slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Well, a while ago I had to replace my warped rotors. They just warped one day, and the car bucked up and down. I replaced the pads as well, and noticed something wierd. Some of my front calipers were seized! I snapped a bleeder screw, and I managed to snap all four front caliper bolts! After that whole ordeal I started collecting brake parts. And this is what I did to replace my calipers, and yes... Re-building them myself is the cheapest option in my area. All you people that say, ohh... they are only 35$ re-built from you'r local whatever, no. The cheapest I have ever seen them is about 80$ each, after a 40$ core charge...

Anyways, lets get down to business. I can't realy leave my car down, so I am doing this to 2 sets of seperate calipers seperate from the car. First thing when you get the calipers off is to clean then up, and pop the pistons out. I removed the rubber dust covers on each piston, and sand blasted everythin. From even the bolts, and corossion inhibitors(little thin pieces that go inbetween the caliper and hub)... you'll see what I mean.

Well firstly, this is one all sandblasted up. You should have seen it, I forgot to take pictures, but damn! These were beyond dirty! You place pieces or wood inbetween the pistons, because when they pop out, they do so very hard! And with a loud "POP". Be careful.


Next get an air source from wherever. My unlce has an air compressor, guess i got lucky. I had 130psi available, but you will see that this is not enough for "stubborn" pistons. I have heard of someone using a small electric air pump once, in fact I think I still have that picture on my computer somewhere. Oh well. Just seal the air to the brake line hole, and release air into the caliper, heh.


Then, put it back in a little so it seals the hole and clamp it in place. This is so you can still pop the rest of the pistons out silly!


Then just continue for the rest of the pistons...




And then, uhh ohh. This it the reason I am re-building calipers for my car. Seized piston! Actually I am glad there was one. On the last set I forgot to take pics, and none of them were stuck. This gives me a chance to show what to do. I am sure there are many ways to deal with this, but I only had one stuck, and this is what I did. I tried cranking on it, but nothing, just scarred up the piston.


Well, after exhausting that method I just let it sit over night w/some oil and wd-40 on it and tried again w/air, and channel locks. No go... So, time to bust the vice and vice grips out >:p

Ruffryder_29

Ok....so where are the pics...nice write up though.

Gsxspooling

Nice writeup with pics!

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

I just rocked it back and fourth and out it came...




Yummy.....

It looks like the chrome surface was eaten away, possibly by a bad rubber seal letting dirt/sand or other crap in there, and it rubbed it away? I don't know. All I know is that is was stuck, the chrome is worn away in some spots, and it was rusting...


Waa... and that is that. The one piston can be reused, but that would be silly. There is no telling how long that it will operate before seizing again, as it already has some chrome missing from it, SO DON'T REUSE IT!

Next on the agenda is tha actual re-building woulden't cha know?

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Ok, so this is what we're starting with now...


So... I used a regular screw driver for this. Pop the rubber seals out of there seats.


Then you can just pull them out, yay! Lol, not much fun here...


If you're a "dummy head" like me, you removed the pistons before sandblasting. Now I don't mean to confuse anyone, but remember; this is a different set of calipers So, if you have sandbalsting sand all over the inside of the caliper, GET IT ALL OUT. This is key hey. I tried a bucket of water and a brush, but I coulden't get it all out. I ended up using the sprayer in the kitchen sink. Make sure you blow water through each hole. And remember, there are holes leading to the bleeder screw, brake line and one inbetween each cylinder bore. Make sure they are all clean. And then blow it dry, I used an air compressor. Get EVERYTHING dry. All passages expecially. You don't want any water to mix w/ your brake fluid, do you? Seroiusly, this is tedious, get ALL of it dry.

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

The re-build kit I have is from mazdatrix.com. I'm not pimping them or whatever, I'm just letting you know that no local store to me had these, and this is simply one place you can get these new seals.

Fill each bore of the cylinders w/a little brake fluid. Use your index finger to make sure each cylinder has a coating on all of the bore, and pour a little in the groove that the rubber seals sit in. Then rub each new rubber seal w/brake fluid as well just prior to "insertation", LOL, did I just say that?! Anywho, this is what happens...




It's pretty straight forward to finish the rest. Well the whole rebuild is straight forward, but here ya go anyways :-D

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Then it's pretty much, coat the pistons w/more brake fluid and reinsert. You should be able to push them in w/your hands. But you should feel them sealing, so just push hard. Rock it back and fourth a little if it doesn't want to go in, this will help seat the new seals.




Then repeat 7 times, mkaayy??


BTW, this is the paint I found. It's 1200 deg. I had black 500 deg. but I decided that I would go w/the higher temp paint for my car. Even though I though that black would be better, w/mazda logo "emphasized." Oh well, I think it's funny to paint the aluminum calipers an aluminum color, lol.

Ruffryder_29

I guess you plan on inserting pics later??? Or are we supposed to use our imagination....cause I dont have one...those are too expensive and I would rather spend the money on the car...

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Well, I did 3 light coats, and let it dry a week prior to installation.


I decided to sandblast and paint the hard lines while I was at it...


Here's one of the black I was talking about. BTW, I replace all bleeder screws ever since one snapped on me, and it left the car down for a few days, and had to re-tap the hole for a larger screw. I am still unsure of it's integrity.

