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Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor Brake
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Author:  Lonnie-S [ September 7, 2019, 5:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor Brake
This is a topic I'm educating myself on. I don't need a quick decision. However, it is a part of my build that is coming up pretty soon, like in 6-8 weeks.

My donor (1994 SN95 base Mustang) has 4-wheel disc brakes. Over time I've gone through several ideas about how to refurbish them. They've been sitting for years, and weren't that great when I bought the donor, but they did work OK. Long story short, my thinking today is selecting one of two options: 1) have a pro rebuild the original calipers; or, 2) buy a brake caliper kit for all 4 wheels.

Minimum costs for mechanics here is $125 per hour, usually it's more. I'm thinking it will be a few hundred dollars additional to buy the caliper kits rather than have the 25 year old brakes redone. That seems like a good play to me as the old stuff is pretty tired, and you never really know what kind of result you'll get from a rebuild.

Here is an example of a front brake kit. Thay have them for all 4 wheels too.

Does anyone have experience with this or similar caliper kits?

Thanks,
Author:  benny_toe [ September 7, 2019, 5:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
What I did:

New diss
New pads
Dismantle and thoroughly clean the calipers. Inspect for damage/scoring on cylinder walls.
Install rebuild kit.
Author:  benny_toe [ September 7, 2019, 5:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
What I did:

New diss
New pads
Dismantle and thoroughly clean the calipers. Inspect for damage/scoring on cylinder walls.
Install rebuild kit.
Author:  horchoha [ September 7, 2019, 5:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,1994,mustang,5.0l+v8,1134133,brake+&+wheel+hub,caliper%2C+rotor+&+brake+pad+kit,14204
Here's some other prices/quality to compare.
Author:  horchoha [ September 7, 2019, 5:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
Hey Larry? Why'd you have to do it twice :-D
Author:  benny_toe [ September 7, 2019, 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
Felt too good to let it go just once. Either that or I stumbled around trying to edit/complete the post. Still ain't right.

Your back making you cranky?
Author:  horchoha [ September 7, 2019, 6:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
benny_toe wrote:
Your back making you cranky?

:cheers: What the heck, I'll corrupt Lonnie's thread with rubbish a bit.
Actually I'm sitting here with Capt'n Morgan, he's messaging my back right now and he feels great :headbang:, not quite feeling like a cigarette, but still feeling great
Author:  benny_toe [ September 7, 2019, 6:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
With an apology to Lonie.....

Perry, glad your back is better and is giving you a reason to meet up with the Captain. Hang in there slugger. Want you to finish the Mouse while I can still see the screen.

And Lonnie the same goes for you. Keep plugging away. Appears you're getting at least one task per day, perhaps more. Before you know it you'll be wrangling with the the DMV.

But to finish the previous post re: brakes. I did punch a wrong button or two. The last comment was to power bleed after installation but you were going to do that anyway.

Point is unless you have some serious competition in mind I wouldn't spend the bucks for new calipers unless what you have is toast. Discs and pads of course. New seals and gaskets you bet. But the caliper usually doesn't wear out. Unless it's a Corvette. Corvette calipers wear out.

Just my nickels worth. Used to be 2 cents but inflation you know.

Best,
Author:  rx7locost [ September 7, 2019, 8:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
Rebuilding the caliper is easy. Seals slide on the piston, not the cylinder. If the cylinder is in fair condition, then there should be no reason to have a pro rebuild them. new seals are cheap. If the piston is scored or pitted, then new pistons are inexpensive too. For very few bucks and a little bit of elbow grease, you can have a fully refurbished brake system. I'd recommend tearing them apart and see if you can rebuild them before buying new ones. 80% of the work is removing and replacing them which has to be done either way.
Author:  Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F [ September 8, 2019, 8:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
Use a little compressor with low pressure and a rubber tip nozzle to remove the piston. Very little pressure is needed. Put a block of wood in the caliper to catch the piston if you are overzealous with the air.

After cleaning, lube the square cut seal before installation in the bore, get it seated in the bore (no sharp tools to prevent damage to the seal), lube the piston and try to put it in square with a c clamp. There are special clamps for doing this that make it easier to keep square to the bore. If it doesn't go, apply a little air to push it out to uncock it in the bore and try again. Install the dust seal. The caliper design may require both seals to be in the caliper before fitting the piston.

Phenolic pistons tend to grow in od overtime and should be replaced but I see these calipers use steel pistons.
Author:  rx7locost [ September 8, 2019, 10:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
When MV8 suggested lube, not just any lube. Some use the brake fluid as the lube. I prefer to use red rubber grease. It is less messy and totally recommended for use with DOT 3, 4 and 5.1. NOT for use with DOT 5.0.
Author:  Lonnie-S [ September 8, 2019, 10:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Brake Caliper Kits versus Rebuild of 25 Year Old Donor B
@benny_toe
@horchoha
@rx7locost
@MV8

Thanks for your responses, gentlemen. You're making a rebuild sound embarrassingly easy. I was hoping to have an excuse to offload a significant task to someone else.

benny_toe wrote:
. . .
And Lonnie the same goes for you. Keep plugging away. Appears you're getting at least one task per day, perhaps more. Before you know it you'll be wrangling with the the DMV.

Thanks for the encouragement, Larry. I'm able to spend time each day on the build now, and it's starting to pay off.

@horchoha
Those kits you referenced may have been quite a find, Perry. The proverbial pony in the manure pile, so to speak.

The disk sizes for the front and rear on the base Mustang donor I have are 10.9" & 10.5" respectively. Given the Mustang was about 3,100+ pounds, I really didn't think I'd need better brakes. However, the "standard" thing to do in the Mustang world is to go to SVT Mustang brakes as your easy, fairly inexpensive upgrade. Those new SVT kits you found, Perry, are cheaper than junk yard prices for the used SVT brakes down here.

It may be worth doing as the older Mustang parts are getting pretty scarce now - at least around here.

My donor uses the 7.5" rear axle. I need to see if the SVT Mustang of 94-95 used the 8.0" rear axle. In that case, they might not work. I'm pretty close to positive there was only one front spindle in 94-95, so the SVT fronts should work if available.

I did my master cylinder calcs based on the base brakes, but it's easy to swap bore sizes on the Wilwood master cylinders if necessary.

Thanks again, guys. I'm now going back to nursing my serious hangover from last nights party. It was worth it though - lots of laughs and merriness were had.

Cheers,
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