Quick Caliper Rebuild

[Trav]

I need rear calipers for an old Saab, all the remans are garbage and nothing new was available but pistons and seals are so I had to rebuild them.
On the remans most had the wrong bolts installed a grade 8.8 instead of the oddball 11.9 and they are M7x1 so no 12.9 available either.
Torque spec is above the 8.8 rating and they just throw the pistons in without setting the angle to 29mm as is required for them to release properly.
This is what I had to work with and how they came out, one is finished still finishing the other then its on to the fronts.

Nothing special, just a cleanup with new pistons a hone job and seals. I figured you guys might enjoy pics of what you have to do when there is no other alternative.

 

[atikovi]

Got to love a bead blaster.

 

[demarpaint]

As usual top quality work!

 

[MasterSolenoid]

Great looking job.
Doing work like that would give anyone a lot of personal satisfaction.

 

[wwillson]

Trav does another job THE RIGHT WAY!

 

[OVERKILL]

Great work!

 

[LazyDog]

They look better than new, great job!

 

[GSCJR]

Awesome work Trav!

 

[KGMtech]

How old was this Saab?

 

[oggb]

Great job! Those things looked ROUGH.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Those cleaned up excellent. Nice work Trav. Most shops would of just thrown those cheap remans on and sent it down the road.

 

[Trav]

How old was this Saab?

23 years old.

 

[JTK]

I did not expect them to clean up that well!

They're better than new now. Maybe the prettiest part on that old Saab. LOL

 

[Trav]

Those cleaned up excellent. Nice work Trav. Most shops would of just thrown those cheap remans on and sent it down the road.

Thanks. I have seen remans for these, none were much good. they use a generic seal between the halves which are prone to leaking and never get the piston set correctly so they release properly, if just thrown in there the thing will make noise and drag the pads they also do not seal the piston boots allowing water in there rusting them quickly.

This is critical for these non floating 2 piston calipers an easy adjustment but the hardware they use is cheap junk.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Looking good! Reminds me of rebuilding Corvette calipers. Pretty easy and the price is right!

 

[AutoMechanic]

Thanks. I have seen remans for these, none were much good. they use a generic seal between the halves which are prone to leaking and never get the piston set correctly so they release properly, if just thrown in there the thing will make noise and drag the pads they also do not seal the piston boots allowing water in there rusting them quickly.

This is critical for these non floating 2 piston calipers an easy adjustment but the hardware they use is cheap junk.

View attachment 53438

Yes it’s good you were able to spot that. Nothing worse than a customer coming back angry because something isn’t right again. It’s a shame it’s hard to find quality parts anymore.

 

[spasm3]

Did you glass bead those?

 

[Trav]

Yes, medium grit.

 

[bunnspecial]

Totally unrelated to the excellent rebuild job(which looks better than what I usually manage even if I have new pistons) but I've seen some...vigorous...discussions WRT other vehicles on the orientation of the "notch" on the piston(or I guess rather raised area).

I've been placing it down(pointing toward the hub) since I've seen arguments about that being the most effective way to reduce squeal, but it looks to me like you've put them toward the front of the car. That's at least what I see if I'm twisting the orientation in my head around correctly.

Is it that critical/important and if so do you know the logic behind orienting it that way? Some people I know put them in however the heck they happen to fall.

As another side note, I love fixed calipers and wish everyone used them. I'm guessing they're more expensive than the typical floating ones.

 

[Popsy]

Excellent looking job