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Please refrain from posting until I am done. And I don't know what's wrong with your connection, but these are hosted at putfile.com/imhard and I am still uploading. You should be able to see them right now. Thank you...later

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Now for the install. This was cool, although the bleeding was wierd. This happened last time I tried it as well, I'll explain later. I won't really explain much here, so just take a look at the pictures. The SS brake lines were purchased a mazdatrix.com as well. Man, I must be a mazdatrix ***** or something. I swear, it was just a convenience thing . I coated them in a clear rubber coating. It's a rattlecan that you just spray on. I did about 4 coats each, and it feels rubbery now, and it doesn't crack when you bend it. It should be ok.


Notice where the hard line is supposed to be clipped onto the strut? Well, it's not.... I knew I coulden't trust anyone else to this, it's not like it's hard... Ya just clip it on. Good thing I got new clips at the pick-n-pull w/these. And it's pretty dirty, heh. But take the time to notice the fine super clean energy suspension bushing install, lol...




Ok, now. When I blead this yesterday, there was no force on the brake pedal at all. I kept the brake fluid resevoir full, and it took a lot of bleading to get any pressure at all. Is this normal? And btw, the brakes feel so much better! There were 2 seized pistons on the one that came off, that must have really been hindering the brakes a lot! And I can do a write up on the rear calipers just like this if anyone wants. It's just that I really wanted an answer to this question first:
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/rear-caliper-discrepancies-476930/ ...later all

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

You can see the pics now... right?

vaughnc

Assuming you’re done, if not this info may be redundant:

A few thoughts:

You need to hone out the cylinders to remove any scratches & prevent pre-mature failure, don't skip this step. Autozone or any auto supply store sells the tool.



If you pull apart the front calipers, you will need the o-ring that seals the brake fluid passage during re-assembly. I THINK you're SUPPOSE to use o-rings that are brake fluid safe, but I just used some generic ones out of my o-ring kit.

You WILL break bolts when disassembling the front calipers. To prevent this I'd soak the calipers in penetrating oil for 2-3 days if you have the time and use an impact gun when removing the bolts (low torque setting). Mazda stocks the bolts, so go ahead and order 2-3 beforehand to save some grief. You might need a machine shop to drill out any broken bolts & cleanup the hole threads. If you have a drill press you can do this yourself.

Besides sandblasting you can use a scrub pad with dish detergent/soap to clean the greese & dirt, and a drill with a wire-wheel brush to cleanup the rust film. A dremel with cone & flat wire brushes will work wonders as well.

You don't need air to pop-out the front brake pistons, there is a specialty tool that uses the piston grooves to "lever action" them out. Of course if the caliper is disassembled then use a flathead screwdriver and lightly pry in a circular pattern until it pops out.

Now's a good time to sand blast (or scrub n clean) and paint those front & rear A arms, dust shield, etc.. They sell "brake caliper spraypaint", but I just used high-temp engine spraypaint. You can paint the MAZDA logo a different color than the rest of the caliper for some additional bling appeal.

Bleeding is a royal pain. Installing speed bleeders would help. Also they sell a temporary add-on brake fluid reservoir so you don't have to keep re-filling the stock one. I went through 3 bottles of fluid before getting the air out, and that was with the "suck it out" style bleeding pump and pressing the brake pedal to bleed air out of the master cylinder.

I noticed that too, but I'm not sure if that's "US Standard steering wheel on left" or some other standard.

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Finally, someone that noticed the latches too. Wierd huh? And yeah, I was done. I never pull apart the calipers, it says not to in the fsm so I don't. I did once because it was the only way to get at the bolts I had snapped. You know, the two that hold the caliper on. And about the honeing, I didn't think I could do that to the front... That tool is too long. But for the rears, definately.

And I was doing the traditional 2 person bleeding method, but I have access to a little kit w/a pump. Maybe I'll give that a try...later

vaughnc

For me the "old school / best way" of rebuilding brakes over-rides Mazda's recommendation in the FSM. Mazda probably knew they put too much thread-lock on these bolts, and with heat & corrosion these bolts would be impossible to remove without breaking. It has nothing to do with allignment, tolerances, or improper re-assembly.

The DTSS hub is almost the same story. Mazda most likely felt people would mess up pressing the DTSS bushing in, so they only offer the ENTIRE $$$ hub and not just the bushing.

Go48

iTrader: (7)

What a great DIY! I'm in the middle of doing a complete 4-pot conversion on my S5 base model myself so this will be very helpful. The 4-pot calipers I bought on eBay looked like they had been under water/mud for years they were so cruddy. Fortunately, the insides are OK but I'd like to have them sandblasted like you did. Did you do the sandblasting yourself or have it done? What did it cost if you had it done by a shop? Thanks!

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Thanks! I have access to a sandblaster for 3$ an hour, so I did it myself. I don't know what prices are for other places. Best bet is just to bust out the local yellowpages.

I have taken one apart before, but that was only because I had to get to the back of the caliper screws to drill them out. And it was harder to put back together than take apart. But no leaks, so I see. Besides that, I really don't see those seals failing ever because it's not like they seal a moving surface or anything, oh well. I wasn't really concerned w/those as much as the rest of it. But then again, it IS still a rubber part. And we all know full and well what happens to old rubber...

And pressing in those bushings was pie, mazda must have been really scared of people then lol!

BigMike85

Great write-up!

I found a cheap sandblaster for sale online if anyone is looking for one.
Blaster

And here is a blasting cabinet, they are very cool.
Cabinet



SS Lines


Rebuild Kit

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Those are the same SS lines, and rebuild kit used in the pictures...later

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

Hello, I was just wondering if this could be put in the archives. That's why I did it, so people could find this info if they needed it. I am in Japan now, so I really can't do a how-to for the rears anytime soon, sorry...later

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, I forgot. Had it marked for archiving but just kind of slipped my mind. Copying to archives now...