'71 Bay caliper rebuild?

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type2tattoo

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Hello :)



Can anyone advise me where I can get my front calipers rebuilt? I believe '71 brakes are inbetween years so a bit rare so its probably easier to have the originals rebuilt than to find new ones?

I am finally cracking on with my bay, she's been off the road for 11 years :eek:



Pics here for the not too squeamish



http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/type2tattoo/CyCyL%20March%2009/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
How bad are they?

I rebuilt mine using a kit from JK, if you need to split the calliper then you will probably need to get the calliper body seals from somewhere else as I gather the seals in the kit dont fit these days. Rest of the kit was fine for sorting out the piston seals though.
 
Loxy said:
How bad are they?

Just looked at your pics, give them a clean up first & then assess how bad the piston & bore is, if they arent good then consider replacing with late bay parts rather than a rebuild.
 
Re-build my own a little while back, its not too difficult assuming your pistons are not badly scored / pitted.

You will need:

1. 2 No caliper rebuild kits from GSF (65694 BRAKE CALIPER REPAIR KIT T2 > 7/72 14.50)
2. Foot pump (schraeder valve) plus adapter / pipe / jubilee clip etc to hook up pump to caliper
3. Red rubber grease (can be got in stupidly small 50 pence packets or HUGE tins with more than you will ever need in a life time (and no other sizes in between!) Get about 4 of the 50 pence packets.
4. O-rings (sorry cant remember size - theyre about 4mm O/D?) that seal fluid passage way between caliper halves - 4 No I think. Didnt renew mine as they were in great condition.

The tricky bit is getting the pistons out if they are sticky / siezed and making SURE that you dont damage them as you "pop" them out using air pressure. I used rolled up rags between the pistons as I pumped em out (ooer!!) One out any minor marking / pitting can be cleaned up with 000 / 0000 grade wire wool (if they are severly pitted they are useless and will have to be binned - probably new caliper time unless you can find NOS / good used pistons for 1 year only part!)

Fit new seals from kit applying plenty of the red rubber grease. Brake fluid only does not work as it dries out and the pistons stuck in the bores as they tend to "skew" out of line without adequate lubrication. When pushing pistons back in be care full to push them in perfectly square. A G-clamp type tool is ideal for this - use thin ply wood / hardboard to avoid damage to pistons. One pistons are in fit outer dust seals from kit.

Total cost for me was about 35 quid plus lots of swearing and usual cuts and grazes. Rebuilt calipers now seem to be 170 quid each (just looked on VW Heritage) - unreal!!

I think there was a "How To..." in Volksworld or VW Camper & Bus a while back on this

There was also a guy on ebay a while back selling NOS ATE rebuild kits but the GSF ones were OK too

Hope this helps

FS 8)
 
Thanks for the replies peeps, :) I will have a go at them and see what the damage is

Was also wondering wether it would be better to upgrade the brakes and if so what do you suggest?

I am going to have an awful lot of questions over the next few months, hope you don't mind. The plan is to have her running and legal for Vanfest this year :0 There's a bottle of champagne on it from my friends at LTV :D

I imagine after all this time the fuel tank is shot too, can you point me to any threads about removing the firewall to get it out?

Thanks Lynds x
 
Brakes are covered....if they are rebuildable alls good if not then the cheapest option is late bay reconditioned units with the spacers to offset the centre line.....

the firewall is easy, drop the engine and the firewall is bolted in place all around the edge you can see and a few underneath....
 
I've just looked at your photos...... You're a very brave person! Good luck with the project, it's great to see vans this far gone put back on the road rather than get broken for spares.
 
no offense, and indeed i'm guilty of doing this myself with extended sliding door handles when i don't actually have any running gear on my bus, but are you really at the rebuilding the calipers stage :shock:

i mean; they might be old photos, they might be photos of a different bus, no i don't know the full story etc. etc. but that bus in the photos is a bit, er, knackered isn't it :?

of course it's saveable; it's only steel, everything's possible, but that is a shed load of work to get that anywhere near the road, whereas rebuilding the calipers is like a couple of days before it's booked in for the MoT kind of job... all in my opinion of course, it's just that i've seen a fair few get in over their heads and end up scrapping them, and it'd be daft to have a set of rebuilt calipers and nothing to fit them to ?

that said, good luck with it 8)
 
surfbus said:
2 Weeks ago i put the new calipers and disks on.
rem1.jpg

Old caliper off.

rem2.jpg

The sealing in the old caliper looked bad.

rem3.jpg

Adaptors wich are fitted to the late bay calipers. With this i still can drive with early bay brakedisks. (sorry for the blurry photo)

rem4.jpg

New brakedisk on.

rem5.jpg

New brakedisk+caliper.


rem6.jpg

Heating the end of brakeline so the bolt comes off.

rem7.jpg


Everything installed! Thanks for the help boys!
 
Loxy said:
No I dont think it is ;)
Surfbus is in Holland - I believe he was just providing some instructional pics ;)

Yep, last week the surfbus was still in Holland... :mrgreen:
Just trying to help out with some photos! :lol:
 
type2tattoo said:
Thanks for the replies peeps, :) I will have a go at them and see what the damage is

Was also wondering wether it would be better to upgrade the brakes and if so what do you suggest?

I am going to have an awful lot of questions over the next few months, hope you don't mind. The plan is to have her running and legal for Vanfest this year :0 There's a bottle of champagne on it from my friends at LTV :D

I imagine after all this time the fuel tank is shot too, can you point me to any threads about removing the firewall to get it out?

Thanks Lynds x

My calipers were badly pitted and i just replaced everything from the ball joints (as one unit) from a late bay. FBI sell them as refurbished replacements and the late spindles just slip on to your OG balljoints, not cheap, but if you can find someone breaking a late bay you could get them cheaper.

Replacing later brake components like pads disks and calipers is much easier as they are cheaper and you can buy everything brand new.
 
the councillor said:
no offense, and indeed i'm guilty of doing this myself with extended sliding door handles when i don't actually have any running gear on my bus, but are you really at the rebuilding the calipers stage :shock:

i mean; they might be old photos, they might be photos of a different bus, no i don't know the full story etc. etc. but that bus in the photos is a bit, er, knackered isn't it :?

of course it's saveable; it's only steel, everything's possible, but that is a shed load of work to get that anywhere near the road, whereas rebuilding the calipers is like a couple of days before it's booked in for the MoT kind of job... all in my opinion of course, it's just that i've seen a fair few get in over their heads and end up scrapping them, and it'd be daft to have a set of rebuilt calipers and nothing to fit them to ?

that said, good luck with it 8)

Thanks :) I know I am getting a bit ahead of myself but I took them off and had them in my front room with the engine and every other spare part lol its just a job I can do at home when I can't get up the farm where she is stored. I am putting off outside stuff hoping it will get warmer cos its not good for my arthritis lol

I know she looks an absolute state but I will get her on the road, then I can start doing her up ;)

sorry for the delay in replying, been busy earning the money to buy the parts :)
 
If you buy a seal kit they don't come with the 2 tiny seals for the bleed nipples so save them even if just as a pattern so you can compare to , cool air seal kit 20 quid cheers Frankie
 

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