I know it's been done before but I figured I would just post pics of my little project here on rebuilding and install my FD brakes on my FC along with SS lines. Now I'm not going to do a write up on the rebuild since that has already been done and is in the archives I believe. Hope you enjoy the pics.


+ this

+ this

+this


= FUN!

 

My Test subject:



Turns into:

 

Here are the calipers before I started:


And here is a side with the pistons out:

 

Here are the pistons before I cleaned them:



Here is what the piston looked like alone up close:



Here is the piston after a quick polish and cleaning:

 

Pistons all finished:



Calipers getting the first coat of paint stripper:



Here is the caliper after the coat and ready for the second coat:

 

Here are the SS lines and Rebuild kit:




More pics to come once I get the powder-coating finished and then isntalled with the lines.

 

i have an eastwood hot coat kit and full size oven to do mine with eventually. If yours turn out well i might get on it sooner.

How hard would you say the actual tear down of the calipers is?

What type of stripper did you use?

Im especially curious on the how these will come out. The biggest reason i havent done mine is because i cant decide if i want to sandblast them first or if i want to use a wirebrush and then a stripper.

 

The finish won't matter if you can't rebuild them properly. Why don't you rebuild them without all the paint jaz just in case they don't work or last as long as you hope?

"I really want to rebuild my engine but I just can't pick a color!" lolz

 

All my calipers work fine or they wouldnt be on my cars. If they needed rebuild i would have already done so and waited on the powdercoat. And of course when i do powdercoat them i will rebuild them.

 

Well, the tear down was fairly simple until pulling the pistons. I just took a piece of wood that fit between the pistons and then put air through the system to push the pistons out. A couple of them came out easily, but a few I had to pull with a set of plyers. Fairly simple though, then cleaned with plenty of brake cleaner.

If they don't work after I rebuild them then i'm a friggin idiot and I have no business working on cars.....why would they not work once I rebuild them when they were working before I Tore them down? Jealous?

 

Here they are finished, and I must say I am impressed on how well they turned out. They may not be perfect but they do look good in person. I am very pleased on how they turned out. They are still cooling, since they are very hot. I may try buffing it a little in a small spot on the back or something to see if it lessens the orange peel look. I have very fine steel wool that should work.

 

not bad for a frist time i do alot of powder coating my self a tip to get ride of orange peel is wet and buff just like paint. or wet sand and powder coat with clear coat powder. either way works well. just dont sand to long or stay in the same spot to long. also i would recommend 1500- 3000 grit

 

Would fine steel wool work? I used to use that for finishing.

 

looking good!!

 

I can't sleep for beans right now so I'm gonna busy myself and go finish rebuilding the calipers right now. Until I get finish pictures here is another angle pic:

 

I forgot to mention, be very careful with paint stripper. Just go to a paint store and ask for heavy duty paint stripper thats safe on aluminum. I got some on my hands cause it soaked through my glove and holy **** does it burn like hell. I was going to have them sand blasted but the place told me they didnt want to do them cause they were afraid of getting glass beads inside the piston area/brake fluid ports.......I just said forget it if they aren't confident or don't know how to plug all the holes up. I think he was just stupid or lazy. Anyways, good luck with yours if you get them done. I'll get finished rebuild photo's up in an hour or so.

 

Ok here is a picture after I finished rebuilding the caliper. I'll take installed pics when I get home from work:

 

Well that makes me want to get them done even more so now. Especially since im going with a fire engine red type of powder coat. Should look awesome

 

I figured out that you have to CLEAN the hell out of everything you coat, then completely dry the part off. Moderate to light coats of powder, baking in between. This way, you get a good thick layer of powder on there, and it eliminates the orange peel look.

Calipers look good though

 

steel wool will be to rough powder coat works like paint that why i recomend wet sand and buff

 

hmm looks like this is the only thread to really learn to do this

 

i would of went red.

but great writeup looks good.

 

Forgive my ignorance on this one... But why go through the hassle of powder coating, when you could just use caliper paint?

Looks good though

 

not bad for your first time doing pc.
i just bought the columbiacoatings koolkoat 2.0 with the dpw board, its an 800$ setup, but i just did an entire engine and intake runners for a friend, lays glassy smooth. if that harbor freight gun has an adjustable feed air, try turning up the feed a little bit, and adjusting the voltage.
if not, i guess youre stuck then lol.
ill post up some pics of my calipers im doing: 3 coats, chrome, candy red translucent, clear /red flake

Lloyd

 

Sorry to bring up an old *** thread lol, but I finally got around to installing these bad boys on my car. I never had the time or the space. I actually installed them today with new pads, and they look pretty good. These are 1993 rebuilt calipers on an 1989 GTU. Bolted right up with no problems, and all the brake lines bolted right up as well. The only difference I found out is the brake hardware kit. The brake pad pins are longer on the FD calipers then on the FC calipers. Just a heads up for anyone who may want to do this as well. And yes I know there is no real performance upgrade to doing this, but I had these calipers and decided to do a rebuild on them since they look way better then the FC calipers IMHO.