Sniper727

Hey the front right brake caliper in my 89 GTUs is all locked up and i'm going to replace it this afternoon. Does anyone have a write-up on changing a caliper? I've done brakes but never taken the caliper totally off. I'm mainly concerned with how to keep brake fluid in my master cylinder so that i don't have to bleed it. I'm aware that it will run out of the line and that's no biggie, i just don't want to have to bleed the master cyl.

Thanks
Andy

Cwaters

You'll have to bleed the brakes. I don't think there's a way around it.
The caliper change is easy. Two bolts and the caliper is off. There IS that pesky brake line but that's not that big of a deal.

Cory

tesla042

I swapped my FR caliper about a week ago.. it drips out REAL slow.. If you take a break every 20 minutes and check the resovoir level, you won't go dry.

But yeah.. two bolts... piece of cake.. May as well do pads at the same time!

And yeah, you will have to bleed the caliper itself... but ONLY that one if you don't let the resovoir get empty.. You can get speed bleeders from most autozone/pep boys places pretty cheap.. bring in your old caliper's bleeder screw to make sure the size matches.. can bleed them without a friend's help that way..

-Tesla

Sniper727

Ok thanks. i was just wondering if the fluid was going to pour out while i switched calipers. Thanks!

TeamWireRacing

Some additional advice would be to get a GOOD 10mm flare wrench. Those brake lines usually do not just come right off. If you get physical w/ them, they will tend to round off w/ a regular wrench. If there appears to be any corrosion on the fittings, spray them liberally with a penetrating lubricant.

Sniper727

thanks for the help. the line did come right off amazingly. i sprayed it all down with WD40 before the job and the other 2 bolts were a major bitch but the line wasn't much of a problem. Replaced the front pads and found that 1 of the 4 pistons in my front drivers side caliper just took a ****..must have been jealous of the other caliper, so that's next on the list to fix. but anyhow, it's stopping a lot better now. Thanks for the help guys..

Oh and one more thing, while i was bleading the brakes i thought my clutch could use some fresh fluid and i would like to flush that also but i do not have my manual here at school and i can't find the clutch bleader screw. Where is it?

tesla042

Coo.. you know you can use regular brake fluid for your clutch, right?

The bleeder screw is on the driver's side of the firewall... just a tad off-center--maybe 2/3 of the way to the center from the driver's side edge... it's pretty hard to miss... i think you can just trace the line back from the tranny to find it..

-Tesla

tmak26b

Hmmm brake caliper, I froze 4 of them in 2 years