Uk brake rebuild and powdercoat

[jay200bhp]

I know this has been recently covered in a thread by kev that was very informal and had some great pictures that helped me when begining the work on my uk brakes yesterday,over the next few weeks i am going to try and write up some notes on this too as i take mine off and strip the calipers back,have them bead blasted with a glass based medium so as its not to abrasive and only cleans the metal of the caliper.then acid etched to allow the powder coating a good key and to finall powder coat them 4020 honda racing red and rebuild them all with all new components from mr T!so here goes...

[jay200bhp]

To start i laid the calipers out on a surface table and took pictures of the tops of each front and rear,comprising of the pins and clips and rattle shims just to be certain i knew where it all goes when i put them back together again having never done this before...

[jay200bhp]

On the FRONT calipers the wire clip that holds the two pins in place pulls up and out of the holes on the two pins,i found my pins were a bit dirty and so had to be tapped with a mallet and punch.a quick spray with a brake cleaning solvent will help them slide out. The pads will then drop out from the underside of the assembly,along with the rattle shims and pad spacers etc although mine didnt have any pad spacers fitted,these will go in with the standard pads when i rebild them ...

[jay200bhp]

My calpiers had some pretty glazed over pads in them this may well have contributed to my oem uk set being poor to say the least...they were WEDSPORT? does anybody know of these? the next task was to have a quick look over the piston boots to check for splits etc that may have let moisture in and coroded the pistons...mine were all fine but i had allready decided to pamaper the brakes and will be replacing everything with new anyway...a small screwdriver was used to pop the retaining rings from the boots once the ring is off the rubbers part company from the piston groov easily remove all four from either side of the caliper.....

[Martin F]

Originally Posted by jay200bhp

i found my pins were a bit dirty and so had to be tapped with a mallet and punch.a quick spray with a brake cleaning solvent will help them slide out.

You were lucky, i've heard of people having all sorts of trouble getting those pins out. But if you're brakes are regularly replaced or serviced shouldn't be an issue.

[Martin F]

Wedsport are one of the many Japanese brands.

[jay200bhp]

In the toyota service manual they show a "fag packet" sketch of two wooden plates that basically stop the pistons shooting out when compressed air is applied in the brake line hole, i slotted one pad in on the side opposite the brake line fixing ,i would recomend laying some tissue paper over the air gun when you blow the pistons out as the brake fluid remaining in the caliper will rush out of the hole and you wouldnt want it in your eyes! goggles are a good idea too!....

[jay200bhp]

I found that two out of the four pistons were prone to popping out easier and it may be the case that you will need to push a piston or two back in and hold it with a G-clamp so the air doesnt escape from the hole with no piston,whilst the others that are trickier to release are eased out i managed to tap these with a mallet and punch around the locating groove for the boot rubber but be careful that it is aquare at all times!....

[jay200bhp]

be aware that when the piston pop out they will make a banging noise against the plate you have made and any remaining fluid willl pour out and need mopping up!...

[jay200bhp]

next when all lthe pistons were removed i cleaned the piston bores out with brake cleaner and a brush to agitiate the dirt and fluid remaining in them. i dryed them off with compressed air and boxed them up for the powdercoaters they should be back next fri .
The rears are the same as the front without half the amount of pistons or seals to pop out!
to be continued......