Powder Coated Calipers

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000" background="040c8c00dkcfsz.png"> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1995 3000GT Spyder VR4"><U><B>Back</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Arial" ><B>JNS Engineering</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JNS Engineering"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <B>Powder Coated Calipers</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remote Top / Remote Start"><U>Remote Top / Remote Start</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Custom Leather Seats"><U>Custom Leather Seats</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lash Adjusters"><U>Lash Adjusters</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Throttle Body Rebuild"><U>Throttle Body Rebuild</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chrome Upper Engine"><U>Chrome Upper Engine</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Steering Boots"><U>Steering Boots</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ECS Struts and Springs"><U>ECS Struts and Springs</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Volk SF Challenge"><U>Volk SF Challenge</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheel Stud Replacement"><U>Wheel Stud Replacement</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ABS Troubleshooting"><U>ABS Troubleshooting</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dyno Day 10/10/10 at FSR"><U>Dyno Day 10/10/10 at FSR</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spyder mechanisms"><U>Spyder mechanisms</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="AWD Driveline"><U>AWD Driveline</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Respray Project"><U>Respray Project</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clear Cam Gear Covers"><U>Clear Cam Gear Covers</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pics"><U>Pics</U></A></div> <div> <I>Powder Coated Calipers</I></div> <div> Most people seem to prefer engine enamels or G2 caliper paint, but I decided I had to have powder coated calipers.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Preparation Work</B></div> <div> Put the car up on 4 jackstands. Drain all the brake fluid from the car. Pump the brake pedal with the bleeders open and the ABS unit on to completely drain the system. Pull the pads, remove the calipers and drain the remaining fluid from each caliper into a jar.</div> <bR> <div> Mix up a bucket of water and dish soap and get an old toothbrush. The brake dust and dirt will wash right down the street. No need for any chemical cleaners. After cleaning the calipers up, start the disassembly.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Disassembly Work</B></div> <div> Get some ziplock bags to keep track of all the seals, and springs. There are three different size pistons between the front and rear calipers. I used one bag for each piston size. Carefully expand the retaining clip and remove it. Then pull the dust seal off the piston. If you're careful you can avoid buying the kits from the dealer as they are very expensive. Repeat for all 12 pistons (8 if you have a 1st gen)</div> <bR> <div> Now the hard part, pulling out the pistons. It took me plenty of time to pry them out. I've heard the best way is to ease them out while using an air compressor to push air into the caliper. Next, use a jewelers screwdriver to pry out the rubber o-rings from the bores. Sort them into the proper bags according to diameter.</div> <bR> <div> Since these things are going to get baked at 400 degrees everything needs to come out. Split the calipers into halves and remove the o-rings between the halves. I used Q tips to clean out the grooves and holes in the bores. Here's a pic showing the cleaned up parts. Not shown are the bolts that hold the calipers together.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0df80a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Closeups of the individual parts. I sanded down the grooves in the Mitsubishi lettering with 320 grit paper in preparation for painting.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0e180a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> There are three sizes of pistons</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0e380a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Powder Coating Results</B></div> <div> Although there are do it yourself powder coating kits, they cost around $100 and you still have to buy the powder paint for your job. I opted to use a professional company. I figured the results would be superior to what I could do myself. I had to visit 4 shops in San Jose before I found Farben. In the process I found a place called DiscBrakesRus located on the East Coast. For about $350 they will disassemble everything, paint them, silkscreen lettering of your choice, and reassemble. They agreed to do just the painting for $100 but I would have to cover shipping. Farben met the price and I hand carried the parts to them. The next pics are after I sanded the powder paint off the Mitsubishi lettering using the 320 grit paper. I protected the body of the caliper with duct tape to be safe.  Here are the fronts completed:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0e580a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> And here are the rears:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0e780a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Reassembly</B></div> <div> Starting with the rear calipers, I snapped the O-rings back into the bores. Next I used a Q tip to apply brake oil around the base of each piston to lubricate it before pressing it into the bore. Be careful not to press them too far yet since you still need to fit the dust seals and retaining clips. After fitting the clips, press the pistons in fully - its pretty easy since the calipers are still in halves. Next reassemble the halves making sure to fit the small O-rings between the halves. Torque the bolts down per the shop manual. Do the fronts the same way, paying attention to the orientation of the small and large bores in the halves. There is only one way to fit the halves back together such that the smaller bores oppose each other. Here is the completed front caliper:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0e980a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> And here is the completed rear caliper:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0eb80a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Final steps</B></div> <div> Screw the calipers back onto the brake lines and mount them to the hubs with the proper torque. Install the pads next. I used Porterfield R4S pads and found the backing plates are a little wider than stock so I sanded them down with 100 grit paper. Fit the pins and retaining clips. Be sure all the brake lines and bleeders are tight and top off the master cylinder. I used Motul 600 for tolerance to higher temps without boiling the fluid. Bleed the system and you're done! Here's how it looks on the Spyder:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ed80a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0ef80a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Impressions</B></div> <div> The powder coating came out way better than I hoped for. The finish was so tough it took about 20 minutes per caliper to sand it off the lettering. The paint was one of three standard reds from the Cardinal catalog. There were alot of other color choices. Be sure to specify a Polyester paint for extra UV protection. I never tried the G2 system, but I'm really happy with powder.</div> <bR> <div> <B>How have they held up 6 Years later</B></div> <div> After six years and more than 36000 miles the calipers continue to look great!  I'm sure G2 would have faded badly by this time.</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0f280a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0f480a90.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="425" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>