HOWTO: Rebuilding rear brake callipers
 

Hi guys,

About a week ago I rebuilt one of my rear brake callipers as it had not been touched in it's lifetime and wasn't working too well - rattling noises when cornering, leaking brake fluid etc.. Yesterday I rebuilt the other one. My handbrake (emergency brake I think you call it in USA.. or park brake?) was also not working well, on sharp inclines my car was rolling away :).

So yesterday I attacked my other rear calliper and documented it so maybe this can help others do their own.

I'm not an expert, so if you spot any mistakes or know the real names for things I have made up descriptive names for, let me know :) Or if theres any important info to add, please tell me and I will update the doc ! :)

RXClub said the file was too big to upload, so you can get it here: (required Adobe Acrobat Reader)
http://www.pw.cx/rx7files/

Cheers,

Paul.

Looks good man, some nice technical terms in there too. :)

The one thing I noticed involved the grease. From the Factory Service manual, page 11-15 (Reassembling the Caliper) it specifies which grease goes where.

White Grease: Caliper mounting pin and attaching bolt
Orange Grease: Bearings, adjusting bolt, strut and piston boot
Pink Grease: Piston seal


Now, IIRC the reason certain grease are supposed to be used in certain areas, was because one grease may harm rubber seals, but brake fluid won't effect it, whereas the other may prolong rubber seal life, but shouldn't see contact with brake fluid (probably got that mixed up, but you get the idea). On the same note, from what I have seen, the non-mazda kits come with one type of grease. The consensus was that newer greases are good for all areas, including contact with brake fluid while not causing rubber seals to degrade. Mind you, none of this is personal experience, just things I have read and pieced together from other threads.

When I did my first calliper I actually used the red grease on the piston seal - While bleeding the brakes though I found that a lot of this grease came out the bleed nipple, so decided I shouldnt put any in there - a mate of mine who works for Holden says that the seals used are designed to have contact with brake fluid and use that as a lubricant.

I have updated the document with your grease colours info, and recommended to lightly grease the piston seal before putting it in, thanks!

Paul.

According to the Haynes manual, the fronts use red and orange grease. WTF is up with all these grease colors? What's the goddamn difference?

Nice detail, I am planning this rebuild soon so a big thanks.

The FSM says the same on page 11-7. Shows a pic to point out the locations to use the grease. I've attached the pic from the FSM showing where the orange/red grease goes on Front calipers. I would imagine they are mostly the same, minus the e-brake cable.

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=176268

Good stuff, I'll add this to the 1st Gen FAQ.

get new ones its easier...go to napa or autozone

link is broken - this thread is worthless

haha freakin 3 year old thread thats why

does anybody use all these different color greases?

Here's a new link for this write up:http://rx7.pw.cx/guides_manuals/mygu...er_rebuild.pdf

Also look in the archives. There is a new thread in there for rebuiilding rear calipers. :)