First gen gurus,

In a recent attempt to try and bleed my brake system, I have twisted off my bleeder screw to the point of no return. As soon as I put the wrench on the thing in crumbled like a week old cookie.

I know these things are pretty rare nowadays, and ive already raided the classified section for part-outs with no luck...so my question to you is:

Are there any interchangeable calipers for these cars? Maybe from an FC or a Miata? Thanks

Travis

 

You should still be able to find rebuilt calipers from parts stores.

 

Thanks for the response, ive looked and it seems like a lot of these stores are sold out of the "rear right" caliper for whatever reason

 

Did the bleeder screw break or did the hole in the caliper strip? I would imagine the screw is fairly generic. Rockauto has both sides of rear calipers available for GSLs and SEs if it is stripped. Also, if it is stripped you might find a machine shop that could fix it but buying a reman caliber may be the better option.

 

Ill check out rock auto. thanks for the response

 

If rockauto doesn't have it, its probably NLA. I noticed last time I wanted to get some rebuilt calipers
for my SA that the right front was never in stock. Ended up getting a rebuild kit and doing it myself.

 

You could try taking the caliper to a machine shop along with a new bleeder screw you plan to use. They should be able to remove the old one. If your lucky the threads will be ok and the new screw should fit nicely. If not, they will need to retap the hole for the new screw size.

Another thought, most big cities have brake rebuilding businesses. Look online or the good old yellow pages to see if that's the case in your area. They should be able to help you as well.

MAX

 

the problem with that line of thinking is that out of the cars from 79-85 the Rx7's are the survivors, everything else got thrown away a really long time ago.

the Rx7 caliper is from sumitomo, or actually since sumitomo owns a big stake in Mazda, its more like the Sumitomo brake system comes with the Rx7. anyways, there probably was another car that used the same hydraulics, probably with a different bracket, but good luck finding an 82 GLC!

 

i had the same thing happen with a BRAND NEW caliper for my FC. i had to use an extractor, but it was no big deal in the long run. if the caliper was otherwise still intact and functional, you can get a bleeder screw.

 

If the broken part of the bleeder screw is still inside the caliper body (i.e. screwed in still), then you need to buy an "easy out" to get it out. I would suggest heating up the caliper and broken off part with a small propane torch. Once you get it hot,, remove the flame and spray it with some PB Blaster or penetrating oil. heat and repeat.
Once everything is good and hot and the penetrating oil has gotten to the bleeder screw threads, tap your easy out into the hole in the bleeder screw with a small hammer. Once its jammed in there pretty good, then just put a small crescent wrench on the end of the easy out and back the base of the bleeder screw out.
No need to buy a new caliper etc. Waste of money.
Once you get the broken base of the bleeder screw out juts replace it with a new one.
The whole process should take about 30 minutes tops.
Easy outs are cheap and so is a new bleeder screw.
Good luck.

 

Another tip. If using heat, make sure all the brake fluid and any rubber piece you can remove are off. Put a piece of wood where the pads would go. This is to ensure the piston does not over extend when the air inside the caliper gets hot. If the piston over-extends and blows out of the bore, a caliper rebuild would be best.