded enough to warrant replacement. Once the pistons were out, I cleaned the calipers and wire brushed the old paint and caked-on crud off. Friday morning before work I put everything in my backpack and took the bus out to Octagon - 40 minutes later and a few dollars poorer all new seals were installed! After work, I masked the bores and the bleed holes and strung some wire through the bolt holes. I took the calipers downstairs and hung them from the wires, and applied several coats of Tremclad aluminum spray paint. I then brought them back to my bathroom and left them with a space heater overnight. By Saturday morning, they were almost completely dry so I removed the masking and lubricated the bores with brake fluid and pressed the pistons back in. Back downstairs and bolted the calipers on with new tab washers, then removed the old cracked hoses and replaced with brand new ones. Installed new Lucas brake pads, springs and split pins and bled the system. A job properly done, and the calipers look as if they were brand new! Driving impressions? Braking is much much bettter and the pads no longer bind-on. This week I will examine the rear brakes.. I got a really big Philips screwdriver to take off the drum. Moral of the story? Sometimes its much easier to get the professionals to do the tricky bits, especially when you have limited workspace and tools at your disposal! This week I will also buy most of the parts required for my front suspension rebuild. I almost forgot to mention that since my cleaning of the control box, my indicator lamps are flashing quite a bit quicker and the instrument panel lights are brighter. Bonus!